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ARTICLE
STEELERS-BRONCOS POST-GAME QUOTES
STEELERS HEAD COACH BILL COWHER Well, I will say this: I can't
give enough credit to our coaching staff and our players, and that was a good
Denver Broncos football team, and Mike
Shanahan is a class act, and to be able to come in here and do that is a
tribute to the players.
We have a young quarterback who didn't play young today. I can't say
enough about this football team. We traveled a hard road and grew as a
football team, and individually, and now we have an opportunity and hopefully we
can finish this season off with one more win.
Q. Can you talk about how Ben has really carried this team even
though he's so young and inexperienced?
COACH COWHER: You know, he really, he's very composed. You can see it from
last year and this year. It's night and day.
I think throughout the course of these playoffs, I think we're a football
team. We have had really great weeks of work. We're playing our best
football at the right time of the year. It was tough to do what we had to
do to go to the three places and win those games. They were all challenges
in themselves.
This is a very grounded and resilient group of guys. We've never taken
anything for granted and looked beyond the next game. I think it's allowed
us to have a great focus for that challenge of that week. I give a lot of
credit. We have kind of had tunnel vision throughout the
process.
Q. Bill, you have been very successful on the road. What's
been the key?
COACH COWHER: The focus maybe has been greater, maybe the sense of
urgency. At home you think you're going to have it because of the
crowd. We kind of looked at that as a challenge. We have been pretty
much underdogs every game we have been in and these guys relish that
position.
Q. Bill, can you talk a little bit about moving forward a little
bit.
COACH COWHER: It hasn't gnawed at me. It is what it is. I can't do
anything about it. I don't want other people to be stuck to me. You
can say anything you want about me and the failures I have had. That's
fine. I understand it's part of this business. I try to seize each
year and take each game and this group of guys and make them be as good as they
can be.
We have a great coaching staff and a group of guys that work. Like I said,
we need to go and win more game. No one ever remembers who lost the
Super Bowl.
Q. What do you think was the
turnaround?
COACH COWHER: It was a margin of error. We had to get back to basics and
make everybody accountable. We had to look within. These guys were
able to do that. The
We started to get Ben back at that time, too, when he came back
from his injuries. The fact that we have been able to practice and have
everybody healthy. You can just tell in practice, we have had some of the
best practices going back to training camp these last three or four
weeks.
Q. Have you felt any different as a coach in this playoff
match?
COACH COWHER: No, the experience of having been there, I think there's something
to be said for that. Like I said, last year was very much there, and I
think very much with our football team. A lot of guys.
We know ‑‑ no one was looking at anything more than this game. A lot
of things will be defined come Monday. Don't worry about that. A lot
of guys that went through it last year didn't want to go through that same
feeling again. They worked too hard to get here. I want to make sure
they remember that also and two weeks from today because, like I said, no one
remembers who lost the Super Bowl.
Q. Talk about your emotions for Jerome Bettis.
COACH COWHER: I've got so much respect for Jerome and what he's
brought to this football team. My relationship with him is he's a classy
guy, and he has been such an inspiration. We talked about the
Q. Bill, did you put in more time this week planning for
COACH COWHER: I think one of the best things that happened to us was playing in
We went up to
Q. How good has Joey Porter been the last two months?
COACH COWHER: Joey is an inspiration out there. Our
linebackers as a whole, they play with so much emotion. They lost their
composure a little today, but they play hard. Joey is a
leader for the football team, and I thought they played great
today.
Q. It was a show of confidence of Ben,
obviously?
COACH COWHER: It's easy when he's throwing it like he has been. He's had
some issues with his hand and knee. We would like to think our running
game is going to be there as well and get in a situation where you can get a
lead and shorten the game. We were not very successful with that in the
third or fourth quarter. Ben has made big throws. We
had to have them.
Talk about him throwing 20 times, but half of them are going to be third‑down
plays. He's a selfless guy and he will do whatever you ask him to
do.
Q. When Ben was drafted out of
COACH COWHER: You almost have to be to a certain extent, but when you get around
Ben, he's much more mature than his age would indicate. He's
very much in control. He's a great competitor. He's got a great feel
for the game and a lot of self‑confidence, and so this kid has been successful,
you know, all of his life.
I don't think he knows what not having success is. That's something, I
want to be part of a team that shows him that. We'll keep riding his
coattails and hopefully there will be more to come.
Q. Was throwing to Cedrick Wilson part of the game plan going in?
COACH COWHER: It kind of unfolded that way.
Q. As far as the defensive game, you dropped more into coverage, why did
you think that would be successful against the Broncos?
COACH
COWHER: Obviously, at the end we didn't want to give up some big plays.
Jake is one of those guys where if you define it for him, he makes
quick decisions. We tried to mix it up. We tried to bring pressure
as the situation dictated, and so we did what we.
Q. Bill, it seems like teams in this league change coaches every
three or four years. Why are you the
exception?
COACH COWHER: Look at the ownership. Mr. Rooney is a
football guy. He wanted this business, and he was very supportive through
the three nonplayoff years, and I'm very appreciative of that, and will always
understand that and appreciate that patience. There's nothing greater, and
nothing drives me more than to hopefully be able to hand him the first
trophy. Nothing would make me more satisfied than to be able to do
that.
Q. For the first half you guys scored every time you had the ball.
Is that about as good an offense as you could have
had?
COACH COWHER: It was big. We made some big throws and Ben
did a good job of taking what they give us. His decision‑making is
great. Earlier, he tried to force it. Hines made a
great check on the lucky one. I said "Let's not go there and be careful
with this thing." He did good. Ben was very much in
control of himself out there.
Q. How thankful were you when he was available when you drafted
him?
COACH COWHER: We were fortunate.
Q. Did you think he would be back
then?
COACH COWHER: I can't remember. We were hoping,
but ‑‑
Q. Bill, your challenge came awful early in the game, Willie
Parker fumbled. Did that play into it or was it more that you had
pretty good visual evidence?
COACH COWHER: I had pretty good talk. That's pivotal. This was not a
football game we could afford to fall behind. We talked about how
important it was.
This football team had a tremendous scoring margin over their opponents in the
first half. If you fall behind against them, it's going to be a long
day. We talked very much about the importance of starting fast and taking
them out. A little bit like last week at
Q. Bill, talk about turnovers, having them and creating them.
COACH COWHER: That was big because they were plus 20 coming in, number 4 in the
league in takeaways. I thought Joey's fumble was big.
We talked about last year we turned it over three times in the first half
against
Q. How good is Roethlisberger going it
be?
COACH COWHER: Time will tell.
Q. Would you suggest that this is the way to go for teams to get to the
Super Bowl to go on the road?
COACH COWHER: No, I would much rather have been at Heinz Field for
all these games.
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