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ARTICLE
HEAD COACH BRIAN BILLICK How were you
able to do such a good job against their run last time and what have you seen of
Willie Parker since then? He is a deserving Pro Bowl
back. His explosiveness and the way
he can stretch and cut a play is something you have to account for. We were fortunate to be able to kind of
stretch it out and not give him those cutback seems that he is so good at. All it takes is one and he is going to
hurt you big time. Coach Cowher said the other day that
they like to do a lot of different defensive looks and he said that you guys
have taken it to another level based on what he saw in that last game, you
created a lot of confusion. Do you
try to do that a lot? How good are
you at doing that? Rex (Ryan) is very, very creative
from week to week. We are fortunate
and very lucky that we have not only good players but players that
intellectually seem to be able to grasp some of the changes. You want to be careful, you can go too
far now and put yourself in some vulnerable positions. So far, we have been fairly good at the
players understanding the limitations of what they need to do and not being too
confused but we do tend to get a little multiple. The Steelers will have a new right
tackle, a young guy. Does that feed
into your defense? Do they get a
little more excited about that? Any time you have a backup step in,
we are kind of in the same position, we have a young guy that is probably going
to step in for Jonathan Ogden. So I
imagine their guys are going to be a little energized by that as
well. Does Rex (Ryan) use a lot of his
father's stuff? Rex is obviously well schooled and
has been through enough other systems being around Marvin (Lewis) and Mike Nolan
and the people that we have had here to temper it and add to it. It would be silly to think that most of
his fundamental beliefs don't stem back to those were imparted on him by Buddy
(Ryan). But I think he has expanded
on that, clearly. You have had some great linebackers
at It is across the board. It is probably as talented a group and
it is very multiple. A.D. (Adalius
Thomas), Terrell Suggs, Bart Scott along with Ray and it is kind of unspoken
with Ray, but those guys are probably at the heart of what we are talking about
in terms of putting guys in different positions and asking them to mentally stay
on top of their game. They have all
done a very good job. Terrell in
particular, like A.D., you'd love to bring him on a rush every time but you do
have to drop them, you have to play zones, you have to do different things and
Terrell has really raised his level of play of understanding. He knows how to rush pass pretty
good. It is his grasp of the other
things that I think has elevated his game. Are you surprised that Bill Cowher
is considering retirement? I don't know where Bill is with
that. Am I surprised that any coach
gets worn out? No. The track record for head coaches and
heart disease, heart attacks, and mental break downs and all that other stuff is
pretty high and there is a reason.
This job is not easy to do and Bill has been at it a long time. No one has done it any better. It is not for me to comment on what his
future is or why. Is it tougher staying in the same
place? I think so. It used to be what have you done for me
lately meaning from one year to the next.
Now it is literally, and I can even live with what have you done for me
lately game to game but any more, it is what have you done for me in the last 10
minutes, and the pressures and the demands, it just seems like the
accountability and the expectations of people have gotten a little out of
whack. How is Steve McNair's
hand? He is doing fine. I think he will be okay. We will have to see, obviously. That is easy for me to say because it is
not my hand. It is painful,
obviously and that is why we were lucky to not play him on Sunday because I
think the 60-some odd snaps and pounding on the hand might have made it
difficult to come back this week.
He will have to nurture it through the week and we will see how he is on
Sunday. What does getting one of the top two
seeds mean to you? It is huge. Everybody always talks about how
important that is, all you have to do is look at the players' eyes when you show
a schedule with the potential of having a bye week the first week. Watch them sit up in their chairs and
their eyes light up. That means as
much to them as anybody, believe me.
It is important. I know the statistics and the numbers, and all this that
and the other with what the Steelers did last year, brilliantly going on the
road and winning a Super Bowl. It
doesn't guarantee anything, but anytime you have to play one less game and all
the ramifications that go with it, the players are acutely aware of it. It is not like I have to pound that into
them that we have a lot to play for. Is it safe to assume that McNair
will start, assuming he doesn't have any setbacks in
practice? I would like to think so, but like I
said, that is not my hand. I will
have to see how the week progresses.
What is more desperate, a team
trying to squeak into the playoffs like the Steelers or you trying to get that
bye? I don't know, what is more panicky,
jumping off a 100-story building or a 150-story building? At some point, the pressures and
demands, it is what it is. The
nature of it might be a little bit different but the focus you need, the
physicality, the passion you have to play the game with is pretty much the
same. Although with these two
teams, and the history we have and it is a great rivalry, I don't know that the
parameters that we are playing under right now are really going to change a
whole lot. I don't know that it
wouldn't be a hard fought passionate game if both of us were out of the
playoffs. There are a lot of rookies playing
this year, and playing very well.
Are a lot of rookies playing in general now just because you can't afford
to bring them along slowly with salaries? I think so. I think you recognize
that you may only have them for so long.
The depth of the rosters, depending on where you are, we have 12 rookies,
we have the third most rookies of any team in the league. Just by the shear numbers, they are
going to have to play. We have
about seven of them that have regular starting roles and they have held up very,
very well. This, for us, is a very
mature group. I am very pleased
with the way this rookie group has stepped up to that challenge. Like any team, when you only have a
45-man roster on game day, your rookies are going to have to be a part of
it. Has that changed the way you
draft? It probably has. In the old days, you knew you had him
for "x" amount of time. It is a
little like college in that people get a little away from red-shirting because
the guy is going to leave his junior year anyway, so we might as well get three
good years because now they are leaving as sophomores. With the free agency the way it is and
your ability to hold on to a team, you have to find out
quick. Does having won 27-0 help you in
this game? That was six lifetimes ago, I doubt it unless they want to give me some of those points to start on Sunday. I don't know that there is a whole lot of value in it
LINEBACKER RAY LEWIS What does it mean to get a bye
week? I don't think that's really our
concern. All year it's been, bottom line, one game at a time. That's our focus
right now. Were you using more movement against
the Steelers in your last meeting? A lot of it came from us being able
to get them in longer yardage. That kind of disturbed them. Any time we get you
into long yardage and play our game, we can confuse you because we have so many
different packages. Have you blitzed and mixed things up
more this year than in years past? Pretty much since Rex (Ryan) took
over (defensive coordinator), he's really implemented a lot of different things
because there are so many different athletes on our defense that can do so many
different jobs. It makes their job easy but it makes our job complicated because
we always have to do something. What was the key to shutting down
Willie Parker? The key to Willie Parker is to never
let him get started. If Willie gets started then he'll be problems for
everybody. He's one of those explosive backs that has that home-run potential
any time he breaks the line of scrimmage. We have to make sure we don't have
just one man at the football, you have to have two or three or four people at
the point of attack. Do you expect the Steelers to gun
for you? Oh, of course. This is the National
Football League. You're not just dealing with the defending Super Bowl champs
you're also dealing with a coach that's a heck of a character over there in Bill
Cowher. That organization has always been an organization of character. For us
to sit here and thinks it's going to be the same thing that would be foolish. We
truly understand what we're walking into. We understand how hard it is to win in
How big was the home-field
advantage? I still say this to this day, I
don't care where you play someone at. If it's your day, it's your day, bottom
line. If something happens it was supposed to happen that day. That's what it
was. We had a heck of a game plan. We came in and executed right. They didn't
and we won that one. There are games that they have executed and we didn't. It
goes back to who executes, just like any game that's going to be played. Between
us, we know each other so well, it turns into a very physical battle. We all
know each other so well, not just staff but players, on and off the
field. Was that one of the most satisfying
wins of your career because of the rivalry? I don't look at any win as more
satisfying. There are two columns. There's a W and a loss column. If any of them
are in the win column, I'll take them all the same. How much does this year's team
represent the Super Bowl team of a few years back? It doesn't. It's so different. There
are so many different young guys. Then we were a veteran ball club. We had 15,
20 veterans. Now, we're very young. Talent is everywhere. I think it's two
totally different teams. I truly believe that. What are your thoughts on QBs this
year? Are they too protected? Of course, they took football and
messed it up because now you're telling someone that whatever our job is, not to
do your job. Now you go in there halfway trying to do your job and you have
people pulling up. One thing that I've always looked at is if someone makes a
play and the quarterback throws the ball out of bounds or it's an incomplete
pass and the foul happens after that play, you can't penalize on that play. That
play is dead. As a defensive player, if you want to penalize me when it's
supposed to be my ball, you can give us 15 yards on the punt and penalize us
there or penalize us once the offense gets the ball. You can't penalize when the
play is dead. They are tearing defenses apart because defenses are calling the
perfect call and making the perfect plays on the call and then the play is over
and you see a late flag coming in. You say what happened? 'Hands to the face.'
Hands to the face?! These guys use a stiff arm all day to push defenders in the
face. What does the quarterback do? He's a hero and this and that. There is too
much emphasis on a game with too much riding on it to call a call like that and
let it affect the game the way it does. Is the bye week
important? I can't speak about it because I
haven't had it. The only thing I know is you play football one week and keep
playing, and keep playing, and keep playing. What happens is, after you leave
the season you come into the first round. Then you get momentum. I've heard a
lot of people say the bye week hurts people because you take that week off and
you kind of get out of it and the team that comes in is coming in on that same
beat from the season. I don't know but I truly believe that rest is always
important. I don't care how you get it or when you get it. I believe that is
what that first-round bye is for. If your team is beat up you can get a lot of
rest. So this game is important to get
that bye? Yeah, of course. This game is
important because, forget the bye, this is the next game. We're not just going
to
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