What's Wrong in Pittsburgh?
USA Today
October 12, 2006
Pittsburgh Steelers
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BETTIS STILL HAS SOFT SPOT
Jerome Bettis feels the pain, too.
"The last thing I want is for the Steelers to struggle," Bettis said this week from his home in Atlanta. "And now that I'm gone, I don't want it to be a case where people think they can't win without me. Because it's never about one guy."
The former Pittsburgh Steelers running back-turned-TV analyst is not ready to throw in the Terrible Towel on the team. "The bottom line is turnovers," he says. "And that's a matter of execution."
The Steelers are tied for the NFL's sixth-worst net turnover difference (minus 3), which includes Ben Roethlisberger's seven interceptions among their 10 giveaways. "I'm not worried about Ben," says Bettis, alluding to Roethlisberger's offseason motorcycle accident. "Obviously, he's been going through a traumatic experience in life that's bigger than football. Plus, the expectations were already going to be greater after winning a championship. He'll be fine."
Roethlisberger remains close to Bettis, an analyst for NBC's Football Night in America . But Roethlisberger knows he's also fair game for Bettis: "I told him, 'I know you're going to say stuff about me. But don't forget: I can say things back.' "-- Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
Roethlisberger, Steelers Stumble to 1-3 Start
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
Like a blitz up the middle on third-and-long, Ben Roethlisberger knew it was coming.
His Pittsburgh Steelers had just lost, the third time in a row for the defending Super Bowl champions. He threw two more interceptions in a 23-13 loss Sunday night to the San Diego Chargers, including a hurried and ill-advised heave across the field in the fourth quarter that pushed his 2006 season total to seven.
The man who won an NFL-record 13 consecutive starts as a rookie and a Super Bowl in his second season now has a less impressive distinction. Roethlisberger heads into Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs as the only regularly starting NFL quarterback without a touchdown pass.
During his postgame news conference ... People wonder: What effect has the motorcycle accident/appendectomy had on your play?
"It comes up every day," said Roethlisberger, who broke facial bones in a June 12 accident and missed the opener after an emergency appendectomy Sept. 3. "How did the accident affect my head out there throwing? Just because I got on that motorcycle doesn't mean I throw an interception."
Roethlisberger — who had seven TDs and zero interceptions at this point last season — is hardly the only problem for his jolted 1-3 team, trailing the Baltimore Ravens (4-1) and Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) in the AFC North.
Pittsburgh has uncharacteristically blown second-half leads off a lack of bite by the defense and across-the-board inconsistency. In addition to momentum-killing turnovers, the Steelers have been affected by a rushing game that lost an ace closer with the retirement of Jerome Bettis and a lack of punch on special teams.
Yet Roethlisberger, who returned to the lineup 15 days after his last surgery, is the proverbial face of the Steelers' woes. Gamely, he refuses to use the physical setbacks as an excuse, though coach Bill Cowher says his quarterback still is working to regain form.
Maybe it's an elbow. Roethlisberger came to his postgame news conference Sunday with his right arm in a sling under his shirt. NBC showed him rubbing the elbow in pregame warm-ups, but he and the team contend that was just Roethlisberger loosening muscle tissue rather than a serious issue. "They're always looking for something," he said.
Roethlisberger lacks knack
There certainly has been no coverup of Roethlisberger's struggles. In three games since rushing back from surgery, he has completed 53.9% of his passes and has the second-lowest rating (41.7). Glaring misfires include the short pass for Heath Miller intercepted in the end zone as the Steelers were going for a 14-0 lead against Cincinnati on Sept. 24; they lost 28-20. In the fourth quarter of a 9-0 loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 18, he was picked off twice.
Although he played his best half in the first 30 minutes Sunday, Roethlisberger has shown little of his signature knack to improvise and make big throws while scrambling out of the pocket.
"I'm not going to point any fingers," he says. "I'm going to point the thumb. And it goes right to me."
Cowher isn't worried that Roethlisberger, 24, the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl, will not rebound. "He's dealt with adversity, played in big games," Cowher says. "The biggest thing is he wants to do too much too fast."
Roethlisberger was dominant during last season's AFC playoffs with a 7-1 TD-to-interception differential and a passer rating of 122.9 over three games.
But when Pittsburgh beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL, his 22.6 rating was the lowest for the winning quarterback — testament to a strong supporting cast.
Lately, though, other Steelers stars have also lacked impact. All-pro safety Troy Polamalu hasn't created a turnover since the season-opening victory against the Miami Dolphins.
Linebacker Joey Porter, named "The Most Feared Player in the NFL" before the season by Sports Illustrated, hasn't had a sack in three games.
Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward, slowed by a hamstring injury throughout the preseason, surpassed 100 yards for the season Sunday. The rash of dropped passes that has hampered the wide receiver corps has befallen Ward, too.
"Right now," Cowher says, "we're just not getting important plays at important times" of the game.
Other problems:
• The pass coverage has lacked clutch shutdown ability.
San Diego converted two long third-down completions on a 91-yard, go-ahead drive in the third quarter and three third downs in a 13-play drive before halftime. Both drives were capped by TD passes nearly batted down by cornerback Deshea Townsend.
"Deshea has had three plays in the last two games where he has been right there to make the play," Cowher says. "My message is to just keep doing the things you are doing because those things have a way of evening out. I would rather have the player be in that position ... as opposed to him being afraid to take a chance and to start playing soft."
Against the Bengals, spotty coverage allowed them to convert two turnovers — a muffed punt by Ricardo Colclough and a Verron Haynes fumble on successive possessions — into two TD passes.
In the fourth quarter of the Jacksonville loss, the Steelers pinned the Jaguars at their 8-yard line but allowed two third-down completions, including a 48-yarder, that set up a field goal.
• Of the three starters lost from last season, perhaps receiver Antwaan Randle El, a free agent signee with the Washington Redskins, is missed most. Not only is the former college quarterback's knack to execute gadget plays gone — he was the first wideout to throw a TD pass in the Super Bowl — but the Steelers are not getting yardage he provided on special teams. They are last in punt returns, averaging 3.8 yards.
• The blown leads are contrary to the Steelers' reputation as strong finishers. In recent years, they typically complemented solid defense with a rushing attack that wore down opponents. But the rushing game, 22nd in the NFL, can no longer rely on bruising Bettis to relieve Willie Parker and milk the clock.
"Right now we're just an inconsistent team," Ward says. "It's not just one player. It's one player on every different play."
Cowher makes his moves
As deep as the frustration over the rocky start penetrates, it does not equate panic. Veterans Ward, Porter, all-pro guard Alan Faneca and linebacker James Farrior are among key voices filling any void created by the loss of respected leader Bettis.
If Bettis were still in the locker room, he knows exactly what he would be telling teammates about now.
" 'Don't press. Don't try to do anything extra than you normally do,' " says Bettis, an analyst for NBC's Football Night in America pregame show.
There is hope for turning around the season. In 13 of the last 16 seasons, at least one team has started 1-3 or 1-4 and made the playoffs, including the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots of 2001 and last year's NFC North-winning Chicago Bears. Even the Steelers, at 7-5 last year, ripped off eight wins in a row en route to a Super Bowl title — the first champion to win three road playoff games.
"We've got 12 games to play. ... We're not even thinking about last year," linebacker Clark Haggins says. "We're trying to write our own history."
Bettis thinks no NFL coach is better equipped to deal with adversity than Cowher, who produced winning seasons in 2000 and 2002 after starting 1-3 or worse. Bettis points to Cowher's ability to fortify team unity and sharpen focus in times of crisis: "He always explains exactly where you are, so it's crystal clear. He won't allow you to quit."
Cowher, who has never started 1-4, might have sent a message by shaking up the normal routine after the latest loss. Although the team didn't arrive back from San Diego until 6 a.m. Monday, he had players report for videotape review that afternoon. It was the first time Cowher, in his 15th season, didn't give them the day off after a night game on the West Coast.
The idea hit him as the loss simmered during the bus ride to the San Diego airport. "I didn't like how I felt. I knew that was how they probably felt," he says.
The sooner the loss was flushed from their system — and psyche — Cowher reasoned the sooner the focus would be directed to the Chiefs (2-2), who have won two in a row.
"We just have to go out there and win a game and not get paralysis by analysis," Cowher says. "It's really that simple."
Posted 10/12/2006 10:56 PM ET
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