HEAD COACH BILL COWHER
PRESS CONFERENCE
DECEMBER 26, 2006

 

Coach Cowher: The injury situation going into our last game at Cincinnati is: two players are out, Ryan Clark with his groin and Max Starks with his knee. One player is doubtful that's Clark Haggans. He has a grade-two MCL on his knee. Questionable is James Harrison with his shoulder. We have six guys that are probable: Andre Lott with his ankle, Clint Kriewaldt with a neck, Ben (Roethlisberger) with a shoulder, Deshea (Townsend) with his hand, Jeff (Hartings) with a knee and Troy (Polamalu) with his knee.

 

Real quick, the Baltimore game was a very disappointing outcome considering everything that was at stake. If you look at the first half of that game, offensively we were 0-for-7 on third down. Even as I said after the game, we had some third-and-make-ables and we didn't convert. Consequently we never got into any rhythm. Defensively we gave up some big pass plays. They scored the one touchdown on a short field, a 45-yard drive. We got back in it with the takeaway and a score at the end of the first half. In the second half I thought one of the big plays was in that second half drive. The third-and-13 we missed an assignment and they converted. They hit a 25-yard touchdown pass. Then we came back. One thing I'll say is that we battled back. The fumble took the wind out of our sails with 13 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. We had a chance to get that back to 21-14 but Willie (Parker) stumbled at the two-yard line. It's disappointing.

 

Where we are right now, we're going into Cincinnati. I know they are still mathematically are in it. Our goal is to go down there and get the taste out of our mouths and finish the season at 8-8. We'll do that. Playing Cincinnati, with a game like that, there's a lot at stake pride-wise. It's always been that way when we play Cincinnati. That's where we are.

 

Do you share Dan Rooney's opinion that the team needs better players?

 

I'm not ready to reflect on next year. I'm getting ready for the Cincinnati Bengals.

 

Is Parker the type of back you need for your offense?

 

I think he's a good back. I don't know if there is a prototype that you need for this offense. He is a quality football player. I do believe that you need more than one back in this business if you're going to run the football through a 16-game season. Willie Parker is going to the Pro Bowl. I think he is one of the better backs in the National Football League. He's the only guy that we've had that gives us a big-play possibility in the running game. You do need to be able to monitor him through the season and we've been able to do that this year. I don't look at that being an issue. If you look at this year and reflect it still comes back to turning the football over. You can say what you want but we're 29^th in the National Football League in turnovers but we're tied for eighth in takeaways. So we're taking the ball away, like we did the other day, but we're turning it over. That has resulted in losing some close games this year that in the past we would have won by being that one. Consequently it put us in a hole in a conference where it will take 10 wins to get in.

 

Do you look at it as being only a handful of plays away from going for your 11^th win?

 

I believe that. There's a fine line. We could be sitting here a year ago with some of those games that we won, and maybe not be getting in. That's the way the National Football League is right now. There is a fine line that exists and you have to have players playing at a high level. You try to stay injury free and get on one of those rolls. I look at Baltimore as being on one of those rolls right now. There is a fine line.

 

Is Bill Cowher going to be back for a 16^th season?

 

That's for next week. We'll talk about that next week. It won't go long. I'm not sure what the time frame is. The most important thing right now is to focus on this game because there is such a difference in my mind between 8-8 and 7-9. The fact that we lost last week, the sour taste in your mouth, we're playing a divisional opponent, all those things, we'll go down to Cincinnati with one thing in mind and that's to finish this off with a positive note.

 

How much importance do people in the NFL put on getting to 8-8 and finishing strong?

 

To me it's not how people perceive you. It's what you can take into that next season. I go back to the year we were 6-10 in 2003. You can look at the year as us being 6-10 but I looked at the year in the last half of the season we were 4-4. We just couldn't put together two-straight wins. We couldn't get over that hump. This year has a little bit of that same feel to it from the standpoint of digging an early hole and just not allowing yourself any margin of error as the season went along. It's what you do internally. Perception of other people, I really don't care to be honest with you. I don't think people in here really care what the perception is. It's the reality of what you have in front of you to be able to make objective decisions, and try to create that sense of going forward and building off of something, and being realistic of where you are. That's the thing you want to do. That's why I always thought finishing strong was a very important thing to do because that's what you're taking into the next year.

 

How important is it to knock a divisional opponent out of the playoffs?

 

Let me say this, misery loves company, and we're looking for company.

 

Is this a strange season in that when you fix one things another problem arises?

 

It's like whatever that saying is about the hole in the wall. It's been that. To reflect on the early part of the season, and no excuse about our two games against Baltimore, those were opportunities we had and they just quite frankly played a more dominating game than we did, but I thought early in the season it took us a while to find an identity and through course of that we lost some games that we could have won and maybe should have won because you're going to have that in the early stages of games. Those are the games, to me, that are really important because as you start to develop and find your own niche about who you are and the roles that players have, anything can change, but they still have to be settled into something. You have to win those close games, the Oakland, the Atlanta, the games that we had opportunities to win. Those games will come back to haunt you. The first Cincinnati game. You go back to those games, you'll go back to turnovers. Somehow, whether it was in the kicking game or offense, or a pass play that we couldn't make a play on. It seemed that earlier in the season we couldn't make a play on a fade ball. The ball would go into the end zone in a jump-ball situation, we were losing every one of those. There is that fine line that we talk about. It exists. It's all a part of the season as it unfolds. A lot of teams are probably saying the same things. We're not the only ones. A play here and play there can turn a season around.

 

 

 

Are you surprised that the Ravens dominated both games?

 

Yeah I am. Surprised and disappointed. I thought we played this past game better. It was 14-7 when we came out and had a chance to get back into the game. We gave up the drive and came back. We were fighting an uphill battle. There's nothing more you can really say about it. They really outplayed us in both games.

 

Did you have concerns about the team coming out of training camp?

 

Given the situation, we opened up on a Thursday night, that shortens the camp. It takes on a different significance because you're opening up sooner than everybody else. We had a few setbacks. Hines (Ward) didn't have any training camp basically with his hamstring. Ben had the setback prior to going to camp. I didn't think coming out that we were that far away. A couple of those early season losses, a play here or a play there, I won't contribute that to a bad training camp. Not getting a hand on the ball in San Diego and having 17-14 lead and them punting the ball to us against Cincinnati, those games were big games. You go down to Jacksonville and it was 9-0 and 0-0 late in the third quarter. It's hard to say. Certainly we didn't get going offensively as early as you like. The injures, Hines and Ben completed their first pass the week of the Jacksonville game. That was the first time they practiced together in over a month.

 

Is there something to be said about how tough it is to repeat?

 

You become the barometer every week so you have to bring you're a game. I say that but I think even the year before, we were 15-1, and people looked at us the same way going into the next year. We've been there before and understood that. The scheduling part of it, four o'clock game, eight o'clock game, Monday night game, Thursday night game, we played our second one o'clock home game last weekend. That's all part of this profession. Everybody goes through it. If you have those, you're having them for all the right reasons. You're stretching if you're looking at that. Not to overanalyze, it still comes back to the execution and doing the little things that it takes to win football games. We walk that fine line every year. We just didn't walk it very well this year.

 

How did Willie Colon do?

 

He did okay at times. I thought he got better as the game went on.  Like I said last week, you can watch film, you can see it on the practice field, but until you get into the game and have to apply it at game speed and short decision making periods of time, then you get acclimated to it.  I thought he played better as the game went on.

 

Did you realize that Baltimore acquiring Steve McNair would be so significant?

 

He's been pretty successful in the National Football League. He's a good quarterback. Their offense is good and their defense is special. A lot of those guys were hurt a year ago. They have everyone back, they have stayed healthy, and they added a few more parts to the defense. Getting (Haloti) Ngata with the first round pick and Trevor Pryce was a great addition. Bart Scott was, I say, an addition because he got a year to play without Ray (Lewis). He came into his own last year. They are a special defense. Steve McNair is a good quarterback. We gave up some passes, but the one thing I'll say is, you see it around the National Football League every week. There are windows that are there and the good ones make you pay the minute you open one up.  He exploited some defenses that we had. To his credit, he did a good job with it and he made the throws when he needed to make them.

 

Were you satisfied with the physical nature of the defense?

 

I thought we played fine from that standpoint.