By Mike Prisuta
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, December 25, 2006
In the end, they failed to hold up their end, but Dan Rooney wasn't holding it against his Steelers after the Ravens spoiled Christmas Eve and stole the Steelers' playoff dreams.
Admittedly "very disappointed and down" upon being eliminated from postseason contention, Rooney was asked if the Steelers were still comprised of championship stock despite the 7-8 record they will drag to Cincinnati for the meaningless regular-season finale on New Year's Eve.
"The players? Yeah," Rooney said. "We need some players, obviously, but I think we're going to be able to get some."
The coaching staff, apparently, is another matter entirely.
"I have nothing to say about that at this time," Rooney said.
Soon enough, presumably, Rooney will reveal his opinion of the job done by coach Bill Cowher this season, one that played out amid the bizarre circumstance of Cowher refusing to commit to completing the remaining year on his contract.
Once upon a time, such a scenario was unimaginable.
Cowher had always been a big fan of commitment and had always demanded as much from his players, no matter their stature.
The lack of commitment had in one instance compelled Cowher to deliver a short soliloquy on the subject a few years back when an unknown named Brian Goolsby had packed it in and vacated training camp in Latrobe before the Steelers could cut him.
"If you don't want to get into it, don't start," Cowher said then. "But if you're going to start something, don't quit; finish it."
As for what transpired Sunday, quitting wasn't the problem.
"We got beat by a better football team," Cowher said yesterday.
The Ravens' clubbing of the Steelers, 27-0, on Nov. 26 in Baltimore, and 31-7 in the Heinz Field rematch unquestionably establishes that.
For the Steelers, the unofficial ending was as appropriate as it was frustrating.
Trailing 21-7, the Steelers faced a first-and-goal at the Baltimore 11 two snaps into the fourth quarter. They turned to Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker, who charged initially up the gut, then slid around guard Kendall Simmons and behind offensive tackle Willie Colon, who was in the process of sealing off the great Ray Lewis.
Parker darted across the 5-yard line, where he was met by cornerback Corey Ivey on one side and safety Dawan Landry on the other. The ball popped free, as Parker hit the deck at the 3.
The ball appeared to pop free after Parker hit the deck, to the extent that a great many players failed to react as the ball bounced into the end zone.
Ravens safety Ed Reed wasn't one of them.
He scooped it up and returned it to the Ravens' 35, effectively ending the Steelers' season.
There was the formality of a challenge to be dealt with, of course, but by now even the scoreboard at Heinz Field had given up, offering highlights of other games rather than a replay of the Steelers' last gasp.
Not that it mattered.
Once it was announced that the play stood as correctly called, it was no longer relevant what sort of help the Steelers were getting from New England and Tennessee.
Most of the players will be back next season and attempt to make amends.
Cowher's fate is anyone's guess.
If this is to be his final season with the Steelers, it should go down as one compromised much more by turnovers than by Cowher's status altering the outcome.
Still, Rooney may never know that for certain, which might tend to make him feel a little bitter as well as "disappointed and down" whenever the championship-defense-that-wasn't is recalled.
Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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