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I have to begin this piece commending everyone in the organization from the
Rooneys and Bill Cowher on down.� Say
what you want about Cowher's past regular season success and post season
failures, but an objective look at this season will reveal a coach who headed
up the most ever regular season wins by an AFC team ever.� 15-1 is very impressive, but its even more
impressive when you consider that Cowher lost his 1st string QB (Maddox) in the
2nd game, his initial backup QB (Batch) in preseason, starting RG (Simmons) in
preseason, Hampton, Scott, Bell, Staley, Burress, Haggans, and Townsend all at
various points in the season.
- My daily perusing of the internet finds many national articles about the
Patriots and the rash of injuries they've had.�
It seems that many pundits seem to think that New England's season is
more impressive because they've had to deal with much adversity/injuries.� You can refer back to my first paragraph,
but the Steelers have dealt with just as many key injuries as the Patriots. �But hey, I like this role of the underdog as
most pundits continue to laud the Patsies.
- Gosh in retrospect, I can't get over how good Big Ben is.� (And to anyone who cares, I happened to be
in the 'burgh over the holidays and picked up a home Big Ben jersey at the
Steelers Store in Monroeville Mall.)
- Staley was a key signing, and definitely was the springboard to the running
game this season.� His early season
running, combined with strong offensive line play, gave both the coaches and
players the confidence they needed in the running game.� Then you add a motivated Bus, and the rest
is history.� The organization is 4-deep
at RB, and if the Bus comes back next season (hopefully he leaves after winning
a championship), there is absolutely no need to waste a premium draft choice
when you've got Staley, Bettis, Haynes, and Parker all coming back.
- Burress better be resigned this offseason.�
Use the franchise tag if you have to, but get the deal done.� Now is not the time to take away Big Ben's
toys.
- Allow Bell to go on to the market and if nobody's fishing for a the big bucks
that he'll be asking for, then you can try and get him back at a Farrior type
of deal.� I seriously doubt that though,
because I have a feeling Bell could come up big in the playoffs and earn a big
payday from someone.
- This could be a tough pill for him to swallow, but the organization must
consider playing hardball with Ward if he's asking for Plax type of money.� He's signed for another year, so the
organization has all the leverage here.
- The organization went against my thinking and renegotiated Maddox's contract
this past offseason, even though they held all the leverage and really didn't
gain anything.� Well, now Maddox is
entrenched as Big Ben's caddie, and valuable veteran backup for the
organization through 2007.� I would
assume we don't hear a peep from him for the next 3 years, not about playing
time, and not about being traded.� He is
what he is, and the sooner he realizes that the better off he'll be.� Trust me, being Big Ben's caddie is going to
be much better for him in the long run than selling insurance.
- Initially I was concerned about Indy and wanted to somehow sidestep that
landmine en route to the SB.� Well now
that I may have gotten my wish, I'm not thrilled with the prospect of playing a
very game Charger club.� This is all
conjecture as both Indy and SD may not win, but if I were a betting man...
- The Chargers have the best RB in football bar none in LT.� They would also bring a QB who is playing
with a great deal of confidence.� They
have a tough defense that was matching up well with the Colts in a critical
game until a kick return gave the Colts some momentum.� They also have played in the elements,
having played in that Snow Bowl game in Cleveland a few weeks back.� All of this will make the Chargers a very
formidable foe, perhaps the strongest team the Steelers will have played in the
divisional round in the Cowher era.
- Everyone, myself included, is quick to get on Cowher for shortsighted decisions.� An example would be starting Burnt Alexander
and Gildon in a meaningless game at the end of last season instead of getting
key young players like Polamalu and Jackson more playing time.� Funny thing is the demigod of coaching, Bill
Parcells, just did the same thing with the Cowboys yesterday.� He chose to start Vinny over his future
signal caller in a game that meant absolutely nothing for this season.� This is the same Parcells who decided to
pull the trigger on acquiring Henson in the offseason.� The point of this is to keep in mind that
while I'm very critical of Cowher for his game management errors and any other
mistakes, the other coaches out there (even demigods like Parcells) are making
just as many if not more mistakes.