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Coach Cowher: Just to give you the injury update
heading into this week's game, we have three players that are doubtful: Troy
Polamalu with his knee, Mike Logan with a hamstring and Cedrick Wilson with a
high ankle sprain. Two players are
questionable: Ryan Clark with his groin and Hines Ward with his knee. One player is probable, that is Jeff
Hartings. Given that information,
the players will be in here tomorrow.
Obviously, we will see how some of these guys work before we make any
decisions on how much and if they play.
A lot is left to be decided on as the week unfolds. We understand where we are. It is the same place we have been, there
is no margin of error and we have three games left and three very tough
opponents beginning this week with Has the league been in touch with
you or the organization about the comments that Joey Porter made about Kellen
Winslow? No. I can't speak on Joey's behalf. I know that his comments were
inappropriate. As he said, I think
his reference was purely to the actions of Kellen Winslow as it relates to the
hit he made on James earlier in the game.
That certainly is not reason to use that term but I think anything else
should not be looked into. I think
his reference was more to what took place on the field than anything else, but
it was inappropriate. Did you talk to Joey
Porter? I have not talked to any of the
players since the game on Thursday night. Were there benefits of the break for
some guys? They were off Friday, Saturday,
Sunday and today. They will be back
in here tomorrow. I think it was
good, it was much needed time off.
I thought they did a great job last week with preparation. One of the best practices we had was
Monday night after the Sunday night game.
We have been playing like we have been practicing, the preparation has
been very good. It has been very
focused, it has been crisp practices and it shows up in the play. Having a chance to get back after that
stretch, we are looking forward to these last three games. Can you comment on Willie Parker's
running game home versus away? I don't know if it is home or away,
it probably has something to do with the people we are playing. I think too much is being read into
that. Who do you think you will see at
quarterback for I do not know. Jake (Delhomme) did not work all of last
week and they were still holding out hope near the end of the week so that leads
me to believe that maybe in another week he will be healthier. I think once he has live experience,
that organization knows that offense very well, I don't think they even changed
anything the other day and Jake has been a very productive quarterback in this
league over a number of years.
Why do you think Chris Weinke threw
61 times against the They got behind early and that was a
result of it. I think the
score had a lot to do with it and a lot of their passing game sometimes is very
controlled. They look at the pass
sometimes as another extension of the running game. Steve Smith, I think, is one of the best
receivers in the game today, if not the best. This guy is the real deal and he is a
guy that you have to be aware of.
He can really take over a game, as he has done in the past. They have done a good job of putting
Keyshawn Johnson on the other side.
(Drew) Carter came in the other day and made a couple of really big time
catches in the game yesterday. They
have some weapons and they have (Deshaun) Foster and (DeAngelo) Williams who are
two good backs. They are a good
football team and they lost tough games. What is the best way to cover wide
receivers Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson? I think it is choices that you have
to make week to week when you play a team with a premier receiver and I think
Steve Smith is a premier receiver so you have to be aware of him. Keyshawn has the size element that you
have to be aware of, too. It is
kind of pick your poison. Both of
those guys are good receivers and have been very productive over the years. So you just have to be aware of where
they are and make our decisions accordingly. Do you expect Mark Whipple to get
the BC job? He would finish out the year. That is something that is going to take
some time. I know he met with them
yesterday and he thought it went well.
He is excited about the opportunity and I think he would be a great
candidate for that school. It is
like anything else, those things are out of your control. What Mark has done has been well
documented. He is a quality person,
a good football coach and would be a great asset to any
school. How has Mark Whipple helped Ben
Roethlisberger? I think with his demeanor, he does a
great job, he has been in this offense three years now with Ken (Whisenhunt) and
Russ (Grimm). They get in that room
with Coach (Dick) Hoak and James Daniel and Bruce Arians. Bruce is an integral part of that as
well. It is a good staff and they
all get along very well together.
It is a very open dialog and I think the players can sense that as
well. Is Mark Whipple here
today? Yes. How have you managed to avoid
divisions within the team? Number one we have the right type of
players. I think it starts with that. We have high expectations and certainly
there has been a lot of frustration this year has brought. People have to
understand that this is our livelihood and no one is more frustrated when it
doesn't unfold the way you want it to than the players and coaches because we
throw everything into it. Sometimes in sports it doesn't unfold the way you
want. A lot can be said by how you deal with adversity and the tough times. It's
so easy when things are going well. Everybody calls you. Everybody wants to be
your friend. There usually are never any problems. When you go through the tough
times it speaks volumes about people. When you're able to surround yourself with
the right types of people and understand that is part of this journey and it's
going to happen at times. Persevering through that and understanding that can be
a great learning experience. You can grow from it tremendously. That's what
we've tried to do, not dwell on it. Don't get too low. I always say you're never
as good as you think you are and you're never as bad as they say you are. You're
going to go through that in this business. If you don't get caught up in it
either way, you'll have a chance as you go through it, you won't stay there very
long, particularly the tough times. The players and coaches have done a very
good job of just focusing on the game and not getting caught up in what the
ramifications of a win or loss are, but just focusing on the process. When you
do that it clears your mind and there's a lot of respect that these players have
for one another. We'll play this thing out and see where it takes
us. Do you believe the team is hitting
its stride? We're playing better, there's no
question about it. I look at the last three weeks, our coverage teams have been
excellent. We've done a very good job. We haven't had the depth on the kicks
that you want at times, but that happens at this time of year. The kicking game
has gotten better. Santonio (Holmes) is returning punts with a little more
confidence. Offensively we haven't turned the football over as much. We've had a
couple but not like earlier in the season. Defensively we're making plays. We
have guys getting takeaways, we're getting key stops. We've played better, more
consistently. The one game that sticks out is the game at
Who will start opposite of Ward if
I don't want to address any of that
until I see these guys work. We'll see how it goes as the week unfolds. If Hines
is able to come back then Nate ( Are you surprised with where
I'm not in any position to sit back
and evaluate other teams. I'm sure they're as disappointed as we are. Their
opportunity is probably a little bit better considering the conference they're
in at this point. The records are the same. We understand the importance of this
next game and for us the next three. Is there any value in seeing
There's a little bit. Not a whole
lot of people played in that game. I think it was the fourth preseason game. We
didn't play anybody. You're question was how much importance was in our fourth
preseason game? It depends on when it's played. If it's the third game then
maybe there is some significance because you can go back and refer to physical
matchups. I can tell you that fourth one, there's not a whole lot you can take
out of it. What do you do against Julius
Peppers? Do you put an extra guy on him? Oh yeah, two, maybe three. They may
have two of the best players at their position on their team when I talk about
Steve Smith and Julius Peppers. Julius Peppers may be as good a defensive player
as there is in the National Football League. You look at the defensive line,
Kris Jenkins is a Pro Bowler, (Michael) Rucker is not a bad rusher, (Maake)
Kemoeatu is a load. Their front four is really good. What happened last week,
they lost both of their corners. (Chris) Gamble and (Ken) Lucas don't play. Then
the fourth corner, who started, pulls a hamstring in the first quarter so
they're down to playing with their third corner and their fifth corner. Those
were the only two guys they had left. It's a really good defense. Peppers is a
really good player. You have to be careful how many times you leave him in
one-on-one rush and you can't always put two guys on him. He can also drop back
into coverage. He's a field-goal rusher. You have to be aware of him when you're
blocking. He's a very, very productive football player, extraordinary talent for
a man of his size. How do you account for the AFC's
35-21 record against the NFC this year? It's hard to say. I don't know what
the numbers are. Those things are cyclical. That will run it's course. What it
has led to is a lot of the better records in the league (are in the AFC). Going
into this weekend the (NFC) Wild Card teams were all 6-6. (The AFC) had about
five teams at 7-5. That's unfortunate for us. That's what it's transformed into
because of those numbers. I don't know if it's any specific reason.
Do you think it's
coaching? I can't answer that one. Once again,
I'm in no position to be judgmental about other coaches.
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