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Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach
Bill Cowher COACH COWHER: Well, Earl started practice on Thursday, finished, he did not work today. Basically we are going to wait until game day. We'll make a decision and we'll run him before the game and kind of go from there. In Earl can't play, John will step in and play from his position, as John did last week when Earl got hurt in the second starter. That's the status. Again, it will be a game‑day decision. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH COWHER: No, I hoped it wouldn't, no. Q. What do you think is a more compelling story, Tom's success his first year starting or what has happened with Kordell? COACH COWHER: Well, I go with Kordell. I think certainly you have to be impressed with what Tom Brady has done in New England, the way he was just kind of thrown into the quarterback position when Drew got hurt and then certainly being in the position to be named the starter once Drew was ready to come back and certainly the degree of pressure that was put on him at that point and just consistently how he performed. He's been a very good football player, certainly recognized not just by his teammates, but recognized around the League when you see the fact that he's in the Pro Bowl. This is a very solid quarterback. He's got a strong arm. He plays with great composure, great poise for a guy who is really a first‑year starter, and I've been just very impressed. You sit there and look at what he did a week ago, down 13‑3 in the fourth quarter, a playoff game. He certainly did not look like a guy that felt like he shouldn't have been there. He handled himself very well, and brought the team back, and then they were able to win the game in overtime, and his decision‑making was very instrumental in that and I thought he performed very well and I've been impressed by that. Q. Do you have a history with Belichick? COACH COWHER: We went back ‑‑ I mentioned earlier we spent an afternoon together when I went to Kansas City. He actually became the defensive back coach of the Giants and coordinating at the same time. So he had gone from linebacker to DBs, and I had gone from DBs to linebacker and we kind of exchanged thoughts and ideas on an afternoon in New York where I flew up to see him. So, yeah, we did, and actually it was in'89 because I had interviewed with him for a job on Coach Parcells' job with the Giants when Marty was in between Cleveland and Kansas City. Subsequently I ended up going in with Marty to Kansas City and there was a period of time that I was offered a job to become the DB coach in New York, but I went to Kansas City. Then, certainly his time in Cleveland when he was the head coach there, and then coming to Cleveland, coming to Pittsburgh here, you know, we played against him a couple of times. Q. Is he a guy that you watch when you put offenses out there and wonder what they are going to do? COACH COWHER: I just think he's a very solid coach. I think he's always taken personnel that he's had and he's fit a football team around it. I don't think it's so much of wondering what he's going to do, as much as knowing that what he's going to do is going to be silent and I think that's the thing that you know that he's going to look at what you're doing from a strength standpoint and he's going to find a way to make you beat him with what he perceives to be your weakness. So certainly I think, coming into this game, what we have to do is be prepared for any approach that he may take to this game and his football team may take, whether it be with different fronts, with different coverages and be prepared to utilize what they give us. I think the one thing that we feel good about with our football team is that we have become a pretty balanced offense; that we are not ‑‑ we have been in the past maybe live and die by the run; that we feel like we can throw the ball very effectively if we have to, and we certainly are going to be built around trying to establish the run. That has never changed in any game that we go into. Again what we have to be ready to do is see what their approach may be, and adjust if we need to, and just kind of play our game and be very patient doing it. I mean, he's got a good ‑‑ that's a good defense we are playing against and there are going to be some three and outs, and so we've got to be able to understand that and be patient and allow the game to come to us and not try to force the issue. Q. The dynamics of a coach/quarterback relationship, what are the pros and cons of developing your own young quarterback and getting to play the position the way you envision it versus having an established quarterback? COACH COWHER: Well, I don't know if it's ‑‑ it's trying to find a system that fits what your personnel has. It's trying to find maybe a coordinator, a quarterback coach, whatever, that can work with the personnel they have that can get the most out of them. So, certainly, you know the quarterback embracing what you are asking them to do is a first and foremost thing and certainly a young guy is going to embrace whatever you tell him and certainly an established guy, if there is any degree of reluctancy, maybe that does something, that's a barrier that you have to overcome. You've got to have your quarterback be comfortable. He's got to feel good about what you're doing. He's got to be the one out there making the quick decisions, understanding the thought process going into how you are going to attack a team. Any changes that you may be able to make within a game are always a part of the game. Being able to adjust is just as big a part of the game as the game plan is because it doesn't always unfold that way. So the quarterback has to feel comfortable with what you are asking him to do, and I think that that's ‑‑ that's got to be the basis from which you start. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH COWHER: I think it's more what he's done. He's had to deal with some situations and circumstances that came up that I'm not so sure he always agreed with. I know he didn't always agree with it, but those were circumstances that I think he's become a stronger person because of it. I think he's become a more mature quarterback because of it. I think he's got a perspective of things right now that has probably made him one of the most focused players on this football team through the course of this season and particularly at this time of the year. It's a growing process. You know, I don't know if there were things ‑‑ we've been through a lot together. You know when he first came in and where we are today, we've been battle‑tested. I mean, the relationship has been battle‑tested. It certainly has been a situation, I think through it all, that there's one thing that has existed has been a respect. I know there's been a respect from my perspective for what Kordell, how he's handled some of the decisions that I've made, and I do believe that he has respected and not always has agreed with it, but has respected the position that I need to take as a head coach of this football team. You know, through that, he's been a great example to a lot of players on our team today that sometimes, things are not always the way you want them. You are not always playing as much as you want to play, but if you just do your job and you kind of accept the way it is and when the opportunity comes, seize it. I think that Kordell has been that and he's never really looked back, and I think today what you are seeing is a very strong, focused, mature quarterback. Q. Can you talk about the pressures of starting over? COACH COWHER: The one thing that there was so much talk about Kordell, the one thing I always thought that people overlooked was the'97 season. I mean, 1997, this guy took us within one series of going to the Super Bowl. The last time he was on the field in 1997 in that AFC Championship Game he was 8 for 8 and took us on a one‑minute drive and threw a touchdown pass to Charles Johnson. We did not get the ball back ‑‑ and I believe had we gotten the ball back and it was a third down and 8 or third down and ten, I believe, they got the ball after we kicked off and Elway threw a pass to, you would know it, Shannon Sharpe, and we never got the ball back. I think it was a case from '98, '99, I think that those two years, we had some changes. We had change at coordinating. We went from an offense that he felt comfortable I brought a couple of guys in from the outside that tried to implement thoughts and ideas; that it took a while, not just with coaches. We had players leaving, we had some injuries taking place. There was a number of things that took place, but certainly, a lot of the focus, as in our business, falls on the quarterback position. And so, certainly, there were, like we said, some trying times. We went through it, fought through it, and we are where we are today. I think as a football team, we are stronger because of it. Q. Can you talk about the difference of being a coach or a quarterback in a Championship Game, the first time? COACH COWHER: I guess it's hard, you go back, the first one being in '94 playing in San Diego. The weather was about the same, it's going to be about 55, 60 in January. That seems odd. I guess right now it seems normal. Through the years, I've told some people, you know, we were fortunate to go to the playoffs my first six years here; that maybe the playoffs, at a point in the sixth year, it was like, well, you knew you were going to get there. Now we are in the Championship Game and you kind of take that for granted that three years, not being in the playoffs, you know, sometimes it's not having something when you appreciate it the most. And so, certainly this year, you know getting back into it, it's been good. I mean, it's been, you know, like you say, it's been three years we've been in the playoffs. We've been in a situation that still a lot of the players on this team have not been in before. You talk about our quarterback, Jason Gildon, Flowers, Jerome was in one of these games in '97. So we have some experience in this football team for guys who have been here before that can relay it to the younger players who are integral part of this team. You know, there's no question the experience factor is good and it's good to have players who have been there before, as well. Q. Is looking ahead a concern of yours? COACH COWHER: No, I don't think it is. We never even come in on Mondays after wins. That's the normal deal with us. We come in Wednesday. We came in Monday because, you know, the League had to get some things done, the organization had to get some things done in regards to next week if we win and as of 8:30 Wednesday morning there was no more talk about next week. But let me just say this: There is nothing wrong with talking about winning and expecting to win and talking about a championship. If all of a sudden you are talking about a championship all season long and we are talking about the playoffs and we want to win in the Super Bowl and now, what is the closer you get you are not allowed to talk about it? I don't think there's anything wrong with it that. There's nothing being disrespectful to New England. I'm sure they are talking about it, too. We feel like we are a good football team and we are a confident football team and you have to expect to win when you go on the field. We know it is going to be a battle on Sunday. This is a good football team we are playing. But when you get this close, now is not the time to be afraid of anything and that means not being afraid to talk about it. Q. Do you think the defense gets the credit it deserves? COACH COWHER: At this point we really have not accomplished what the team goal is. So, that will take care of itself. You know, we've played very consistently. Teams see us, we don't change week‑to‑week. I don't know what kind of advantage that has or doesn't have. I think it's not so much what we do. I think you had better look at the players we are doing it with; they are pretty good. I think that's what makes our defense go. It's not really so much what we do; it's who we are doing it with. Q. Has the kicking become more difficult in Heinz Field? COACH COWHER: Oh, it's really hard for anybody coming in here to kick. It has taken Chris all season to figure it out. He's finally figured it out. For a first‑time kicker to come in here, it is really, really hard. (Laughter). Q. (Inaudible)? COACH COWHER: Let me tell you, luck goes to those who are prepared to seize it. You create your own good fortune. They are here. They are still one of four teams and they have got every chance as anybody else to win a championship, and that's how they are looking at it. Doesn't matter how you get here; the bottom line is you are here and that's the way this business is. Q. Where do you rank quarterback as a position? COACH COWHER: Oh, I mean, it's an integral part of it. It's high. That's a guy that's touching the ball. That's a guy that's had to bring you back ‑‑ and I don't care; you go through a season, he's had to win some games for you. The quarterback is going to have to win a few games for you along the way. If you've got a guy that can't do that at some point you're going to get exposed. What you see is the four teams that are still in it have quarterbacks that have won games by themselves literally at some point during the year, and that's an integral part. Q. Do you think you have achieved a balance offensively? COACH COWHER: I like to say yes. I think we would consider ‑‑ I don't know if the focus or attention had been there had he not gone down, but we knew ‑‑ I mean, certainly there were games when everyone knew we had to throw. Yet, we were still able to throw. So, certainly it probably put a greater emphasis or attention on that element of it, but I'd like to think we would have. I thought we developed that as the year has gone on. I think we just kept getting a little bit better each week. It has been a completely new system and approach to the passing game and I think in doing that, it was something that obviously it just got better as each week went along, so I would have liked to think that we would be here had that not happened. Q. Did you ever feel a need to apologize to Kordell for any of the decisions that you made? COACH COWHER: No, I mean ‑‑ no, I mean you don't apologize. You know, things happen in this business. You know sometimes things are done. Things happen in a manner that you know and you respect what happens and how players feel about it. Like I said, you know you can't ‑‑ you can not please everybody. You can certainly sit there and understand and sympathize to a degree with what people are going through and having played the game, I understand, not just with the quarterback but with anybody because it is a very high‑pressure job that we are involved with and highly scrutinized. But, you know, you have to accept sometimes things that you have no control over and you have to make decisions as a head coach sometimes that are in the best interests of your team. Sometimes you understand what a guy is going through, but that's what you have to do as the head coach of a team is make those types of decisions. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH COWHER: He is absolutely fine. He will take no shots on Sunday. And he will start and we will go from there. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH COWHER: Now is not the time to get so overly cautious. I think that's the thing, sometimes the closer you get to something, you tend to, what, slow down, and all of a sudden you start to second guess things and wonder if you did this and wonder if you did that. Don't overanalyze right now. This is another football game. Certainly this is a very high magnitude of what's at stake but don't forget what got you here. Certainly we are not going to deviate from what's put us in this position, and Sunday comes, I would like to think our players won't worry about making mistakes. Mistakes will be made in that football game on Sunday. The biggest thing is making sure you overcome it and move on to the next play. Now is not the time to slow down and become overly cautious in our approach to the game. We've approached it, we've covered it and we'll probably have to make some adjustments as the game unfolds like every other Sunday. FastScripts by ASAP Sports ... |