Panthers @ Steelers
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Offense earns rest vs. Panthers
By Jerry DiPaola
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Don't blink Thursday night at Heinz Field. You might miss the starters.
OK, that's hyperbole, but coach Bill Cowher is so happy with his offense that he will use his starters for no more than a quarter against the Carolina Panthers in the exhibition finale.
They could use the work, but the need is not as desperate as it was a year ago, Cowher said.
"I think, as it relates to last year, we are a little further along on the offensive side of the ball," Cowher said, "and not as far along on the defensive side of the ball."
The numbers prove the point. Backed by a running game that is averaging more than 4 yards per carry (even if you don't count Troy Polamalu's 65-yard run from punt formation), quarterback Tommy Maddox has completed two-thirds of his passes (12 of 18) in three games. As a unit, the pass catchers are averaging 14.1 yards per reception. And the Steelers have scored 11 offensive touchdowns.
Cowher is right about the defense. There have been no sacks from the starting linebackers, no fumble recoveries from anyone and the only player to intercept a pass - cornerback Terry Fair - was released on Tuesday.
That being the case, you might see more of Joey Porter and Chad Scott, than Duce Staley and Jeff Hartings.
"You don't want to show all your stuff in the preseason," Maddox said. "Hopefully, we will save some for Oakland (the regular-season opener on Sept. 12). But it has been good and it needs to continue to be good."
Maddox, who has been sacked only once in three abbreviated appearances, seems especially pleased when talking about the offensive line that is functioning effectively, even without right guard Kendall Simmons (knee injury).
"The offensive line is firing off the ball and playing very well," Maddox said.
Experience may be the offense's best quality. All 11 starters have been in the NFL at least four years; seven of them are six (or more)-year veterans.
"The good thing is we've played a lot of football games together," Maddox said. "Most of the line, all the receivers and me."
If Maddox, who is entering his third season as the starter, concludes the preseason with fewer than 25 pass attempts and only one touchdown pass in four games, no one will be alarmed.
"We have played enough in the preseason to kind of get back into that game mode and get back ready for the season," he said. "Our timing has been good. We have done the things we need to do."
With the regular season still 11 days away, Maddox is ready to start playing games that matter.
"I told Bill I feel like it's getting close, but it's still a long way away," he said. "When you get to this point, you're excited for the season to start. You are excited to get back out there and start playing for real."
Offense earns rest vs. Panthers
By Jerry DiPaola
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Don't blink Thursday night at Heinz Field. You might miss the starters.
OK, that's hyperbole, but coach Bill Cowher is so happy with his offense that he will use his starters for no more than a quarter against the Carolina Panthers in the exhibition finale.
They could use the work, but the need is not as desperate as it was a year ago, Cowher said.
"I think, as it relates to last year, we are a little further along on the offensive side of the ball," Cowher said, "and not as far along on the defensive side of the ball."
The numbers prove the point. Backed by a running game that is averaging more than 4 yards per carry (even if you don't count Troy Polamalu's 65-yard run from punt formation), quarterback Tommy Maddox has completed two-thirds of his passes (12 of 18) in three games. As a unit, the pass catchers are averaging 14.1 yards per reception. And the Steelers have scored 11 offensive touchdowns.
Cowher is right about the defense. There have been no sacks from the starting linebackers, no fumble recoveries from anyone and the only player to intercept a pass - cornerback Terry Fair - was released on Tuesday.
That being the case, you might see more of Joey Porter and Chad Scott, than Duce Staley and Jeff Hartings.
"You don't want to show all your stuff in the preseason," Maddox said. "Hopefully, we will save some for Oakland (the regular-season opener on Sept. 12). But it has been good and it needs to continue to be good."
Maddox, who has been sacked only once in three abbreviated appearances, seems especially pleased when talking about the offensive line that is functioning effectively, even without right guard Kendall Simmons (knee injury).
"The offensive line is firing off the ball and playing very well," Maddox said.
Experience may be the offense's best quality. All 11 starters have been in the NFL at least four years; seven of them are six (or more)-year veterans.
"The good thing is we've played a lot of football games together," Maddox said. "Most of the line, all the receivers and me."
If Maddox, who is entering his third season as the starter, concludes the preseason with fewer than 25 pass attempts and only one touchdown pass in four games, no one will be alarmed.
"We have played enough in the preseason to kind of get back into that game mode and get back ready for the season," he said. "Our timing has been good. We have done the things we need to do."
With the regular season still 11 days away, Maddox is ready to start playing games that matter.
"I told Bill I feel like it's getting close, but it's still a long way away," he said. "When you get to this point, you're excited for the season to start. You are excited to get back out there and start playing for real."
Wednesday, September 1
Don't blink unless you want to miss Panthers, Steelers starters
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Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) _ The Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers plan to take the safe, simplified approach to their final exhibition game Thursday night: One and done.
Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, who threw an unusually high 31 passes last week against the Patriots, and most of the offensive regulars will play one quarter _ and only one quarter.
The same goes for Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox, who has thrown 13 fewer passes in three exhibition games than Delhomme did last week alone. Not that Maddox has needed to throw many; in the seven drives he's engineered, the Steelers have three touchdowns, a field goal and a long possession that ended with a fumble.
``When he's played, he's played very well,'' Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. ``His decision making has been good, his accuracy has been good. I think he's where he needs to be. I'm very pleased with him.''
While the Panthers regularly play well in games that don't count _ they're 3-0, and have won their last eight exhibitions dating to 2002 _ the Steelers haven't had a winning preseason since 2001. But they will finish 3-1 if they win Thursday.
Cowher won't give any thought to giving his starters any additional playing time so that might happen. Backup quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre figure to play a lot, as do backup running backs Verron Haynes, Willie Parker and Dante Brown once Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis leave the game.
All three have been productive, but it's likely only two will make the team unless the Steelers unexpectedly decide to release Bettis during the final roster cuts this weekend.
``It's a difficult situation and a tough decision,'' Cowher said of having so many running backs. ``It's a nice problem to have.''
No doubt one Carolina coach John Fox wouldn't mind having.
With starter Stephen Davis out with a sore knee, the Panthers ran for only 51 yards on 17 carries against the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, with backup DeShaun Foster gaining just 16 yards on 10 carries.
The Panthers are averaging just 3.1 yards per carry in the preseason while they continue to reshape an offensive line that returns only two starters from last season: Jeff Mitchell and Jordan Gross.
``I don't think that's a reason to panic at all,'' Delhomme said. ``I really believe we'll be just fine. You have to realize we haven't game-planned at all yet. It's just running base stuff. We've watched a little bit of film, but not like we will going into (the opener against) Green Bay.''
Despite their own offensive line problems, the Steelers are averaging a much-better 4.5 yards per carry. As a result, they've run the ball 121 times and thrown it only 67 times; by contrast, the Panthers have thrown 105 times and run it 71 times.
``I can't say that we'll be pass-heavy, but I can say that we'll use the pass to set up the run a little bit more than last year,'' Delhomme said. ``We still want to pound the football. I'm a firm believer in that.''
Pittsburgh's offensive line has been a strength so far despite losing right guard Kendall Simmons to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.
Don't blink unless you want to miss Panthers, Steelers starters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) _ The Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers plan to take the safe, simplified approach to their final exhibition game Thursday night: One and done.
Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, who threw an unusually high 31 passes last week against the Patriots, and most of the offensive regulars will play one quarter _ and only one quarter.
The same goes for Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox, who has thrown 13 fewer passes in three exhibition games than Delhomme did last week alone. Not that Maddox has needed to throw many; in the seven drives he's engineered, the Steelers have three touchdowns, a field goal and a long possession that ended with a fumble.
``When he's played, he's played very well,'' Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. ``His decision making has been good, his accuracy has been good. I think he's where he needs to be. I'm very pleased with him.''
While the Panthers regularly play well in games that don't count _ they're 3-0, and have won their last eight exhibitions dating to 2002 _ the Steelers haven't had a winning preseason since 2001. But they will finish 3-1 if they win Thursday.
Cowher won't give any thought to giving his starters any additional playing time so that might happen. Backup quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre figure to play a lot, as do backup running backs Verron Haynes, Willie Parker and Dante Brown once Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis leave the game.
All three have been productive, but it's likely only two will make the team unless the Steelers unexpectedly decide to release Bettis during the final roster cuts this weekend.
``It's a difficult situation and a tough decision,'' Cowher said of having so many running backs. ``It's a nice problem to have.''
No doubt one Carolina coach John Fox wouldn't mind having.
With starter Stephen Davis out with a sore knee, the Panthers ran for only 51 yards on 17 carries against the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, with backup DeShaun Foster gaining just 16 yards on 10 carries.
The Panthers are averaging just 3.1 yards per carry in the preseason while they continue to reshape an offensive line that returns only two starters from last season: Jeff Mitchell and Jordan Gross.
``I don't think that's a reason to panic at all,'' Delhomme said. ``I really believe we'll be just fine. You have to realize we haven't game-planned at all yet. It's just running base stuff. We've watched a little bit of film, but not like we will going into (the opener against) Green Bay.''
Despite their own offensive line problems, the Steelers are averaging a much-better 4.5 yards per carry. As a result, they've run the ball 121 times and thrown it only 67 times; by contrast, the Panthers have thrown 105 times and run it 71 times.
``I can't say that we'll be pass-heavy, but I can say that we'll use the pass to set up the run a little bit more than last year,'' Delhomme said. ``We still want to pound the football. I'm a firm believer in that.''
Pittsburgh's offensive line has been a strength so far despite losing right guard Kendall Simmons to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.
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Back-up QBs
PIT
Backup quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre
CAR
Rodney Peete and Chris Weinke
Not much here. Peete and Weinke have all the regular season starts. Roth and StPierre have none.
Big edge to CAR (especially not Fum and INTs)
Low scoring game. The Steelers are running 3 RBs and will cut at least one. Run, Run, Run.
Back-up QBs
PIT
Backup quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre
CAR
Rodney Peete and Chris Weinke
Not much here. Peete and Weinke have all the regular season starts. Roth and StPierre have none.
Big edge to CAR (especially not Fum and INTs)
Low scoring game. The Steelers are running 3 RBs and will cut at least one. Run, Run, Run.
Posted on Thu, Sep. 02, 2004
Preseason has a place
Exhibition wins often linked to success in postseason
STAN OLSON
Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH - They're just exhibitions, right? They let NFL veterans shake off the rust, rookies strut their stuff and coaches determine those final few spots on the roster. Then the regular season starts, every team is 0-0 again and the preseason games are forgotten.
Which means that winning in the preseason shouldn't matter. Many in the NFL, though, say it matters a lot.
If it does, that bodes well for the Carolina Panthers, who will try to wrap up their second straight undefeated preseason tonight at 6:30 against Pittsburgh at Heinz Field.
The game won't overwhelm anyone; both teams plan to use their starters sparingly after giving them considerable work last week. But both squads still prefer winning this last warmup contest to the alternative.
Consider this: The Panthers, who are chasing their ninth straight preseason victory, went 4-0 last year and reached the Super Bowl. New England went 4-0 last year and won the Super Bowl.
Keep in mind that you would expect the best teams to win in the preseason because of their talent, just as they do in the regular season. And the 38 Super Bowl winners have for the most part been dominant in the preseason.
Thirty (78.9 percent) had an exhibition winning percentage of .500 or higher. Seven went undefeated. Overall, the Super Bowl champions combined for a 115-65-2 preseason record.
"It is a lot more fun to win," Panthers coach John Fox said. "The mindset is different; you get used to it. I am not saying anybody will ever remember what the (preseason) record was, but I think it is important to get your team ready to win.
"We do everything we can to win. We are not going to put our first group in to win a game; we are not going to do anything dumb.
"But winning these games breeds the idea of winning."
Carolina offensive coordinator Dan Henning has worked with many of the game's greatest coaches.
"Bill Parcells always wanted to win, Don Shula always wanted to win," Henning said. "Because they felt like winning bred on itself. That didn't mean they didn't address other issues, they just made winning a priority also. So they decided whoever was in the blankety-blank game was going to win. Don was adamant about it, and Bill thought it was important."
Not everyone is enamored of preseason wins. Henning said neither Joe Gibbs nor Marv Levy placed a high priority on beating exhibition opponents.
Gibbs' 1982 Washington team was the only Super Bowl winner to go winless in the preseason.
"Different people look at it differently," Henning said.
But after watching both approaches first-hand, Henning prefers winning.
Still, work has to be done, sometimes to the detriment of the final score.
"The difference in preseason is that you have other issues to address during the course of the game, and sometimes they get in the way of what you would actually do to win or lose," Henning said.
Henning remembered Fox's first exhibition as a head coach, following a 1-15 season. The Panthers were leading Washington, but lost the lead while playing substitutes.
"There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth around, but there wasn't with John," Henning said. "He knew exactly what he wanted to get done. We started out that season 3-0, and the reason was because of the issues that we addressed, being a new staff and needing to see everybody and put things together."
Henning said you approach exhibitions with "a whole different set of encyclopedias," but added, "I think it's important to win, to find a way to win no matter what issues you're addressing."
Defensive end Mike Rucker understands that sometimes winning must take a backseat to preparing the team. But he also believes a part of that preparation is learning how to win.
"It is the preseason, so you've got a lot of young guys. You've got a lot of people trying to jell and you're trying to see a lot of things," he said. "On the other hand, winning is good because now you start to build some of these little things that help you on down the road. You learn how to deal with wins and how to deal with success."
This is really the way it works in the NFL's preseason: Each week's winners smile and talk about building momentum for the real thing. Each week's losers grumble and say it was only an exhibition.
Maybe, though, it was a little bit more than that.
Exhibiting Winning Tendencies
The preseason records of the past 10 Super Bowl champions:
Year Team W-L
2003 New England 4-0
2002 Tampa Bay 3-1
2001 New England 3-1
2000 Baltimore 4-0
1999 St. Louis 2-2
1998 Denver 3-1
1997 Denver 3-2
1996 Green Bay 3-1
1995 Dallas 2-3
1994 San Francisco 3-1
Total 30-12 .714
Preseason has a place
Exhibition wins often linked to success in postseason
STAN OLSON
Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH - They're just exhibitions, right? They let NFL veterans shake off the rust, rookies strut their stuff and coaches determine those final few spots on the roster. Then the regular season starts, every team is 0-0 again and the preseason games are forgotten.
Which means that winning in the preseason shouldn't matter. Many in the NFL, though, say it matters a lot.
If it does, that bodes well for the Carolina Panthers, who will try to wrap up their second straight undefeated preseason tonight at 6:30 against Pittsburgh at Heinz Field.
The game won't overwhelm anyone; both teams plan to use their starters sparingly after giving them considerable work last week. But both squads still prefer winning this last warmup contest to the alternative.
Consider this: The Panthers, who are chasing their ninth straight preseason victory, went 4-0 last year and reached the Super Bowl. New England went 4-0 last year and won the Super Bowl.
Keep in mind that you would expect the best teams to win in the preseason because of their talent, just as they do in the regular season. And the 38 Super Bowl winners have for the most part been dominant in the preseason.
Thirty (78.9 percent) had an exhibition winning percentage of .500 or higher. Seven went undefeated. Overall, the Super Bowl champions combined for a 115-65-2 preseason record.
"It is a lot more fun to win," Panthers coach John Fox said. "The mindset is different; you get used to it. I am not saying anybody will ever remember what the (preseason) record was, but I think it is important to get your team ready to win.
"We do everything we can to win. We are not going to put our first group in to win a game; we are not going to do anything dumb.
"But winning these games breeds the idea of winning."
Carolina offensive coordinator Dan Henning has worked with many of the game's greatest coaches.
"Bill Parcells always wanted to win, Don Shula always wanted to win," Henning said. "Because they felt like winning bred on itself. That didn't mean they didn't address other issues, they just made winning a priority also. So they decided whoever was in the blankety-blank game was going to win. Don was adamant about it, and Bill thought it was important."
Not everyone is enamored of preseason wins. Henning said neither Joe Gibbs nor Marv Levy placed a high priority on beating exhibition opponents.
Gibbs' 1982 Washington team was the only Super Bowl winner to go winless in the preseason.
"Different people look at it differently," Henning said.
But after watching both approaches first-hand, Henning prefers winning.
Still, work has to be done, sometimes to the detriment of the final score.
"The difference in preseason is that you have other issues to address during the course of the game, and sometimes they get in the way of what you would actually do to win or lose," Henning said.
Henning remembered Fox's first exhibition as a head coach, following a 1-15 season. The Panthers were leading Washington, but lost the lead while playing substitutes.
"There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth around, but there wasn't with John," Henning said. "He knew exactly what he wanted to get done. We started out that season 3-0, and the reason was because of the issues that we addressed, being a new staff and needing to see everybody and put things together."
Henning said you approach exhibitions with "a whole different set of encyclopedias," but added, "I think it's important to win, to find a way to win no matter what issues you're addressing."
Defensive end Mike Rucker understands that sometimes winning must take a backseat to preparing the team. But he also believes a part of that preparation is learning how to win.
"It is the preseason, so you've got a lot of young guys. You've got a lot of people trying to jell and you're trying to see a lot of things," he said. "On the other hand, winning is good because now you start to build some of these little things that help you on down the road. You learn how to deal with wins and how to deal with success."
This is really the way it works in the NFL's preseason: Each week's winners smile and talk about building momentum for the real thing. Each week's losers grumble and say it was only an exhibition.
Maybe, though, it was a little bit more than that.
Exhibiting Winning Tendencies
The preseason records of the past 10 Super Bowl champions:
Year Team W-L
2003 New England 4-0
2002 Tampa Bay 3-1
2001 New England 3-1
2000 Baltimore 4-0
1999 St. Louis 2-2
1998 Denver 3-1
1997 Denver 3-2
1996 Green Bay 3-1
1995 Dallas 2-3
1994 San Francisco 3-1
Total 30-12 .714
