Sunday, October 11, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Don't think for a Detroit minute that the Steelers are looking past the Lions, because that's not the danger today; the danger is that the Steelers might be looking past the Lions and the Cleveland Browns to an Oct. 25 Heinz Field date with the Minnesota Favre-uh-lettes.
That would be a farsighted approach in the way that farsighted is a figurative synonym for nearsighted, but it's hard to avoid when you consider the degree of difficulty associated with the Lions and Browns as contrasted with the spectacular headaches presented by Minnesota.
Getty Images
DETROIT - SEPTEMBER 20: Linebacker Larry Foote #55 of the Detroit Lions celebrates after sacking quarterback Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field on September 20, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan.
The trick, at least for the next 12 hours, is for Mike Tomlin to convince his fellas that the Lions are no walk in the cake, as Larry Foote might say.
No cake at the beach.
No beach in the park.
Tomlin might be able to pull this off, but it's not easy. Inclined to be helpful (if it doesn't involve actual work), I've tried to illuminate some cogent points, such as:
These are not the same Lions who recently lost 19 in a row, no, no; these are the Lions who've lost 20 of their last 21 and 31 of the last 37.
OK, not real persuasive.
How 'bout this?
New head coach Jim Schwartz has made a monstrous impact since arriving in Detroit, really stunning, except that most of it has been on the Tennessee Titans, who haven't won since he left their defensive coordinator post to take the Lions' job.
Yeah, it's tricky.
Fact is, I couldn't scare up any urgency about this little safari today until shortly after noon Friday, when I finally noticed that Donovan Woods, the second-year free agent out of Oklahoma State, was doing a terrible job imitating Foote at inside linebacker on the scout team defense. Not physically, not mentally, just verbally.
How can you prepare for an afternoon of Foote's incessant yakkophonic insults when Donovan Woods quietly is going about his business?
I put this directly to Ty Carter, the veteran safety.
"Is Donovan Woods talking enough out there to be Larry Foote?"
"Frankly, no!" Carter said, although "Frankly" wasn't the word he used.
Foote won two Super Bowls with this Steelers defense in seven seasons of positional excellence and is missed to this day for his garrulous nature and ready smile. He simplified a highly technical Dick LeBeau scheme into something he could be effective with, and deftly honed his verbal approach thusly:
"I talk," he said, "the whole game."
That, of course, was not entirely true.
He talked before the game, too.
"That's Footy's game," said defensive end Brett Keisel, who remembered he was often laughing as he broke the huddle at the smack Foote was barking across the line. "It's the way he's always played it, since he was a kid. Our offense can expect an earful after every play. At least someone will be getting it after every play, and he's not going to be telling them how great they are.
"He would know certain things about guys that no one else would know. And he'd just scream it at them."
While that might have presented a common nuisance to Steelers opponents, might the Foote irritation quotient be exacerbated by his awareness of the personalities in their huddle this afternoon at Ford Field?
"If you're the type of player who is affected by that kind of stuff, I guess you have to prepare yourself," shrugged tight end Heath Miller. "I've never paid much attention that stuff. But if he likes to yell about things he knows about people, I imagine he's got a lot of information."
Foote will be ready, you can be sure. A team with only as many wins as there are active lawsuits related to the alleged behavior of the quarterback is not a terribly elusive target, but not even Foote will be able to talk his way around today's predicament.
The Lions likely will be without starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, the top draft choice who was on the verge of his first 300-yard passing day in the NFL when he was hurt in the fourth quarter against Chicago last week. They might further be without wideout Calvin Johnson, who had 119 receiving yards at the half that day.
On top of that, the Steelers have some things to get done. It wouldn't hurt to get around to winning on the road at some point in 2009, and it might be advisable to actually intercept a pass for the first time since Troy Polamalu went to the sidelines a month ago yesterday.
The Steelers need a win today just as desperately as they needed one in prime time against San Diego. They need to get to 3-2 so they can start the business of looking past Cleveland, and they need to get there even if Larry Foote never shuts up.
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First published on October 11, 2009 at 12:00 am
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