Pittsburgh Made Them Face The Music

Considering the sort of rivalry this is, the Steelers were wise to try to play down the one-sidedness of Sunday's game. "You know, 38 points can work against you, too," said Swann. "They're not going to forget it next time we play them. They're a proud team, and they got all banged up today—Pastorini hurt, Billy Johnson lost with a knee injury. You want to score points, but you don't want to rub it in."

The Oilers, meanwhile, wanted to forget the debacle. Center Carl Mauck said, "I believe this game is going to make a big difference the next time we play. But you don't want to dwell on a thing like this too long now, because it'll screw you up for the following week. I promise you we'll be ready for them in Houston. I promise you it'll be different next time around."

Webster, for one, isn't worried. "I wonder what would have happened if our defense would have played their offense the whole way today," he mused after Sunday's game. "It might have been very interesting."