Kordell The Incumbent
Forget, for a moment, the asininity of Cowher�s insistence on the title "incumbent".
If Kordell Stewart is the "incumbent", as Cowhead has staunchly affirmed...then WHY is he getting barely a quarter-and-a-half of work in the 3rd preseason game ??????
Sure, if he directs a couple 70-yard marches and puts 10 points on the board, this might be considered acceptable progress and reason to insert the 2nd stringer, Graham.
But nothing of this sort has come close to materializing the past 2 games: a combined 1-13, for 8 yards passing, with the lone scoring drive being one of a whopping 11 yards.
Sure, if there were a 2-way QB derby, it would be fair to get Graham more work with the 1st team and highly touted 2nd stringers.
However, Cowhead has made it clear that there is NO derby. The job is Stewart's and Stewart's alone. If this team is going to sink or swim --- for presumably at LEAST 3 games into the regular season --- with Kordell Stewart at QB, does it not make sense to give him, and most of the starters/top 2nd stringers, some more playing time ??? It might be ok for Tennesee to remove McNair, George, Pickens, and company early in the 2nd quarter. But this Steeler offense has been amongst the worst in the ENTIRE NFL the past 2 years.
If Cowhead had ANY brains --- and this is a big "if" --- he'd insist on keeping Stewart and the starters/high profile 2nd stringers on the field for the entire 1st half of the Indy game. And if they flat out stink up the already-malodorous Mexico City, they should be forced to play a couple more series in the 3rd quarter.
On a totally unrelated matter, DE Sullivan is now bothered by back spasms. 2nd year man A. Smith is now being inserted into the starting lineup, along with Kimo and Combs, for the Indy game. We thus can now close the book on Jeremy Faat, the man we traded UP to take in the 2nd round of the �98 draft, and whom we would have taken in round 1 had Faneca not been available. When a 3rd year, 2nd round draft pick, is supplanted at DE by a rookie and also by a never-used 2nd-year man, then its abundantly clear that Faat has absolutely no use in this team�s plans, now or in the future. So long, Jeremy�.
The Still Mill