Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers linebacker Joey Porter fights off a block by the Bengals' Reggie Kelly in last year's regular-season game at Paul Brown Stadium. The rivalry between the two teams should be even more heated this season.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Bill Cowher remembers the last time he played against Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. How could the Steelers coach forget that one among so many?
Fort Cherry vs. Carlynton in the mid-1970s.
"I think he has more wins than I do," Cowher said yesterday. "He had the last one. The last game was kind of a big game. He was a junior, and I was a senior. We lost, 6-0, on a kickoff return. I was not on the kickoff-coverage team, I do point that out, the only time I was not on the field."
The rivalry between Cowher and Lewis goes back to their midget football days -- "the Little Rangers and the Little Cougars," Lewis recalled -- and they've helped turn it into the most-heated rivalry in the AFC North Division, along the way, each pulling the kind of stunts they might have done in high school.
Bengals-Steelers last year replaced Baltimore Ravens-Steelers as the most anticipated game in the division, and what happened in 2005 should heat it up more. Cincinnati dethroned the Steelers by winning their first division title since 1990, virtually locking it up with an upset victory in Heinz Field.
The Steelers, though, beat the Bengals in Cincinnati in the first round of the playoffs as Kimo von Oelhoffen knocked quarterback Carson Palmer out with a low hit that tore his ACL. Lewis declined to comment on the hit after the game, adding that he was not going "to sit there like a baby and cry like their quarterback, it's ridiculous." That was a shot at Ben Roethlisberger, who called a previous hit on him by Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman a little dirty.
Cowher then was caught by NFL Films performing a version of the Bengals "Who Dey" chant in the locker room after the playoff victory, something he performed again at the Super Bowl parade.
The Bengals-Steelers rivalry has reached a point not seen since Chuck Noll refused to shake Sam Wyche's hand after games.
"I don't know if it can heat up any more," Lewis said yesterday. He kept a straight face when he said Cowher's "Who Dey" performance didn't bother him.
"I never saw it, so I can't comment."
Cowher predicted the Bengals would remember what he did when it's time for the Steelers to play them again.
"Nah," Lewis said. "It's not going to have any effect on who wins or loses the football game -- until somebody hits you in the mouth."
The Bengals got the Steelers' attention with a figurative punch Dec. 4 with a 38-31 victory. It was the last time the Steelers lost a game.
The Steelers kick off the NFL season early with a Sept. 7 game in Heinz Field and, after AFC title game opponent Denver begged out of it, the next logical pairing would have put the AFC North champions against the Super Bowl champions. The prospect that Palmer might not be healthy enough to play by then might have tipped the scales against it.
"I'm glad we didn't open the season in Pittsburgh," Lewis said.
"That's a big game. Why would I want our game in Pittsburgh to be on a Thursday night to open the season? We'll play there when we play there. ... That stadium is going to be ... well, depending on what time it starts, whether or not they'll still be sober. But it's going to be loud, it'll be a loud place."
Despite the Steelers' Super Bowl victory, the oddsmakers have them third among the AFC to win it again behind the Indianapolis Colts (4-1) and New England Patriots (7-1). But then the defending division champions are further back with the Bengals at 18-1 by some and the Steelers hovering around 10-1 odds.
"As it should be," Cowher said of the longer odds on the Steelers to repeat compared to others. "I'm not sure we were the best team last year. I think we played the best at the right time of year, but I think it's a fine line."
Cowher, not surprisingly, picked the Bengals to win the division and Lewis, of course, picked the Steelers.
Baltimore coach Brian Billick picked the Steelers.
"You always follow the money and follow the wins," Billick said. (I am happy anyone will even listen to me, since I'm the only person on the planet aside from Ma' Bller that believes he can do anything when not on his knees :bj
Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel, whose Browns signed eight free agents this year in a frantic attempt to catch up, gives it to the Steelers by a nose.
"I would say Pittsburgh because they're the Super Bowl champs," Crennel said. "Cincinnati's right there with them because, probably, if they hadn't lost the quarterback it might have been a different game."
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
Steeler Notebook: Rooney-Colbert duo makes some history
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan did not want to play the Steelers in the season opener at Heinz Field because of when Denver plays its final preseason game.
****ing Plummer!
ORLANDO, Fla. -- NFL general managers were so impressed with the Steelers' accomplishments last season that they not only voted Art Rooney II as the George Young executive of the year, but they also placed Kevin Colbert fourth.
Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations, gathered seven write-in votes from the league general managers, the most in the history of the award.
The Steelers made more history because Art is the third Rooney from the Steelers to win the award. His grandfather Art Sr. received the award in 1974 and his father, Dan, won in '72 and 2001. Art II has been the team president the past three years.
"My father gave me a hint the other day this was coming," Art Rooney said during a ceremony yesterday morning, "and, of course, added immediately that 'you know I've won two of these things.' So, there's always a challenge."
Said coach Bill Cowher: "It's probably long overdue. You certainly look at our ability to stay consistent over a long period of time, the ability to manage the cap, the ability to bring in the right people, the ability to have stability. It starts with Art and Mr. Rooney.
"They've always done a good job of making sure you look at the big picture and make sure you look down the road. That's the one thing more than anything, our ability to be so consistent for so long and not sell out for that one year. Again, as you see, we'll bring back a lot of pretty good players next year. It's long overdue and well deserved."
Another opening
The Steelers will play the first game in the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium, albeit a preseason game.
The defending Super Bowl champions will play in Arizona's new stadium Aug. 12, the Cardinals announced.
It's another in a list of new stadiums the Steelers have helped open. They played the first preseason game in Detroit's Ford Field and the first regular-season game in Cleveland when the Browns returned in 1999.
The Rooney family that owns the Steelers long has been friendly with the Bidwill family that owns the Cardinals.
"We couldn't think of a better team to open up against in our new home," said Cardinals vice president and general counsel Michael Bidwill.
Taylor gets unexpected bonus
Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor received an extra $206,513 from the NFL recently for his play last season.
Each of the past four years, the league has doled out performance-based pay, a system to reward those players who performed remarkably better than what they were paid in salary.
Taylor was the 19th-highest paid player under that system for 2005. Former Pitt player Rob Petitti, who started at tackle as a rookie in Dallas, received more than anyone with $271,287 extra coming his way.
Broncos exercise clout
The Denver Broncos, who lost to the Steelers in the AFC championship, were the logical opponent to open the season Sept. 7 in Heinz Field, but they successfully lobbied not to do so.
Denver coach Mike Shanahan explained that the Broncos will finish their preseason the Thursday or Friday the week before in Arizona, and because the NFL would not let them move the game to Wednesday, he did not want to open the following Thursday in Pittsburgh.
"What you'd like to do is have a full week for preparation, especially if you're going on the road," Shanahan said.
"Getting ready for a game plan, especially for a team like Pittsburgh on the road, you don't have the same preparation time."
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen told the Rocky Mountain News: "It may be fun for [the Steelers] to wait at home for us there, but it wouldn't be a hell of a lot of fun for us. We know we're going to play them in Pittsburgh this season, just not that first week."
Upon further review
Cowher changed his mind and supports the emphasis on the rule not to allow players to hit quarterbacks from the knee down.
"I didn't initially because I thought it was hard. But the more you look at our quarterbacks and the amount we have invested in them and how important they are to our game, I think safety has to take priority.
"I don't think it's any different than it used to be, but the money we put into quarterbacks and with the cap -- whatever we can do to protect that position. Going back to the entertainment element of our game, if you don't have a good quarterback you're not going to be a very entertaining team.
"I just think we have to develop quarterbacks, we have to keep quarterbacks healthy for the best of the game."
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
Billick -- whose team dealt with injuries to Boller, running back Jamal Lewis, linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed -- expects a reversal of fortune next season.
"I think we're going to be pretty good," he said. "We're banking on the fact that we can stay healthy ... and, hopefully, we'll have our quarterback for the whole year. Jamal, now removed from the year off, his M.O. has been -- you rehab, you have an OK year then you come back and have a blow-up year. Yeah, we think we're in pretty good shape, and we're not done."
Someone on the Trib board posted the Steelers selections in the Huddle Report Mock:
Quote:
Stillers:
32 WR Sinorice Moss Miami
64 CB Dee Webb Florida
96 OT Andrew Whitworth LSU
129 S Antoine Bethea Howard
131 DE Elvis Dumervil Louisville
133 OC Chris Chester Oklahoma
164 RB Wali Lundy Virginia
167 OG Troy Reddick Auburn
201 LB Tim McGarigle Northwestern
240 QB Paul Pinegar Fresno St
Originally posted by SteelerfanstuckinVa@Mar 30th '06 @ 6:52 am Someone on the Trib board posted the Steelers selections in the Huddle Report Mock:
* * *
wow. I have to apologize to NFL Draft Countdown for calling them the worst I'd seen. Elvis is a shrimp. I couldn't believe people had him going in the first round earlier this offseason. I think Whitworth might be the only solid value up there.
Originally posted by Nixon@Mar 30th '06 @ 7:05 am wow. I have to apologize to NFL Draft Countdown for calling them the worst I'd seen. Elvis is a shrimp. I couldn't believe people had him going in the first round earlier this offseason. I think Whitworth might be the only solid value up there.
What are these people smoking?
Some GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD ****
__________________
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
By Joe Bendel
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 30, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- In a room filled with up-and-coming NFC head coaches such as Mike McCarthy of the Green Bay Packers, Mike Nolan of the San Francisco 49ers and Rod Marinelli of the Detroit Lions, the elder statesman of the group held court at a far end of the packed venue Wednesday.
The venerable Joe Gibbs, sporting a knit sweater and his trademark glasses, did not particularly fit in with this collection of younger men in sweat suits and Tommy Bahama shirts. But then, that's OK, because Gibbs has a different view of the game than most of them, given his vast experience and the universal respect he has earned in amassing a 140-76 career record that includes Super Bowl titles in 1982, 87 and '91.
Early yesterday, the 65-year-old coach of the Washington Redskins had some interesting things to say about the "turmoil" -- his word -- that accompanies a reigning Super Bowl champion (See: Pittsburgh Steelers, 2005).
"You have a number of problems," Gibbs said at a coaches/media breakfast, pulling no punches. "No. 1, the season goes a lot longer, and, when you take your break, you've probably lost six weeks on everybody else. Another big part of it is the way everybody looks at you. You're not going to have to tell your team anything when it's playing Pittsburgh. You just gotta say, 'Hey, we're playing Pittsburgh.' So I think that's a real problem."
In the years after Gibbs won Super Bowl titles, his teams were 14-2 (losing to the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl), 7-9 (missing the playoffs) and 9-7 (a wild-card postseason berth). In the past 12 years, there have been only two back-to-back Super Bowl champs (Denver and New England).
"It's just not that easy to do," Gibbs said.
There are a number of reasons for this, including complacency, external demands on players' time, a shortened offseason and the desire by opposing teams to knock off the champion.
Gibbs has seen it all -- first hand.
"I think getting everybody settled down is one of the hardest things I had to deal with," he said. "Getting all the coaches back in position, getting the players re-focused. You normally have a lot of problems after the Super Bowl."
Although that was the case with Gibbs, Mike Shanahan found a way to lead the Broncos to back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998. He was fortunate to have a team full of veterans -- including a quarterback in his late 30s in John Elway -- and just enough breaks to pull off the rare exacta.
"You have to understand how special it is and want to get back there," Shanahan said. "But it takes a lot of energy to keep everybody right, to keep everybody in the same direction."
Keeping everybody right, as Shanahan put it, is not always easy. Gibbs believes some players gain a false sense of worth after a Super Bowl season. Others focus more on money and less on winning games, he said.
Consequently, the chemistry of a winning locker room can be fractured, undermining a team's bid for a second Super Bowl run.
"I think, obviously, you got to have a great core group in order to get there," Gibbs said. "But there's always a little bit of that, 'Hey, I'm not happy with the contract. I'm not happy with this.' So you go through a natural process there of trying to get that settled down. I think there's a little bit of turmoil after a Super Bowl year, which hurts you."
Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel owns five Super Bowl rings, two of which he earned in back-to-back seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Patriots in '03 and '04. The Patriots are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to modern-day dynasties -- they won three Super Bowls in four years -- and their path to success also featured challenges.
"Human nature says you should exhale (after winning a Super Bowl)," Crennel said. "That's why coaches say, 'Hey, we're starting over. We haven't done anything. We're at the bottom, and you have to work your way up.' You have to preach that to them and preach that to them, and get them to play and not to relax.
"The challenge is that everybody's gunning for you now, and everybody brings their best game to you, and, even though you're the Super Bowl champs and you're supposed to be the best, you have to elevate your game, because you're getting everybody's best. And sometimes the schedule you're playing is the best, and you're on national TV games more. You're playing Sunday night. You're playing Monday night. Those are things that interrupt your schedule a little bit."
In the case of the Steelers, they played four prime-time games last season. They also faced their share of adversity entering the postseason, given they needed to win four in a row to get into the playoffs, then win three on the road as a sixth seed in the AFC to reach the Super Bowl.
Having gone through such an experience, coach Bill Cowher believes his team already has the mental toughness needed to overcome a Super Bowl hangover.
"We've gone through the disappointment, we've gone through the expectations," said Cowher, who lost running back Jerome Bettis, wideout Antwaan Randle El, defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen and free safety Chris Hope from last season's team. "We've gone through the three-game losing streak in the middle of the season. We've done some things no one has ever done, so I think there is proper perspective."
There is also a marquee quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. NFL analyst and former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, who was on that '83 'Skins team that could not repeat, sees the third-year Steelers quarterback as a difference-maker.
"Ben is like Tom Brady (of the Patriots)," Theismann said. "They both embrace the opportunity to be special, and, now that they got it, they're not going to give it up. They're not going to sit on their laurels. Ben's not going to sit back and say, 'Wow, I went 15-1 my rookie season. I got a world championship ring my second season. What's out there for me?'
"Joe Montana won four Super Bowls. Tom Brady's won three. That's what's out there for him. That's what will be driving him every single day."
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
Inside Slant | Notes and Quotes | Strategy and Personnel
Neither the Super Bowl nor the large increase in salary-cap room has altered Pittsburgh's approach this off-season, which looks a lot like last off-season.
They allowed a handful of starters to leave without making serious counter-proposals for them (receiver Antwaan Randle El, safety Chris Hope and defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen). They signed one modest free agent to fill a hole (safety Ryan Clark). And they've signed a bunch of their own free agents, mostly backups for depth besides cornerback Deshea Townsend and defensive end Brett Keisel, who will replace von Oelhoffen as the starter on the right side of their 3-4 defense.
They re-signed seven of their 12 unrestricted free agents and are close to making it eight with halfback Verron Haynes near a deal. That would leave only receiver Quincy Morgan unaccounted for among all of their free agents.
The Steelers have all of their starters under contract for the next two seasons except for cornerback Ike Taylor, a restricted free agent, and right tackle Max Starks, who would become a restricted free agent next year if they do not sign him to a long-term deal before then.
There was a report that the Steelers would be interested in trading for Buffalo receiver Eric Moulds, but that is unlikely. First, Moulds would have to be willing to play for less money than Hines Ward and also play second fiddle to him.
Also, Moulds refused to enter a game for former Bills coach Mike Mularkey, who remains close friends with Steelers coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. The Steelers are not about to import a problem to alter what Kevin Colbert, their director of football operations, called the best chemistry on a team he's seen in more than two decades in the NFL.
The Steelers will try to draft a speed receiver. Other than that, they are content to go with Ward, Cedrick Wilson, Lee Mays, perhaps their last unsigned free agent, Morgan, and promising second-year player Nate Washington.
Even with third-down back Haynes signed, they're a little thin at halfback with starter Willie Parker and backup Duce Staley the only others at that position.
"You still may have an interest in a ... running back," Colbert said. "You're kind of monitoring that but we'd rather get our own guys back first."
That's mostly old news but hey....................I'm bored.
Yeah, it summarizes things. It also makes me think Ike won't get resigned for a while. Maybe this summer (hopefully) maybe next. At least we will have more cap room.
__________________
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
I really think they'll lock up Ike (if they can get him to agree) this summer. That's what they are "saving" there money for. They don't want Ike hitting the open market.
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