Steelers' dominant win against Chiefs should quiet the critics

Monday, October 16, 2006
By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In a minute less than three hours at Heinz Field yesterday, a perfect storm of football excellence obliterated about three weeks of perfectly ridiculous football negativism. Much to the amazement of the many who considered them dead or near-death after only four games, the Steelers are well, and of greater importance, very much alive in the pursuit of another Super Bowl championship.

What are we going to talk about this week, Pittsburgh?

No more Big Ben bashing. No more coach trashing. No more defense thrashing. No more wide receiver smashing.

A 45-7 flogging of the Kansas City Chiefs turned the season right side up after three consecutive losses had turned it upside down. The fact division rivals Cincinnati and Baltimore both lost considerably tightened the AFC North race and left the Steelers in control of their own destiny.

The team that was two games down with four weeks remaining last season is one game down in the loss column with 11 weeks remaining. It is hardly an insurmountable challenge for the defending Super Bowl champion, particularly after the Bengals and Ravens gave indication they are eminently catchable in losses to Tampa Bay and Carolina, respectively.

The absurd notion that the Steelers might have to win 10 of their final 12 games merely to notch a playoff spot seems laughable today.

The panic over the defeats, in consecutive games to Jacksonville, Cincinnati and San Diego, had become an epidemic in Steelers Nation, where passionate loyalty runs neck-and-neck with over-the-top second-guessing. Ignored in the panic were the facts the losses came against championship caliber teams and that the games were close. The Steelers were not that far off, although few wanted to admit that.

"Two or three different plays changed this game and could have changed last week's game," said offensive tackle Max Starks. "There are minute things that can alter a game. Today we made the plays."

Many reasons had been put forth for the Steelers' slump and most of then centered around quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who -- there's no other word for it -- stunk in the team's three defeats. Some insisted he was not mentally over his near-fatal motorcycle accident in the spring.
Others said the September appendectomy had rendered him weak and not ready to play.

He exploded all those myths against the Chiefs with a near-perfect display of football. He completed 16 of 19 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Better than that, the passing game gobbled up large chunks of yardage on single plays as Roethlisberger threw to Santonio Holmes for 50 yards, Nate Washington for 47 and Hines Ward for 28.

Willie Parker dashed for 109 yards on 21 carries and backup Najeh Davenport ran for 78 on 12, including a run of 48 yards, behind an offensive line that returned to its pre-eminent status.

The defense throttled and confused Kansas City quarterback Damon Huard, who completed 16 of 32 passes for 162 yards, and held stud running back Larry Johnson to 26 yards on 15 carries.

Flawless is not a word that should normally be used in describing so complicated and multi-faceted an endeavor as a football game, but this one came close to deserving such a label.

Coach Bill Cowher was asked about the negativism from media and fans that had surrounded the team. He smiled as the question was being asked, almost as though he had been waiting for it and wanted it.

"To be honest with you, and we've talked about it, it's how you deal with it. You knew it was going to be there. Those are the things you have to develop a toughness for mentally.

"What are you going to do the first time you have a three-and-out? What's going to happen the first time they get a couple of first downs? To me, it's how you deal with those things. You'll either become more determined or you can get frustrated and let your circumstances take over and shut it down.

"We have some mentally tough people and some people who have been there before."

Although praising his team, Cowher spoke cautiously about the future, as well he should. This was Kansas City, a team that had beaten only San Francisco and Arizona, NFL lightweights. In two of the next three games the competition is considerably more high-level -- Atlanta on Sunday and Denver.

"There is still a lot of football left to be played,'' he said, "and we still have a long way to go. You don't just get there in one game.

"We still have some work to do, trust me."

He is, of course, correct. But the string of defeats is behind them, their confidence is returning and Super Bowl hopes correctly remain alive in Pittsburgh.

(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )

Roethlisberger, Defending Super Bowl Champs Stumble to 1-3 Start

What's Wrong in Pittsburgh?
USA Today
October 12, 2006

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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

Steelers of old give tesimony to the good that can grow from a bad start

Sunday, October 15, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Talk about Super Bowl hangovers! Safety Mike Wagner's head still throbs 30 years later.

"Not only did we start 1-4, but Bradshaw was hurt," Wagner said the other day.

That was the topper for the 1976 Steelers. Two-time defending Super Bowl champs, they were about to lose for the fourth time in their first five games when the Browns' Turkey Joe Jones corkscrewed quarterback Terry Bradshaw's head into the hated unholy ground in Cleveland Stadium.

You don't get much lower than losing your Pro Bowl quarterback and slumping to 1-4 at the same time. Not unless you consider the 1995 Steelers, who just missed the Super Bowl the previous season. They lost their All-Pro corner-back, Rod Woodson, and their starting quarterback, Neil O'Donnell, in the first game of the season and staggered into mid-season with a 3-4 record.

"I know it was tough in the beginning of the year," former linebacker Levon Kirkland said. "We were really scrambling at the time. We were really lost at the time and didn't have a whole lot of answers. And you're talking about a team that was really good the year before."

Wagner, Kirkland and others from those two remarkable Steelers comeback teams see a possible similarity to what they went through and what the defending Super Bowl champs of today are experiencing after four games and a 1-3 record.

Fans were frustrated, players and coaches were puzzled, just as they are today. Yet each of those two teams turned it around in remarkable fashion. The '76 Steelers won their next nine games to finish 10-4 and pummeled Baltimore in the playoffs before they lost the AFC championship game in Oakland without their two 1,000-yard runners Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. The late Art Rooney Sr. called it the best Steelers team he ever had.

The '95 Steelers also won their next eight games before losing what was, to them, a meaningless Christmas Eve game in Green Bay to go 11-5. They reached the Super Bowl, where they lost to Dallas.

It can be done.

"The same thing they're going through right now, we went through it," said Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham. "Fans don't understand that, but they lost to some pretty good teams here. We lost our games like these guys are doing, in the fourth quarter."

Fans weren't any more understanding 30 years ago than they are today, Ham said.

"My wife always tells me she'd go to the grocery story and was afraid to write a check because people would see the name and start complaining about the team," Ham said. "The whole town thinks you're going to win every game. Yeah, it got pretty bad when we were 1-4."

Wagner can relate to what today's Steelers are going through this week. The players probably have a few thoughts that go together.

"One, they're trying as hard as they can. Two, they're probably a little confused why it's not working. Three, they think they'll get it straightened out.

"Once you won the championship and believe you can beat the best, you have that confidence factor. There's also the other issue: the honeymoon's over after you lose a couple of games early. Then, the fans and media take a different approach to analyzing the team."

Hitting bottom

The Steelers Thursday signed their only link as a player from that 1995 Super Bowl team to the one trying to defend a Super Bowl championship, linebacker Chad Brown. But secondary coach Darren Perry was a safety on that team and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was his coach.
"That was a tough stretch," Perry said about his team's four losses in five games after a 2-0 start. "I still remember that Thursday night game pretty vividly against Cincinnati."

The Bengals won, 27-9, in Three Rivers Stadium to drop the Steelers to 3-4. But as low as the Steelers felt, they were still in first place. But they had one thing this team doesn't -- no competition in the division. No other team in the old AFC Central had a winning record after seven games in '95 and only the Steelers had a winning record at the end.

The Steelers made one very big move in '95 when they switched Carnell Lake from strong safety to cornerback to replace the injured Woodson during the open week that preceded their eighth game. They won eight in a row with him there.

"I called Carnell abut 10:30 at night and said we'd like to move you to corner and you should probably come in here and start working on it," LeBeau recalled. "The next morning, at quarter to 7, the building wasn't even open. I heard someone knocking on the door, I looked around at the door and there was Carnell."

The 1995 team's offense came alive during the second half of the season as O'Donnell returned.
The 1976 defense put on one of the great shows in NFL history to save that season, shutting out three consecutive foes, five in eight games and holding two others in the final nine games to 6, 3 and 3 points.
Dick Hoak was an assistant coach on that team, on the '95 team and on this one.

"The thing about the '76 team, we were coming off two Super Bowls, we're 1-4 and the quarterback gets hurt," Hoak said. "Now we have to put [rookie] Mike Kruczek at quarterback and we're playing the next week in Cincinnati, who is 4-1. If Cincinnati beats us, we're done.
"The guys all got together and said we have to do this thing. Mike played against the Bengals and I think he threw nine passes."

He threw 12, completed five. Harris ran 41 times, Bleier six and Frenchy Fuqua five as the Steelers won, 23-6.

It was the kind of game Bill Cowher and his team needs today, the kind the coach meant when he talked the past week about just winning one game.

"It's hard to explain how those things happen," Hoak said. "Just like last year, we're 7-5. If we lose one more game, we're done. We got on a roll, started playing good, cut down on the mistakes and we won eight in a row. People started making plays."

There was no panic, Hoak said. Not in '76, not in '95, not last season and he sees none now. Everyone seems to want changes when a team loses, but that's not what turns it around.

"You have to do the things you've practiced since the first day of training camp and minicamp and back in the spring," Hoak said. "You have to do those things, but you just have to start doing them better. You can't turn the ball over.

"You don't have to change your offense, just don't turn the ball over. You can't blow a coverage. You're playing a certain coverage, you can't make that mistake. You have to do those things that you do well and just keep doing them and don't make mistakes."

Forget the past

Cowher treated the key moments of the 1995 and 2005 seasons the same way he approached this week. He told his players to forget about everything that was done to that point.

"Coach Cowher did a good job of really selling that part of the season, that the first seven games were over with," Kirkland said. "We start a new season. We didn't mention what happened up to 3-4.

"We accepted that and said the season's not over with yet. We won eight games in a row, an incredible run. We took them one at time -- I know that's a cliche, but the more we won, the more we believed in ourselves. It was a team buying into the whole package, as if the 3-4 season didn't exist."

Can the 2006 Steelers follow the paths of those previous teams?

"It's not going to be easy," said Kirkland, who works today as a minority student recruiter for Clemson University, his alma mater. "But we were really down and out at 3-4, almost halfway through the season.

"We bounced back and did some good things. This team can do it too. Just play football and don't put so much pressure on themselves. They have the team to do it."

(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com. )

Steelers dip into the past, sign LB Brown

Veteran Brown could play Sunday vs. Chiefs
Friday, October 13, 2006
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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OK, so the locker room is now on the South Side, not the North Side, and none of the Steelers there yesterday were with the team when he was one of their pass-rushing linebackers.

But when he walked into a Steelers locker room yesterday for the first time in 10 years, Chad Brown had his old coach, his old defensive coordinator and even his old jersey waiting for him. His old role might not be too far away, either.

So what if all his former teammates, every last one of them, are missing.

"Jerome [Bettis] was the last guy, and he's gone," Brown said.

A decade after he made the Pro Bowl in his final season with the Steelers, Brown, 36, returned yesterday to help his former team, which has been beset with injuries at outside linebacker. He signed a one-year contract for the veteran minimum of $810,000 and confessed to an odd but exciting feeling to be back with the Steelers after a 10-year absence.

"I was pleasantly surprised how familiar it seemed," Brown said. "No matter what you do, 10 years later, it's going to be different if you're away from it. I got some work to do, but I think my experience 10 years ago will allow me to help the team much sooner this year."

It might be sooner than Brown thinks.

Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Porter, whose hamstring was injured in practice Wednesday, was ruled out for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Heinz Field. With backup James Harrison already out with a high ankle sprain, that means Arnold Harrison, a first-year free agent, will start at right outside linebacker.

Not only did that prompt the Steelers to sign Brown, who is in his 14th NFL season, but it also means Brown could play in some pass-rush situations against the Chiefs. To make room for Brown on the 53-man roster, the Steelers released tight end Tim Euhus.

"I'll know better as we get closer," said coach Bill Cowher, who drafted Brown in the second round (44th overall) in 1993. "It's kind of a crash course in everything. I know he's been here before, but that was 10 years ago.

"But he looked good running around there. He'll be out there Sunday, and we'll see what kind of participation he'll have based on how comfortable he is."

Brown was once one of the best pass-rushing linebackers in the NFL, registering 30 sacks in four seasons with the Steelers and 78 in his career. In 1996, his final season with the Steelers, he moved to outside linebacker because of an injury to Greg Lloyd and was selected to the Pro Bowl after registering 13 sacks, fifth most in franchise history.

But Brown left the Steelers to sign in free agency with the Seattle Seahawks, where he made the NFC Pro Bowl team in 1998 and '99. He played eight seasons with the Seahawks until they released him after the 2004 season.

Brown had a chance to return to the Steelers before the 2005 season, even visiting the team during the free-agency period. But he opted to sign with the Patriots because he probably would have been a backup with the Steelers.

"New England had the opportunity to start," Brown said. "That was probably the most exciting thing. This would have definitely been great, to come back here, but opportunity to start was very enticing for me."

Brown was released Sept. 1 by the Patriots after missing a lot of their preseason with a broken hand. He has been keeping in shape, working out at least four days a week, thinking the Patriots would call him back.

Instead, it was the Steelers who needed help at outside linebacker. It was his old team that called him Wednesday, while he was picking up his children from gymnastics class, and gave him his old No. 94 jersey.

"I can't say I'm in fantastic super shape," Brown said. "But I'm better than some guy coming off the couch."

And there he was yesterday, practicing with the Steelers in an indoor facility that wasn't standing the last time he wore a black-and-gold uniform. Sunday, he will play in Heinz Field for only the second time, but his first with the Steelers.

"I bring a body who can play on Sunday," Brown said, smiling. "That's what they need at the linebacker position."

"He knows this defense, and one thing I know he can do is line up as a third-down rusher," Cowher said. "Obviously, it's going to take some time. He hasn't played football in a while. I think you have to be careful how much you expect from him in a short period of time."

(Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466. )

What's wrong with the Steelers?

Theories abound about Steelers' woes
Thursday, October 12, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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What's wrong with the Steelers? It depends on who's doing the talking.

There are no experts on the matter, only opinions from those in the business who have seen the defending Super Bowl champions (1-3) on tape, on television and in person this season.

Those opinions start with critiques of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger but do not end there. They include criticism of the wide receivers, running game, offensive line and even a citation for a possible Super Bowl hangover because players perhaps took interest in soup commercials and travel to distant places at the expense of working out.

"It's very obvious; it's Roethlisberger," said Bob Trumpy, a former NFL tight end who broadcast the game Sunday in San Diego for CBS Radio/Westwood One. "He's the guy who's the magic and he's being very careless with the football. He's not protecting the ball. You can't have a quarterback who is careless with the football."

Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, who lives in Sewickley and analyzes his former team on ESPN Radio 1250, believes the problems lie more with the receivers than the quarterback.

"I don't think any secondary fears those wideouts," Ham said. "Ben doesn't have the kind of team around him that can run for 150 yards every game like he's had. If you don't have the wideouts -- you saw Pittsburgh's running game -- you stop Pittsburgh. I can't remember the last deep ball we made in the passing game."

Ham noted that Roethlisberger has a combination of young receivers and a veteran in Hines Ward, who is trying to get over a hamstring injury that kept him out of every preseason game.

"Santonio Holmes is your only deep threat and he's probably a ways away from being a factor.
Hines Ward is not a deep burner to begin with and he has a hamstring problem now and he's in his ninth season; would you double him if you were a secondary coach? I wouldn't."

Ham said it's only natural that all that would affect Roethlisberger's play.

"He's had too much success here the last couple of years," Ham said. "It's not just Ben. On a couple of those shots he took downfield, he's getting hit delivering the ball. I have a feeling he's back there looking down field and when he's looking at his wideouts, it's a concern to him."

Gil Brandt, the former Cowboys personnel director and a Hall of Fame nominee, now works as a senior analyst for NFL.com. He said he has seen teams, including his Cowboys, suffer from a Super Bowl hangover, although he does not know if it applies to this year's Steelers.

"No. 1, you didn't get as much offseason participation as you had in the years leading up to when you were trying to get to the pinnacle," Brandt said of the natural Super Bowl letdown. "Instead of 40 workouts, you do 37.

"No. 2, I think what happens is all of a sudden, the opportunities off the field become more prevalent than ever before. There are a few more golf tournaments, a few more appearances at shopping centers and things like that. Leading up to the season, there isn't as much preparation as there was in previous years."

Mike Butler, a Pittsburgh native who recently wound up 19 years as a scout or personnel director with the Indianapolis Colts, believes it's not one thing that has caused the Steelers to lose three of their first four games. But, as with Trumpy, he starts with the quarterback, noting Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident in June and appendectomy a month ago as possibly throwing off his karma.

"He seems to be making some bad decisions. It just seems like he's off, something's missing," Butler said. "He's probably rusty; he missed practice time with the receivers, which is big. They have to do that every day, in my opinion, to keep that chemistry. In my opinion, it just takes some time.

"Once you start losing, it compounds itself. Everyone starts pressing and then you don't play as well because you're pressing. I think it just takes a little time in practice."

As do others, Butler believes the Steelers' ground attack is not up to snuff.

"I don't think the running game is as much a threat as it's been in the past. That makes pass coverage a little easier when that threat's gone. Willie Parker's had some success and some big games, but I don't think it's very consistent myself. Without that threat, you can put more guys in coverage, you don't have to play as close to the line."

But then, according to Ham, there's not much to cover anyway. Ham does think the offensive line, running game and quarterback will be OK.

"They played some pretty tough teams against pretty tough defenses," Ham said of the line. "I think that running game will come around."

Trumpy agrees with Ham's assessment, except for the quarterback. He's not sure Roethlisberger will be OK. He also noted that it takes more time to develop a rapport between a quarterback and his receivers than they've had this year.

Trumpy watched the Chargers beat the Steelers Sunday night and remarked at the time that San Diego could not match the Steelers in talent.

"I'm not sure any offensive linemen for San Diego would make that Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line. Maybe two or three Chargers defensive players would make the Steelers.

"It's all centered on Ben Roethlisberger. You can't look anywhere else. I don't see Pittsburgh as a team making stupid mistakes. I don't see blown coverages or missed blitzes. I just see Roethlisberger playing this year like it was last year and it's not; that happens in this league."

Steelers coach Bill Cowher acknowledged all the analysis offered to explain his team's 1-3 start.

"People can speculate. I think what happens when you're not successful as an individual or a team, there's a lot of speculation as to why. Is it this, is it that? From our standpoint, it doesn't serve any purpose to dwell on it," he said.

"The bottom line is, each week we're going to try to find a way to win a game. That to me is the solution to all these [theories]. We just have to win a game."

(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com. )

Ron Cook: Steelers need a Roethlisberger cure

Monday, October 09, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

SAN DIEGO -- There was a time, not that long ago, when we wondered if Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was ever going to lose a game. Now? If you're wondering if it might be a while before he wins another one, you are not alone.

This isn't the Big Ben we know, is it? He's 0-3 as a starter this season after a 23-13 fiasco against the San Diego Chargers last night at Qualcomm Stadium.

These aren't the Steelers we know, either. At 1-3, already in a deep hole in the AFC North Division behind the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals with all three losses coming in conference games, they hardly look like reputable defending Super Bowl champions.
They look more like the Cleveland Browns, actually.

No, the season isn't over.

The Steelers still have time -- three-quarters of a season, to be exact -- to fight their way back into playoff contention.

But it ain't going to happen if they don't start getting better play from their star quarterback.

Roethlisberger wasn't as bad last night as he was in his first two starts this season against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Bengals. He did some good things, especially in the first half when the Steelers appeared in control with a 13-7 lead. He hit running back Najeh Davenport for a 32-yard gain on the Steelers' touchdown drive. On one field-goal drive, he completed 5 of 6 passes for 59 yards. On another, he led the Steelers 54 yards in the final 1:06 of the half.

But Roethlisberger, clearly, wasn't good enough to beat a solid San Diego team on the road. It's not just that his offense was shut out in the second half, although that was awful. It was his two interceptions -- especially the killer second one -- that energized the Chargers fans and threatened to shake old Qualcomm Stadium into the Pacific Ocean.

The Steelers still had a chance, down, 20-13, with the ball at their 46 with a little less than six minutes to play. There was no reason to panic on a second-and-6 play. But Roethlisberger did. With Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips breaking in untouched and wrapping him in a bear hug, Roethlisberger threw the ball blindly across the middle, right to safety Marlon McCree.

Don't you have to make sure that ball, somehow, is thrown into the ground near a receiver?

Don't you, at the very least, have to take a sack and live to play third down?

Roethlisberger blamed this kind of play on "brain cramps" in his first two games.

Apparently, the medication he has been taking for his malady isn't working.

That's the worst part of Big Ben's rough start. He has been making such horrible decisions. That's so unlike him, so unlike the guy who came in with a 27-6 record as a starting quarterback.

Maybe, in the beginning, you could blame it on rust. Roethlisberger had to miss the opening game against the Miami Dolphins -- the Steelers' only win -- because of a tough-luck emergency appendectomy four days before the game.

But last night? In his third game back?

Roethlisberger has had plenty of time to shake off his rust.

It's also hard to buy the argument that Roethlisberger has lost something off his fastball because of lingering effects from his horrific motorcycle accident in June. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with him physically.

No, this problem is all in Big Ben's head.

Not from banging it against that automobile windshield.

From throwing those stupid interceptions, seven of them now in three games.

The Steelers aren't going to be a decent team until he finds a cure.

Ed Bouchette on the Steelers: 10/8/06

A weekly look inside the team, the issues, the questions
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

No NFL team has had more success running the ball than the Steelers since Bill Cowher became their coach in 1992. And no team has treated the position of running back in the draft more cavalierly than the Steelers.

Logic would dictate that a franchise that has run 7,453 times for a league-high 30,650 yards since '92 would draft a few horses to lead the way. Instead, they've practically ignored the position in the draft.

The Steelers have not drafted a running back in the first two rounds since Cowher became their coach. The last time they picked one that high was in 1989 when they selected Tim Worley in the first round. Including him, they have not drafted a halfback high in the draft who also produced consistently for them since they chose Franco Harris in the first round in 1972.

The only halfback they drafted since Harris who made a Pro Bowl (other than Harris), was Barry Foster. He became their most successful draft choice since Harris because he holds the team rushing record with 1,690 yards in 1992, the first of his two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons. He was a fifth-round draft pick in 1990. However, his heart was not in the game and he lasted only five seasons, out after the '94 season.

Among their more productive runners through the 1980s and early 1990s were Frank Pollard and Merril Hoge. Pollard was drafted in the 11th round in 1980, Hoge the 10th round in 1987, almost afterthoughts. There also was Bam Morris, a third-round choice in 1994 who had early success but also ran afoul of the nation's drug laws and washed out quickly.

It's not only strange that the Steelers have ignored the position in the draft as they have, but how productive they've remained in spite of it -- and, perhaps, lucky. How else do you account for finding runners such as Foster, Pollard, Hoge and, most recently, Willie Parker either later in the draft or as free agent rookies?

One reason the Steelers had no need to draft a back high more recently was the trade that brought them Jerome Bettis in 1996. He proved himself immediately and would play 10 years for them.

Yet, starting in 2003, coach Bill Cowher started to phase Bettis out when he installed Amos Zereoue as his starting halfback instead of the Bus. That turned out a documented disaster but the Steelers never did prepare through the draft to replace Bettis or restock their backfield to represent the kind of power running team they've been all these years.

In this century, they've drafted only three halfbacks, none higher than the fifth round. Only one made the team, Verron Haynes, drafted fifth in 2002. Haynes has performed as their third-down back and serves this season as the backup to Parker.

The only other halfbacks drafted since 2000 were seventh-rounders: Noah Herron in 2005 and Cedric Humes this year. Both were released and placed on the practice squad, and Herron was signed by the Packers.

The Steelers did sign Duce Staley as their top-flight free agent in 2004, and he replaced Bettis as the starter, but he has played virtually little more than half a season since then.

Even when they drafted backs high, they fumbled the pick. Worley is a classic example.
He was an I-formation runner at Georgia, used to setting far enough in the backfield to get a running start. The Steelers turned him into a split back. Not only was he a failure on the field, he was suspended for using drugs.

Nevertheless, because they drafted him in 1989, they passed on another runner in 1990, trading their pick to Dallas, who then chose Emmit Smith, who would go on to become the NFL's career rushing leader.

If they can have uniform dress codes, how about uniform fields?

The NFL enforces a uniform code right down to employing uniform police to add up the violations for each game. Why not have a uniform code for all the league's playing surfaces?

Some NFL fields still are not up to snuff, despite the technological advances in artificial surfaces and, yes, grass fields over the past 10 years. Indeed, they played in the mud and slop years ago, but they also could mash quarterbacks back then without fear of being fined or suspended, and they've made many other advances in the game over the past 20-30 years.

Just because sloppy fields were acceptable 40 years ago does not make it so today.

Some of these grass fields, especially in the North, are worn out by October. The Steelers and Pitt play on the same Heinz Field, where the high schools descend for five championship games in November. Ugh. Already, the middle of many grass fields are worn out.

An informal survey of Steelers players this week found they overwhelming would prefer a new artificial surface at Heinz Field rather than to continue to play on what is passed off as grass there.

One seasoned veteran told me that after several players slipped at Heinz Field during their opening game against Miami, they were told to wear longer spikes.

"It's not the shoes," he said. "It's the field."

When they practice indoors, which is often after they hit November, they practice on FieldTurf, one of the new-wave artificial surfaces that many teams have adopted. Why can't they play on it?

If the Steelers installed an artificial surface at Heinz Field, they could hold more events there instead of trying to limit them. They could invite more high school teams to play, maybe hold a college doubleheader involving Duquesne, Robert Morris, IUP, California, W&J, etc. They also could hold more concerts and whatnot on the field without worry of ruining it.

Bob Smizik: Pirates' McClatchy needs help

Sunday, October 08, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In a self-congratulatory news release last week, the Pirates applauded their attendance success during the past season when they sold 1,861,549 tickets, the fifth-highest total in team history. What the Pirates didn't announce was people bought all those tickets to see a team that had the franchise's fourth-worst record in the past 50 years. Think about that for a second. Considering the Pirates history, achieving the fourth-worst record in the past half-century is not easily done.
In view of such a season -- and despite some of the recent spin it was a hugely disappointing one -- you might think changes were afoot. Ha!
The Pirates don't work that way and that was never more obvious than with the other announcement made last week.

Kevin McClatchy, the man who sits in the chair where the buck is supposed to stop, was given not just an extension but what amounts to the title of CEO For Life. Only with the Pirates are people rewarded in such a grand fashion for leading the team to 11 consecutive losing seasons.
Chairman of the board Bob Nutting, the man who controls the club's financial decisions, didn't have the guts to make a public appearance to hail his latest decision. He sent a press release instead.

It said, in part: "We have great confidence in this group and are especially pleased to have Kevin as our Managing General Partner and CEO. He will continue in that position as long as he desires.''

Wonder how managers Gene Lamont, who led the Pirates to their two best seasons in the past 14 years, and Lloyd McClendon and general manager Cam Bonifay feel about that? All three were fired after significantly shorter losing tenures.

The difference: Those three honorable gentlemen were not partners and friends with the Nutting family.

A word about McClatchy. He is a frequent target of the media, including this column, and fans because he is the public face of the Pirates and has been since he bought the team in 1996. He is the one constant in all those losing years where there have been four managers and two general managers. The Nuttings, Bob and his father, G. Ogden, own the largest share of the team. They use McClatchy to stand between themselves and the public and to take all the criticism.

I like Kevin McClatchy and take no joy in frequently criticizing him, which is why I have attempted to point out recently that the Nuttings are the real owners of the Pirates and the people with whom the buck should stop. McClatchy is a great guy and a first-class gentleman. He wants to win as badly as anyone and if he had the money, he'd pour it into the team. He doesn't.

But to give him such an all-encompassing vote of confidence when he has overseen 11 consecutive losing seasons tells us all that is wrong with this franchise.

It's true, the team was successful off the field this year, but a large part of that is due to the fact Major League Baseball threw the Pirates a life preserver called the All-Star Game. Without the additional 2,500 season tickets that were sold almost totally because of the All-Star Game, attendance would have declined, as it should have. But Nutting looked right past that fact to take the easy way out and reward his pal.

Judging from discussions with people who work under McClatchy on the business side of the Pirates operation, he is held in high regard. He is considered a good boss who challenges his employees. But he's over his head on the baseball side, where the Nuttings allow him something close to total autonomy. Even after 11 years with the Pirates, he is not nearly steeped enough in the details of playing the game and winning at it to be the man in charge.

Where was McClatchy when general manager Dave Littlefield was throwing money -- about $17 million -- at free agents who almost any knowledgeable observer knew were not the answer?
The Pirates got nothing out of Sean Casey, Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa that they couldn't have received from players already on the team that would have cost considerably less.
The money could have been so much better spent on player development either within their own system or in Latin America or Asia. But it was showered on unworthy free agents by a baseball operations staff that clearly lacks the necessary evaluating skills.

Since McClatchy is CEO and managing general partner for the foreseeable future, he needs help on the baseball side. It's time for the Pirates to divide his duties. It's time to bring in someone over Littlefield who actually knows baseball.

The San Diego Padres, for example, have a first-class general manager in Kevin Towers. But that wasn't enough for San Diego ownership. Last year they hired Sandy Alderson as their CEO. Alderson had previously worked as the highly successful general manager of the Oakland A's. If Towers is threatened by Alderson, it hasn't shown. The Padres have made the playoffs the past two seasons.

Such a person would not come cheap, a real turnoff to the Nuttings. But if the Pirates want to end this 14 years of failure, they need bold new initiatives. If Littlefield is their man, and they claim he is, they need someone with more baseball savvy than McClatchy overseeing him.

(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )

Ron Cook: Steelers 'slobber' at prospect of a newbie

Sunday, October 08, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By 1983, the Steelers' defense had lost much of its Steel Curtain strength, but it still looked plenty formidable to a young, hotshot quarterback from Stanford making his NFL debut at Three Rivers Stadium.

"He had no teeth, and he was slobbering all over himself," John Elway would say later of Jack Lambert. "I'm thinking, 'You can have your money back. Just get me out of here. Let me go be an accountant ...' "

Wouldn't it be great if San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers has some of those same thoughts tonight when he looks at the Steelers' defense and sees the Most Feared Player In The NFL -- or so some say -- glaring back at him?

It's not out of the question that Joey Porter and pals will put a little fright and confusion into Rivers, a young, hotshot quarterback who will be making his fourth NFL start. That's typically been the impact a Dick LeBeau-coached defense has on inexperienced quarterbacks. It's especially been true the past two-plus seasons when LeBeau has played evil tricks on opposing offenses by calling on the versatility of such players as Porter, James Farrior and Troy Polamalu.

"We run so much stuff and we do a great job disguising it," defensive end Aaron Smith said. "It can get a little complicated. It can be a little overwhelming."

A little complicated? A little overwhelming?

A LeBeau defense has so many intricacies that it took the great Polamalu a full season to understand it and learn how to play it.

Imagine what that defense must look like to an untested quarterback.

Since LeBeau returned as defensive coordinator in 2004, the Steelers have gone 5-0 against quarterbacks in their first season as a starter. Only the New York Giants' Eli Manning had any success against them. Last season, Chicago's Kyle Orton and Cleveland's Charlie Frye combined to complete just 50 percent of their passes, were sacked 11 times and converted only 5 of 29 third-down situations. In 2004, Cincinnati's Carson Palmer, seeing the Steelers' defense for the first time, had his second-lowest passer rating of the season (52.1).

"We've got a whole bunch of blitz packages ready for [Rivers]," defensive end Brett Keisel said, grinning wickedly. "We're going to try to get after him.

"It's hard to play against our defense if you haven't seen it before. You never know what Troy is going to do. He'll come up in the box and, it's like, 'I'm coming.' Then, at the last second, he'll drop back into coverage. It can get pretty confusing for a young quarterback."

Rivers figures to have a better chance than most. He's more like Palmer and Manning -- a guy who has big-time quarterback written all over him -- than Orton and Frye. He was picked fourth overall in the 2004 draft, seven spots ahead of Ben Roethlisberger. It wasn't just the Chargers who loved him. The Steelers would have taken him over Big Ben Roethlisberger had they had the chance.

Not that anyone at Steelers headquarters will admit that now.

Not after Roethlisberger has gone 27-6 as a starter and won a Super Bowl.

Not after Rivers spent his first two pro seasons on the bench behind Drew Brees.

The Chargers have been careful not to ask too much of Rivers yet. Coach Marty Schottenheimer was heavily criticized last week for going conservative in his play-calling in a 16-13 loss at Baltimore. After leading, 13-7, at halftime, the Chargers called running plays on 19 of their first 23 plays in the second half. For the season, they have run the ball 64 percent of the time, a much higher number than the normally run-oriented Steelers (48 percent).

But Schottenheimer's handling of Rivers has merit. It's not just Rivers' inexperience. The Chargers have the NFL's best all-around running back in LaDainian Tomlinson. Why not give him the ball?

The problem is that might not work against the Steelers. In a 24-22 victory at San Diego last season, they held Tomlinson to 62 yards on 18 carries. It was the fourth-lowest total of his 1,462-yard season.

"You hold that guy to 60-some yards," Smith said, "you've had a good day."

Added Farrior, "He didn't run all over us the way he runs over everyone else."

Few backs have big days against the Steelers. In the past 35 games, they have allowed just one 100-yard rusher -- the Indianapolis Colts' Edgerrin James last season. Since 2000, only 13 backs have done it against them. No NFL team has been consistently better against the run.

The Steelers love their chances tonight if they can take away Tomlinson and make Rivers beat them. A first-year starting quarterback against a defense that already has 10 sacks, five interceptions and a fumble recovery? Not to mention a slobbering Porter?

Hey, wouldn't you know Rivers has a business degree from North Carolina State?

You don't think he'd consider a new career as an ...

Nah, that's probably too much to ask even from a LeBeau defense.

Bob Smizik: It's time for politicians to do their part for arena

Penguins do their part for arena; it's politicians' turn
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There have been few pieces of local government business more widely misunderstood in recent years than the alternate arena financing proposal known as Plan B.

Plan B will be employed only if Isle of Capri is not awarded the license for the Pittsburgh slot machine casino. If Isle of Capri wins the license, it has pledged $290 million toward construction of an arena. If Isle of Capri does not win, and knowledgeable people seem to think it won't, Plan B will be used to construct the arena. It calls for contributions from the casino group that wins the license, the Penguins and a slot-financed state economic-development fund.

The precise level of misunderstanding concerning Plan B was best demonstrated by the words Thursday of City Councilwoman Tonya Payne, who, in a stunning lack of understanding of the issue, said, "I think Plan B is absolutely ridiculous, Why should [taxpayers] pay for an arena when somebody else will do it for free."

It is this amazingly short-sighted view that is confusing the issue.

For starters, Ms. Payne doesn't seem to realize this is not about what's best for the Penguins but what's best for the region. It's not about building an arena, it's about which casino group can bring the most money to the region. If another casino operator can do that better than Isle of Capri, and thus bring more tax relief and more money to fund other projects, it should get the license.

That's why there's a Plan B.

To put it plainly, if you love the Penguins, you should love Plan B. If you love the Penguins and you are opposed to Plan B, well, you're an idiot.

Plan B is not in competition with the Isle of Capri. Plan B is in place only if Isle of Capri doesn't win the license. If either Forest City Enterprises, which is considered the favorite, or PITG Gaming LLC wins the license, then and only then is Plan B employed.

If Isle of Capri doesn't get the license and there is no Plan B, it's goodbye to the Penguins.

This is all back in the news because the Penguins have a new owner, and he is a man who has no ties to the city and who has shown an interest in the past in moving the franchise. This is not to denigrate Jim Balsillie. By most indicators, he is the ideal owner and should be treated as such.

In his first public news conference Thursday night at Mellon Arena, Balsillie understandably took the company line and pronounced himself fully behind the Isle of Capri's bid for the slot license. He also kept his distance from Plan B.

He said, "I haven't seen any detail on Plan B. It's kind of a moving target. It's all so darned fluid on a bunch of stuff."

If Plan B can be confusing, it's up to County Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to clear up the issue.

Balsillie is exactly the kind of deep-pocketed owner a Pittsburgh team needs. His wealth, combined with a new arena that will produce more revenue, should, under the economic system now in place in the NHL, enable the Penguins to compete with any franchise in the league.

This is a guy you don't want to get away. You don't want to give him the slightest reason to look elsewhere.

In correctly aligning himself with Isle of Capri, Balsillie likely is closing the door on any official talks with local government about Plan B. That doesn't mean there can't be unofficial talks. That doesn't mean Onorato and Ravenstahl shouldn't be proceeding at full speed to clear up any doubts about Plan B and also make it more palatable for the new owner.

It has been broadly hinted there is negotiating room in some of the funding expected from the Penguins under Plan B. Currently, Plan B calls for the Penguins to put up $8.5 million in advance of construction and $4 million annually. There's said to be wiggle room in the $4 million. If that's so, the politicians should start wiggling.

The Penguins should be expected to put up part of the financing for the arena, just as the Pirates and Steelers did for PNC Park and Heinz Field. They are not in position to make the kind of contribution the Steelers did, but their payment should be somewhat in line with the Pirates'.

Waiting until the slot license is awarded to fine-tune Plan B will be too late. The Penguins have an ideal owner waiting to buy the team, and everything must be done to make certain he has no reason to take the team elsewhere.

The Penguins have done what is required of them. It's up to the politicians to make this work.

Gene Collier: A new Penguins owner sheds little light

Friday, October 06, 2006
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Society in general continues an accelerating trend toward the hurried, the slapdash, the informal, and so maybe the next time the Penguins are sold, the new owner can be slid onto the ice on an overturned puck bucket during a stoppage in play, somewhere between a delayed offside and a punch in the head.

As it was, last night's introduction of Canadian techno-marketing whizbang Jim Balsillie (BALL-suh-lee) ate up the relatively luxuriant span between the first and second periods, and somewhere between a 2-0 Penguins lead and a 3-0 cushion on the Philadelphia Flyers, the new owner managed to buttress everything you knew about the Pittsburgh future of the organ-I-zation without introducing anything you didn't.

All that got accomplished in those clumsy 15 minutes was the quick application of another coat of rhetorical polish on the many uncertain terms already in play: hope, intend, attempt, contingent, workable, viable, and, direct from the uncertainty Hall of Fame, ladies and gentleman, how about another big hand for cautiously optimistic.

Balsillie might not have said any of those things, technically, but he didn't say anything about any Penguin future not tied to a new arena, and more specifically, not tied to the stated intentions of Isle of Capri, the slots applicant with whom the Penguins remain wed until Plan B do us part.

"I haven't seen any detail on Plan B," Balsillie said, apparently not having read the papers. "It's kind of a moving target. It's all so darned fluid on a bunch of stuff."

I'm not a Harvard MBA, as Balsillie is, but as I understand it, the accounting looks something like this:

Penguins contribution to new arena funding if Isle of Capri Gaming wins the slots license -- $0.00

Penguins contribution to new arena funding under Plan B: $128,500,000.00.

Hmmm ...

Even if you've just spent $175 million or so (not including rust-proofing) on a NHL hockey franchise, that apparently doesn't allow you to ignore an opportunity to save $128.5 million over the next 30 years.

"The team made a wise and thoughtful decision to [contract] with Isle of Capri," Balsillie told an edgy thicket of deadline dodging media. "These are the cards I've been dealt, and I'm going to play them the way people expect them to be played."

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and a white tie with a bright blue pattern, Balsillie flashed enough humility and politeness in a difficult forum last night, but he spoke almost distractedly, like a man waiting for a late bus, specifically the 8:30 to Blackberry Arena.

"It should have been done a long time ago," he said. "[NHL Commissioner] Gary Bettman himself has said that a new arena has to be imminent. It has to be done really, really soon. I don't think you can spring before this is done."

Maybe it's me, but I got that vague sense that if plans for a new building aren't firm sometime this winter and moving the franchise were to become an inevitable alternative, it wouldn't exactly turn Balsillie's Blackberrys blue. Having shown up among Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 (this presumably includes Mike Eruzione) and having essentially founded the Center for International Governance Innovation and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, winding up as the guy who was in charge when the Penguins moved to Hamilton isn't really going to sully Balsillie's resume very far from Blawnox.

For reassurance otherwise, only Mario Lemieux offered anything close to confidence that Balsillie would do everything possible to keep the hockey team here.

"Absolutely," Lemieux said on roughly that question. "I think he's going to be a perfect owner for this team and this market, and that he'll do everything he can to make it work."

Lemieux's iconic reputation is likely more at stake than Balsillie's in this matter, and the Hall of Famer acted last night as though he was confident there would be no ill will to come his way as a result of this relationship.

"I'd love to be involved in the franchise and that's something Jim and I will be talking about in the future," Lemieux said on his 41st birthday. "I'm always going to be in Pittsburgh. I'm raising my kids here. I love this team and this city."

Yes, well, that was somewhat reassuring. Where else would we hold the monthly ceremony lifting "66" to the rafters anyway?

(Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com)

Lemieux says he would like to stay in mix

Friday, October 06, 2006
By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The arena still sits at 66 Mario Lemieux Place. His nameplate adorns an empty stall in the team dressing room. Fans who wear their hearts on their sleeves wear his name on their backs. His jersey and retired number have been restored to their place of honor among the championship banners hanging from the rafters.

The agreement to sell the franchise notwithstanding, Mario Lemieux and the Penguins still share a bond as unbreakable as the chemical partnership of hydrogen and oxygen atoms that create molecules of water that in turn form ice. Fitting, in that Le Magnifique was the oxygen for hockey in Pittsburgh since 1984.

Last night, on the occasion of his 41st birthday, Lemieux stood at a news conference in a business suit to introduce the new owner of a franchise he took to championship glory as a player, then bailed out of bankruptcy with money he was owed by the previous owners. He is not keeping any money in the team but left open the possibility of serving as a consultant.
"I'm always going to be a Penguin," Lemieux said. "I love this team and this city. I'm raising my kids here ... I'd love to be involved in the franchise."

As difficult as it is to put aside the memorable goals and trophies accumulated in a Hall of Fame hockey career, the focus of Lemieux's appearance last night was on his save -- the biggest one in franchise history, the one that kept it afloat in dire times.

Eight months ago, when a heart ailment and the toll of time forced him to retire, Lemieux announced that the franchise was on the market. He said at the time that the Penguins might have to leave town if a new arena isn't built, and he didn't want to be the owner who moved them from the city where they were born 39 years ago.

Financial hard times has nudged him into this unique position as a player who owned the team that employed him. In 1998, when the Penguins sought relief in bankruptcy court while drowning in red ink, Lemieux was still owed about $28 million under a guaranteed contract he signed after winning the second Stanley Cup.

Navigating the minefield of a legal process in which he emerged as the chief creditor, Lemieux put up his contract to cover $20 million in equity to assume ownership while forfeiting the remainder. He assembled an investment group that brought in an infusion of cash from California supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, Wildfire Productions, SMG Pittsburgh, William and Patricia Kassling, the Robert Brooks family, Robert and Mark Hofmann, BBSALP Holdings, Friends of Mario, The Emperor Group, James Gale, and Paula and Angela Falconi.

Lemieux took over the team Sept. 3, 1999, but his ownership was seen as transitional or temporary. Now, Lemieux is recovering his investment and the reins have been handed to Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, who intends to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh if a new arena is built, either by the Isle of Capri if its slots license is approved or through a Plan B.

Lemieux returned as a player in 2000, returning from a bout with cancer and two back surgeries. Last year, Lemieux was the team captain on opening night against the New Jersey Devils when the NHL returned from year-long shutdown. The burden of his multi-tasking took its own toll. Not only did Lemieux have to face snarly defensemen and stingy goalies, he was involved in getting a deal for an arena and keeping watch on the franchise's finances as chairman and chief executive officer.

In January, Lemieux hung up his skates for good. As of last night, he bade farewell as an owner. And Mark Recchi, whose name is on the Stanley Cup with Lemieux's, said he was happy for his friend and former teammate.

"He built this franchise to where it is," Recchi said. "He kept it here, kept it afloat. He saved it. I'm excited for him. I can only imagine how hard it's been. It got to be overwhelming. I'm really excited that it's finally off his shoulders. Hopefully, the rest can get done properly."

Fans who have cheered Lemieux's exploits would have preferred to have watched him in uniform against the rival Philadelphia. Flyers last night. When fans chanted his name in pre-game ceremonies, Lemieux stood to acknowledge cheers from the owner's box and delivered an unspoken message -- he's always going to be the soul of the Penguins.

"That's not ever going to change. He's always going to be close to the team," said Sidney Crosby, who eclipsed Lemieux's rookie scoring record last season.

To hammer home the point one last time that the torch had been passed, Crosby delivered a video tribute to Lemieux before the game.

"Speaking for the rest of the players, as long as that 66 hangs above us, we'll do our best to carry on your legacy," Crosby said.

(Robert Dvorchak can be reached at 412-263-1959 or at bdvorchak@post-gazette.com. )

Fans tab Clemente as Hometown Hero

Hall of Famer is one Pittsburgh's most beloved athletes

By Ed Eagle / MLB.com
http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com

• Clemente's career stats
• Pirates history
• Get a Clemente jersey

PITTSBURGH -- Roberto Clemente was a hero to millions, and one of Pittsburgh's most beloved athletes.

It's perhaps only fitting, then, that Clemente was selected as the greatest Pirates player of all time in the Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes promotion, presented by DHL.

After two months of balloting, it was announced Wednesday that Clemente had garnered more than 400,000 votes to top fellow Pirates Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and Bill Mazeroski in the voting.

In 19 big-league seasons, all with Pittsburgh, Clemente batted .317 with 240 home runs and 1,305 RBIs. He won four National League batting titles, earned 12 Gold Gloves for his tremendous defense in right field and was selected to 12 NL All-Star teams. Clemente was named the NL MVP in 1966 and the World Series MVP in 1971, when he rallied the Pirates' come-from-behind win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Clemente's accomplishments, however, go far beyond his contributions on the baseball diamond.
Just months after collecting his 3,000th and final career hit, Clemente's life was cut short prematurely when his plane, which was filled with relief aid for victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua, crashed shortly after takeoff on Dec. 31, 1972. Soon after his death, the normal five-year waiting period was waived and the native of Puerto Rico was honored as the first Latin American player to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

In honor of the contributions made by Clemente, Major League Baseball has presented an award in Clemente's name each year since 1972. The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball player who combines outstanding skills on the baseball field with devoted work in the community.

The Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes balloting lasted from July 18 through Sept. 17, during which time more than 17 million votes were cast. Fans were able to cast their ballots in all Major League ballparks, online at MLB.com, via cell phone and at any of the 1,600 participating DHL Authorized Shipping Centers around the country.

The winners from 10 teams were announced Tuesday and Wednesday nights on ESPN. The final 10 winners will be announced Friday night, also on ESPN.

Ed Eagle is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs

Mike Prisuta: Pens Getting Feisty

Web Links
Pens 2006-07 roster

Additional Stories
Statement from Pittsburgh Penguins
Penguins ready to get things going
Pens deal likely today
Malkin out as Flyers, Penguins open season
Notebook: Orpik expected to miss 3-4 weeks
Scouting the Flyers
Youth is served

Mike Prisuta
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 5, 2006

The emphasis last season was on the high-profile acquisitions.

The emphasis this season will be on working for a living.

The Penguins will still have an element of star power on display when they make their 2006-07 debut tonight at Mellon Arena against the Philadelphia Flyers, and they'll get another dose of the same when Evgeni Malkin joins his new team on the ice after three or four games. But if we've learned anything about new general manager Ray Shero since he took over for Craig Patrick, it's that Shero has recognized the Penguins have for too long been a team opponents have been too comfortable playing against, and that Shero is determined to do something about it.

He already has, actually.

Shero has brought in the likes of Mark Eaton and Jarkko Ruutu and Nils Ekman and Ronald Petrovicky and Dominic Moore and Karl Stewart.

And Shero's most recent pickup, Chris Thorburn, is another such agitating clone.

Sidney Crosby will still be counted upon to dazzle, as will Malkin when his shoulder allows.

Ryan Whitney might also exude star power someday, as should Jordan Staal.

But most of the rest will have to be pests if Shero is to succeed in his transformation of the Penguins from a finesse collection into the Nashville Predators.

That's a modest goal, to be certain, but enough of a step up from what the Penguins were a season ago that the players have bought into the concept with apparent approval and enthusiasm.

"I think we're going to be one of those teams that's a real pain in the butt to play against," Whitney said. "I think everyone in here wants to be, and we're kind of taking the shape of someone no one wants to play because we're going to be in your face and competing all night."

Added Ryan Malone: "The attitude is different. We want to be known as a hard-working, in-your-face team."

The Penguins have never been known as that, even in the best of times.

But with those days long gone, such a transformation has been long overdue.

"That's just work ethic," said Crosby, who is often the target of such tactics. "If you play a team with a strong work ethic that comes at you shift after shift, it's frustrating."

This season, the Pens endeavor to do the frustrating, for a change.

To be brilliant at times, but persistent at all times.

Until the puck drops tonight, it's just a theory.

"We haven't played a game yet," Crosby said. "We have to build our identity. You can't go out there and say we're going to do that. Talk's not what it's about is right now.

"We have to go out and do it."

We'll find out starting tonight how committed these new-look Penguins are to their newfound cause.

Canadian poised to buy Penguins

Hockey team expected to close deal soon with executive from BlackBerry firm
Thursday, October 05, 2006
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

More Coverage:
Onorato: We're doing our part to keep Penguins

Jim Balsillie, the Canadian businessman who emerged last month as the front-runner to buy the Penguins, is expected to be named as the team's new owner today.

Negotiations between Mr. Balsillie, 45, and the National Hockey League team apparently have progressed in recent days to the point where a deal was close yesterday, several sources close to the process said. Mr. Balsillie is expected to be here for the Penguins' season opener tonight at Mellon Arena against the Philadelphia Flyers and the announcement of the sale would coincide with that.

Mr. Balsillie, chairman and co-chief executive officer of Research in Motion, the Ontario-based company that makes the popular BlackBerry handheld wireless communications devices, did not return a phone message left at his home. Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said the team had no comment.

Mr. Balsillie intends to attempt to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh, contingent on a workable deal for a new facility to replace Mellon Arena. That represents a change from mid-July, when he was close to working out a deal with the Penguins but backed out when it became clear he might have problems moving them to Hamilton, Ontario, near RIM's headquarters in Waterloo.
Mr. Balsillie's earlier offer was in the range of $175 million to $180 million. The amount of his latest offer is unknown.

The Penguins, owned in part by retired Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux, have been for sale since early this year. Mr. Lemieux helped bring the team out of bankruptcy in 1999.

The team's lease at Mellon Arena expires in June, and club officials have been adamant that they need a new building to remain viable in Pittsburgh. Mellon Arena is the oldest facility in the NHL.

The Penguins have a contract with gaming company Isle of Capri, which will donate $290 million toward a new arena if it is awarded the city's slot machines license in December.

State and local officials have a Plan B for arena funding if one of the other two finalists, Forest City/Harrah's or PTIG Gaming, get the slots license.

That plan calls for the Penguins to contribute $8.5 million up front plus another $2.9 million annually over 30 years as well as another $1.1 million annually for 30 years in forgone arena naming rights. The winning slots bidder would contribute $7.5 million a year for 30 years, and another $7 million a year for 30 years would come from the state through a slots-backed development fund.

The state has freed $26.5 million for site acquisition and preparation. A lease at the facility will need to be negotiated, as will who pays for cost overruns.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday that he expects the Penguins to remain here as long as there is a new arena.

(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721. The Toronto Globe and Mail contributed to this report. )

Bob Smizik: Panic over Steelers premature, but...

Thursday, October 05, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When the Steelers lost two of their first three games, including one to division rival Cincinnati, media alarmists and overly pessimistic fans preached that the season was near ruin and that the team might not get the opportunity to defend its Super Bowl title. Considering the season was but three weeks old, it was a panicky overreaction and was made to look all the more so Sunday, when, with the Steelers off, the Bengals lost to New England. Instead of trailing the Bengals by what amounted to three games, the deficit was down to two and hardly insurmountable with 13 remaining.

While it's also true the Baltimore Ravens remain undefeated in the AFC North and are coming off an impressive victory against San Diego, the season is young. The fact the Steelers have two games remaining with the Ravens tends to downplay that Baltimore advantage.

Let's not forget, the Steelers were 7-5 and ruled out by almost everyone last season before winning their next eight games, the last of which was the Super Bowl. This is not a team that surrenders easily. Let's also not forget 19 starters returned from that Super Bowl team.
So dump the gloom -- at least until 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Steelers' game with San Diego, which is scheduled to begin at 8:15, should be over by then, and, if another loss is added to their total, well, count me among the panicky over-reactors. Except by then, we'll be cold-hearted realists.

It won't just be the third loss that will be so damaging to the Steelers. Three defeats don't rule a team out of the playoffs. It will be the perception and the reality of those losses that will hurt. Any mystique about the Steelers will disappear. More than that, the team itself will start to doubt. That doesn't mean they'll fold up, it means they'll play with less confidence.

Add the fact the Steelers play at Atlanta and against Denver in the following four weeks, and it means a loss to the Chargers won't just leave them with their backs against the wall, their shoulder blades will be digging into the plaster.

Teams that open 1-3 aren't Super Bowl contenders. They might not be playoff contenders. Which means games don't get much bigger than this one.

Which also means the Steelers will win this one. Here's why:

There's only one word to describe the play this season of Ben Roethlisberger: Kordellian.
In two games, he has completed 49 percent of his passes for less than 5 yards an attempt, no touchdowns and five interceptions. His passer rating is 34.3. Those are numbers that reek of Kordell Stewart and have uninformed fans calling for Charlie Batch, who, in a start while Roethlisberger was recovering from an appendectomy, completed 60 percent of his passes for more than 8 yards an attempt, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He has a passer rating of 126.5. There's only one word to describe those numbers: Roethlisbergerian.

There is no reason to believe Roethlisberger won't return to his form of last season when he came of age as a quarterback with a brilliant three-game playoff run-up to the Super Bowl. No longer was there any suggestion that his success was more attributable to the team around him than his own skills.

As is well-known, he has had a rough time of it since winning the Super Bowl. The off week should be just what he needed to regain any strength he might have lost with the appendectomy and work out the kinks in his game. He's ready again to excel.

"As much as people might not believe it, I think we've been playing pretty well offensively," he said. "There have been a couple of mistakes that have really hurt. But, overall, we're just a hair off on offense. We're almost clicking and, when we do start to click and those wheels start turning, I think we can be pretty good, pretty dangerous. I don't think we're as far off as people think."

The other major reason the Steelers will win also has to do with a quarterback -- San Diego's.
Philip Rivers is in his third season in the NFL but his first as a starter. Before this year, he played in four games, none as a starter, and threw 30 passes. Players with that level of experience, regardless of their talent, don't beat defenses like the Steelers.

Rivers has led the Chargers to wins this season against Tennessee and Oakland, two of the worst teams in the NFL and both without a win. Against Baltimore, he led a touchdown drive on the first possession of the game and two short field-goal drives in the second quarter. The Chargers did not put up a point in the second half in losing, 16-13.

The Steelers' defense may or may not be as good as Baltimore's, but it's very good.

Rivers will be throttled, Roethlisberger will not.

The dream of a repeat Super Bowl win will live for another day.

There is no reason to believe Roethlisberger won't return to his form of last season when he came of age as a quarterback with a brilliant three-game playoff run-up to the Super Bowl.

Analysis: Creativity, confidence keys for Pirates heading into 2007

Wednesday, October 04, 2006
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On the penultimate day of spring training, in the visitors' clubhouse at Fort Myers, Fla., shortstop Jack Wilson put forth the most accurate prediction of the year regarding the Pirates: "We are the last team that can afford to get off to a bad start."
How right he was. And for exactly the right reason.

Because, as the team would show by losing its first six games, the moment that happened, all the changes in the roster and staff, all the fuzzy feeling about the talented youngsters and everything else, disintegrated to a simple matter of the seven letters spread across the players' chests.

They were the Pirates again.

What can they do to avoid such a pitfall in 2007?

It starts with the organizational meetings later this month, continuing with key decisions to be made right through the day the team flies from Florida to Houston to open the season.

Offseason

There might be less debate than usual at those meetings, if only because, as the Pirates point out, there are fewer holes to fill at the major-league level. The breakout of Freddy Sanchez, the emergence of Ronny Paulino, the promise of Jose Bautista and the maturity of the pitching staff has seen to that.

That leaves two primary items on general manager Dave Littlefield's offseason shopping list: One is for a left-handed power bat to play first base or right field. The other is for a right-handed starter to complement Ian Snell and offset the three left-handers.
The first question, of course: How much is there to spend?

The Pirates finished 2006 with an active payroll -- the sum of full-year salaries on the 25-man roster -- of $33.2 million. (They actually paid out $45 million when counting prorated salaries for players who were traded.) Now, erase from that group Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa and Shawn Chacon, and another $13.6 million is subtracted.

With ownership keeping its payroll limit in the range of $45 million, and factoring in roughly $10 million in raises for existing players, there should be about $15 million in leftover cash.

That does not bring in two megastar free agents, especially not to Pittsburgh. And, in the cases of the top-shelf talent -- Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Jason Schmidt, Mike Mussina -- it probably does not bring one. Schmidt, for example, would be a wonderful fit if he returned, but he is coming off a season in which he made $10.5 million in San Francisco and could be the No. 1 target on the pitching market.

Moreover, some in upper management are wary of committing too many dollars to any one player because the Pirates were burned by paying Burnitz $6.7 million.

So who does that leave as a possibility?

The free-agent market for left-handed power bats at the Pirates' desired positions will be slim, perhaps limited to Houston's Aubrey Huff.

Huff, 29, made $7.5 million this past season while producing 21 home runs and 66 RBIs in 454 at-bats, the latter half spent with the Astros at hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park. But he also topped 20 home runs each of the previous four seasons with Tampa Bay.

The market for that right-handed starter is more expansive.

Among those fitting the stated criteria are Seattle's durable Gil Meche, 28. He had the best year of his career at 11-8 with a 4.48 ERA while making $3.7 million. Texas' Vicente Padilla, 29, is another. He went 15-10 with a 4.50 ERA and 156 strikeouts while making $4.4 million.

But the name that stands out is St. Louis' Jeff Suppan, 31. He pitched well in a half-season with the Pirates in 2003 and is cited frequently around the front office as the "type of guy" they would love to add. He went 12-7 with a 4.12 ERA while making $4 million.

If the Pirates choose the trade route, which they are likely to do for the bat, that raises another issue: What would they give up? The most obvious candidate to be on the block is enigmatic second baseman Jose Castillo, but he will not be a sufficient lure after a dismal second half.

The most attractive bait the Pirates can offer is pitching, but there will be strong resistance from some in the organization to part with starters. And there is logic to that: One starter gone means yet another must be replaced, and the team cannot yet count on Sean Burnett to take the spot of a left-hander who gets dealt.

That leaves the bullpen, the organization's deepest area. Relievers tend not to get dealt for power hitters, but some general managers value closers more than others, and the Pirates saw this past season that they have two potentially good ones in Mike Gonzalez and Salomon Torres.
That is, perhaps, a luxury they will decide they cannot afford.

Then again, what if Littlefield stepped off the beaten path? What if he abandoned the worn concept of filling holes at the major-league level and used his bait to bolster his prospects, as more successful low-spending teams have done?

Take, for example, Joe Koshansky in the Colorado system.

His is a strange story, in that he converted two years ago from pitcher to power-hitting first baseman. Still, he is 24 years old, left-handed, a hulk of a man at 6 feet 4, 225 pounds, and he sends the ball out of the park. In 132 games for Class AA Tulsa this past season, he hit 31 home runs in 500 at-bats, along with a .284 average and 109 RBIs.

On top of that, because the Rockies have Todd Helton signed through 2011, they have no place to play any first baseman for the foreseeable future.

Colorado covets pitching. The Pirates have no prospect close to Koshansky's profile. Why not place a call?

Spring training

Regardless of who comes in from the outside, internal decisions will remain when the Pirates reach Bradenton.

Most pitching positions are set, with one rotation spot open and two, maybe three in the bullpen.
Paulino is behind the plate, Wilson at short, Jason Bay in left, indications were strong Chris Duffy will be in center, and Xavier Nady will play whichever of first base or right field Littlefield does not fill.

This might be the main issue of the spring: Sanchez is a virtual lock to move to second base. That could send Bautista back to his natural position at third, although it is unlikely he showed enough in 2006 to sew that up. Or, Castillo could go there. Management made clear late this past season its feeling that Castillo's growing frame was not suited to second.

Other elements of intrigue should be in play, too.

The Pirates are sure to retain outfielder Jody Gerut, even though he missed all the past season because of knee surgery. He is left-handed and hit 22 home runs as a rookie for Cleveland in 2003. He might push Nady for starting duty or, at the least, push Nate McLouth off the bench.
What will become of the nomadic Ryan Doumit? He is sure to get chances because of his switch-hitting power potential, but will they be as a catcher or first base, where he spent September? The early line is that he will back up Paulino.

The bullpen? It will be Josh Sharpless, Jonah Bayliss and Marty McLeary, among others, looking for work from the right side. And, if management does not pick up Damaso Marte's $3 million option, Shane Youman and Juan Perez will be among those trying out from the left side.

Opening day

By the time Roy Oswalt throws that first pitch to Duffy, one other piece will have to be in place: The players will have to, somehow, over the span of several months, carry over the confidence that was on display for much of the second half of 2006.

Perhaps that confidence -- and inspiration -- will come from management by finally setting for the players a firm goal beyond the vague concept of general improvement: Would there really be any shame associated with shooting for 82 victories? Not only would that end the string of losing seasons a year short of Major League Baseball's record, but it also would represent a 15-game improvement.

We will ... win?

Then again, a slogan like that might just recreate Wilson's worst fear from this season.

"We can't go into next year worried about breaking the streak," he said last week. "We can't worry about our record, either. We can't come in with this whole we're-going-to-change-this-thing-around attitude. That's just pressure. We just need to worry about going out and playing the game the right way. That's what we did here in the second half, and we need to keep that going."

(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com. )