So Bill Cowher chided Pittsburgh media for not having asked him "the question" directly. That's almost as hilarious as it is delusional. Here's what's not hilarious: A Super Bowl champion (that slipped into the playoffs at the last second with some help), showing up for its title defense either on cruise control or completely out of control depending on which game you were watching in 2006.
Even I can't tell whether Cowher is posturing for a huge deal or retirement. Because at least some of his behavior suggests that he's working an angle here. But what I can tell is that this is the worst job of handling a team he's done since 1998, or 1999 or 2000 or 2003 . . . . While the announcers keep piling on the hype about Cowher's greatness, they don't mention that he's missed the playoffs in five (5) of the last nine (9) seasons, after opening with six consecutive winning campaigns. Keep in mind that if the Steelers don't spoil Cincy's year next Sunday it's 6 out of 10 losers.
Angle or no angle, Cowher is handling this situation in a way that can only be seen (objectively) as selfish and disrespectful to the franchise. Not just because it's been a huge distraction to the team, but because it prevents the Steelers from securing a successor from within or searching for one outside the organization. I vote for an outsider, by the way, because I'm not confident that even Russ Grimm will sack ZBmaster Richard LeBeau and his tired, easily exposed defense, and I'm pretty sure Cowher's hand picked favorite, Ken Whisenhunt will deliver more of the same Cowheresque feasting off of cellar dwellers. I'm also not a staunch believer that good assistants automatically make great coaches.
Worse yet, the distraction is plain-as-day visible when you watch the inamtes running the asylum in Pittsburgh this year. With all the game changing penalties and turnovers it's a miracle (actually a gift from the cellar dwellers) that this team isn't 2-13 instead of 7-8. Cowher's desperation response? To bench the Steelers best athlete, Ike Taylor, when the season was for all intents and purposes, over. Well, he needed a scapegoat, but how a coach benches a CB for two bad games, when his punt returner fumbles 60% of his chances all season long is beyond me. But while the action is beyond reason it comes as no surprise.
Cowher will, when he leaves Pittsburgh, leave the franchise with some serious talent issues. Perhaps the key to understanding the true Cower legacy is undestanding how well he's done since truly grasping the organizational reigns. It's no secret that Cowher prospered early from Chuck Noll's last few drafts, and his five year honeymoon showed it. But this is what Cowher will leave Pittsburgh after his glorious 15 year run:
OL: Once considered a strength, it now features a one legged Center who gets punished week in and week out. A ridiculously overpaid, part time LT (in position only) a swinging gate at RG (weakened by diabetes at a position you simply can't play with diabetes) a RT that can not pass block, and one aging pro-bowler LG.
TE: They don't know how good this guy will be, because they don't throw to him.
WR: A slow aging, overpaid #1, (crack-smoking if he thinks he's a real #1), possession receiver. A #2, FA castoff who can't get open, a reach of a rookie #3 who shows great ability except for holding onto the football, a #4 who only drops TD passes and a #5 . . . . .I'm not sure they have a #5.
RB: A superstar talent, a castoff and one of Cowher's trusted vets on IR.
QB: A 3rd year rookie, who has completely lost his confidence and whose team has lost confidence in him. a #2 journeyman who can't go two games without getting hurt.
DL: A Pro Bowl NT, a (should be Pro Bowl) DE and a serviceable DE.
LB: Long the pride of the organization, Pitt now fields a loser OLB who used to get rich off of cellar dwellers, but now only makes headlines by making sound bites, threatening refs or spitting in opponents faces, a part-time, injury prone OLB, an aging, beaten up OLB at ILB, and a weak, slow, technically deficient piker at the other ILB.
DB: The most talented position on the team, unfortunately, only two talented players start while two sit. The unit features a LB at SS who deserves pro-bowl status (at LB) but still can't cover the pass, a journeyman FS who was willingly let go by THE REDSKINS, an undersized journeyman CB and a developing talent at the other Corner.
But this is what Cowher gives you. His ability to deny the truth in personnel is as powerful as his ability to kid himself into thinking that "pulling a Favre" doesn't hurt the team. Cowher, nothing more than a hanger-on in his player days, has regularly eschewed talented players for his trusted vets (who you an trust noty to show up in big games) and "gamers"." Gamers" being the slow, undersized, talent poor, hangers-on who get beaten up and exposed every sunday by NFL starter caliber athletes. Remember, this is the guy who kept Gregg Lloyd over Chad Brown, resigned Dwayne Washington and Chad Scott to huge extensions and even started the unforgettable Lee Flowers for a few seasons. Just for the record, Larry Foote is this year's Lee Flowers.
Cowher, just like his team, has also bought into the hype that his defenses are tough and confuse other teams. The Ravens, especially, and numerous others have shown how tough and confusing the tired, slow ZB game is not. Even the best athletes at DB can't disguise The ZB's weakness when the LB's are getting beaten up like punching bags. Cowher continues to think that his 1992 offense is still good enough to win as well. I guess he hasn't noticed that the combination of slow developing sit routes and the absence of pass blocking has turned his once fearless QB into a terrified tackling dummy.
But maybe the fact that Cowher wasn't extended last Summer is due to more than his salary demands or his choosing. Maybe Art Jr. isn't the same wimpy decision make Dan Rooney was. Maybe Art wanted to see if Cowher was more the guy who had finally broken the Schottenheimer curse, or the coach that had a 50% chance of even making the playoff in his last decade of work. I don't know.
What I do know is this:
Cowher's already unnecessarily, egregioulsy inflated ego must have grown two skull sizes after Roethlisberger defied Cowher's #### coaching into a SB Trophy.
Cowher had to have been looking for record payday, and the Steelers don't do record paydays. This is an organization that prefers to overpay 2nd level stars rather than superstars.
When you're staying, you say, "I'm staying". Not another word.
And when you're leaving, but doing the right thing for the franchise, you say "I'm staying" and don't even breathe a hint about leaving until after the season.
Cowher has played this card like the clueless, 2nd rate talent he is. The organization will need a few seasons to recover from his defunct playbook, his hand-picked pikers, and his talk big, play small mentality.
So why not start now? The possibility exists that the reason Cowher's gaming the press is because the Steelers already know what needs to be done.
Down by 10, with a few minutes to go in the most critical game of their season, The Falcons QB decided that the breathtaking pain of a pulled hamstring was too much to bear, and took his spot on the sidelines. Isn't it just like Vick to make sure that Schaub wouldn't see (for a real drive) the field until the game was essentially decided. Even though the great Ron Mexico later said he felt the pull in the 3rd quarter. Of course ATL was still in the game then.
This is yet another in the serious of exceedingly classless acts by the "most exciting player in the game", Mike Chick. I thought he had peaked with the Olympian style "double handed flip-off", but that almost pales in comparison to a QB quitting on his team because it doesn't believe he can pull the game out.
The stats will say Chick had another great game (another great loss), in large part due to ATL's ability to capitalize on the Boys' miscues. What the stats won't show is that a host of former greats questioned Vick's sitdown aloud, even Deion (I never met a black QB I didn't root for) Sanders. Just shows that given enough time and enough rope, every #### will hang himself .
Is it me, or does it look like the Saints are beginning to play up or down to the level of their competition? One week they lose to a Steelers crew on life support, next they lose to a Cincy team that should change it's colors to white with black pinstripes, then they crush ATL, SF and Dallas, and then get handled by the Redskins. Trap game? The trap was made out of the Redskins. Great teams beat the teams they're supposed to beat. I don't see NO going deep into January, unless they get a first round bye. A bye should get them one PO win by accident.
In Pittsburgh, where missing the playoffs one out of every three years is becoming commonplace, the team and FO refuses to admit the HC's status is an issue. It's an issue, a huge one at that. Right now, part time -players and Cowher's trusted vets like Joey Porter must be messing their drawers thinking about a new HC next year. Why?. For the same reason #### LeBeau's face masker on Anthony Clark, after a ridiculous showboat this sunday, was long overdue. Cowher runs his team like a country club administrator, but for the occasional scapegoat assistant or player (see "Taylor, Ike") Cowher is probably the least demanding coach in the NFL. How many other coaches would keep playing a KR/PR who fumbled more than half out ten consecutive chances? How many other coaches would keep starting huff and puff disappearing acts like Joey Porter every week? Is is an issue? Cowher's trusted vets are terrified.
Besides, Cowher has his trophy. As hard as he tried to go home without the Lombardi last year, (by turtling his offense, playing prevent against one of the NFL's best offenses for the 2nd half, and then plunging choke-dog Bettis into the line for a career typifying fumble, Big Ben simply wouldn't go home empty handed). So Cowher has his trophy. And he rewarded the franchise with the least ready to perform, least disciplined, least motivated Steeler team I have ever seen. After watching his team sleepwalk through weeks 1-12, even he must know he doesn't have it, never had it, and never will have it.
That in mind, here are the top ten reasons the Steelers will probably (I'm a sap, I know) not repeat:
10. OL is older, weaker and slower than ever. A diabetic guard and a one-legged center equals a jail break every week.
9. Any legitimate NFL QB can put up big numbers on Cowher's Okie ZB defense. The middle is always open. If you've just met your TE during the National anthem, you''ll still drop 330 and three TD's on him.
8. Fundamentals, schmundamentals! 14 games in, the #1 pick and PR/KR still only fields 50% of his chances witout a turnover. Sadly, the kid is a huge talent, but don;t they have anyone to show him how o field a kick?
7. The Old Gray LB's just ain't what they used to be . . . . . James Farrior has lost a step, Joey Porter is too used to half-steppin' and having the occasional big game against a doormat, Clark Haggans just can't beat anyone with technique or size, and I still can't figure how Larry Foote is doing anything but washing LeBeau's car.
6. Steve McNair in the AFCN means another 1-2 divisional losses per year. McNair owns the Steelers. Probably because he loves throwing to his TE.
5. We missed the Bus. Just kidding. Losing Bettis happened four years ago. The guy hadn't managed a full season in God knows how long, and his playoff performances against NE were the stuff that nightmares were made of. The problem is that the fat, lazy Steeler OL is used to blocking for a one and done slob like Bettis. They still aren't/can't hold their blocks long enough for Parker. Still Parker does well, but I can't help but wonder what he'd do in a stretch style scheme.
4. Our best WR is older and slower and wasn't that great in the first place. Sure the faithful celebrate Ward because he's a lunchpail guy, but there's a reason he averages about 25% fewer yards per catch than stud wideouts. When your #1 is actually just a good #2, you have problems.
3. 15 years and not a damn play changed . . . . It's true, but for a few adjustments, they do the same stuff now that they did in 1992. It gets embarassing when mushheads like Dan Dierdorf can see a formation and say, "they like to go to Ward over the middle on this one". Then they go to ward over the middle or the DB who also knows the play for a takeback.
2. Roethlisberger began to recover his trength, timing and football sense around week 10. Which would have been okay if he hadn't been starting in week 2.
1. Cowher simply thought the "bullseye rule" didn't apply to his Champions. Before he even noticed, the season was over.
In Chicago, they're 12-2 and playing in Chicago this January. For those of you who didn't anticipate Grossman snapping out of his slump; shame on you. A healthy Grossman means a healthy Bears team for a good long time, and Chicago is going to have little in the way of NFCN competition for a while, unless GB, Minnesota or Detroit signs Matt Schaub. As much as I'm amazed at the press's ability to forget that Grossman almost carried the team through its first 10 games, I'm amazed at their inability to remember the many failings of Ron Mexico.
But that's the press for you. They hate to admit when they're wrong, unless they think someone might notice.
Oh and Terrell Owens spit on D'Angelo Hall. Who cares? Have you ever seen two more classless individuals?
Another week, another giveaway game courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh sure, many commentators and fans, as Phil Simms already has, will call this a defining game for the Falcons and Mike Vick. But then again, many fans are able to watch games and miss the fact that one team beat itself more than the opponent beat them. The truth about this game for Vick and the Falcons is that one game, six years into a career, does not make a QB anything more than he is. Mike Vick sucks, that story will be told over every season in which he plays. But for Steeler fans, the fact is that two games, out of six in a season, can do much to show what your team is this year.
The Falcons came into this game on the ropes, lacking confidence and wondering about their QB, a QB who had been wondering aloud about his coach and team mates. The Steelers came into this game confident, having completely demolished the Chiefs a week ago. For Atlanta's sake, Santonio Holmes decided to give the dirty birds an early advantage and fumbled his first punt return. Ben Roethlisberger chipped in by forgetting his own snap count, which led to another Atlanta TD. Then, not to be outdone, Willie Parker reversed field and forgot to take the ball with him. Three TO's, three TD's.
But that wasn't all. The Whack and Gold got penalized again for an End Zone Celebration (just like in Cincy), giving ATL excellent field position. Translation, TD. Chad Brown extended a drive with a roughing the passer penalty. Translation TD. And best of all, with 8 seconds left, Nate Washington makes sure Jeff Reed never gets to kick a game winning FG. Translation, Loss #4.
The Dean of NFL coaches will surely come out this Tuesday with the same tough talk he blithered when the team threw itself under the Bengals bus a few weeks back. He'll tell us how "we can't have stupid penalties" and the inability to field punts is "on him" and it "won't be a problem again". He'll tell us how the special teams, the ones that keep getting shredded, have "finally got it together". He'll tell us he "hasn't had time to reflect" when he doesn't have any answers, he'll tell us it's "too soon to reflect" when he doesn't want to tell us the answers, and he'll tell us how "he can't reflect on things until after the season" when he's just plain clueless (which is by the way, often).
Cowher will have no answers for why his team can't protect the football. No response for why his special teams play like Special Ed teams, why his players too often celebrate like they've achieved something extraordinary when they've just begun to do their jobs at all. He won't explain why his DB's play 8-10 yards off below average receivers and why his defenses give garbage QB's like Vick, Kitna and Jeff Blake (to name a few) career days. He'll make the same 14 year-old, stupid excuses for dialing up the same goofball gambler defenses and playing scared under pressure. And he'll come out next week, slobbbering, twisting his cro-magnon face and yelling at his players when they screw up. They'll ignore his cheerleader antics, and then he'll put them right back out on the field again. Hell, he's been allowing Joey Porter to show up for half a season and even pick and choose the downs on which he actually plays in those 8 games.
It's no mystery why it took Cowher so long to win a SB. He may have been "coaching" the team by job description, but it was led by Roethlisberger. Granted Roethlisberger had a sub-par SB, but then again I've never seen a team try harder to lose a SB than Seattle did last year. Officials shmofficials. The refs didn't break Stevens hands and they sure didn't throw thsoe picks for Hasselbeck.
Cowher will go into the HOF after he retires, if anything, courtesy of the QB who took the team from him. But I'm hoping Billy Boy gets there sooner than later, because the biggest problem with being led by Roethlisberger this year is that he's leading from the ER.
I'm tired of seeing the team come out tight, flat or overconfident in 98% of the big games they play. I'm tired of the gimmick defenses that get torched by any coordinator with the willingness to make a few adjustments. I'm tired of Special Ed teams, tired of Joey Porter getting $5mm annually to get his #### kicked 75% of the time, tired of playing sissyball when we get a lead, tired of loyalty to aging, broken down burnouts, tired of the "cliche management" and the cheerleader act he thinks makes him a coach of grown men because they play a kids game.
This preseason, the Pittsburgh press expressed concern about how Cowher had bought a home in NC recently and how this was the deepest into his contract he had ever gone without an extension.
I'm concrened too. I'm concerned that the Steeler front office has yet to figure out that a Cowher coached team (at least without Roethlisberger, who is no sure bet these days), will predicatbly come up short under pressure. Or maybe they don't care. Cowher, just like his mentor Marty Schottenheimer, ensures mediocrity.
But I care. I'm sick of it and I'm sick of Sis, Boom, Billy. How you let a 2-3 team come out playing like they have all their problems solved is beyond me. You'd never see that from a Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells coached team. But then again, as long as the NFL has Denny Green and Art Shell lumbering along the sidelines, Cowher will be sure to look good by comparison.
