Steelers start camp with issues
PITTSBURGH – After going 13-3 during last season and reaching the AFC title game, the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have many lineup vacancies or positions to fill when they open training camp Wednesday. But that doesn’t mean this will be an uneventful, stick-to-the-routine month in Latrobe. No, coach Bill Cowher is certain to make sure there’s no air of complacency in a team regarded as the AFC favorite.
The Steelers signed only two free agents likely to make their lineup, former Jets linebacker James Farrior and former Chiefs kicker Todd Peterson. The draft was used mostly to improve special teams and add complementary players who will challenge for starting jobs in the future.
Still, there are questions:
– Can Jerome Bettis stay healthy?
Twice in the last six seasons, the Steelers a Bettis groin injury sidetracked their running game in the playoffs. Bettis said last month that the problem that sidelined him for all but a few plays of the Steelers’ final seven games was more serious that he revealed at the time.
Bettis, 30, rarely gets much playing time in exhibition games, but those few carries he does get will be closely watched.
– Can the Steelers count on a productive Kordell Stewart, who came back last year after three unproductive seasons in which he lost his starting quarterback job?
“He understands that everything is going to be scrutinized, every game, every throw,” Cowher said. “He has become very tough-minded as a result of what he’s gone through. He just didn’t come off his year in the Pro Bowl and say “OK, I’m fine now.’ He came here and never missed a workout. He became a leader. He’s the leader of this football team.”
– What about special teams?
Special teams breakdowns didn’t just haunt the Steelers during the AFC title game, when they accounted for two of New England’s three touchdowns in their 21-17 victory, they did so nearly all season. That’s why former special teams coach Jay Hayes was let go and Kevin Spencer was brought in to repair the damage
– Can the Steelers drive themselves as favorites the way they did as underdogs?
From the first day of camp last July to their loss to New England in late January, the Steelers’ theme was the same: People don’t respect us, people don’t think we can win. They can’t recite that mantra this season, when the question doesn’t seem to be whether they will make the playoffs, but how far they will go.
“That edge we had last year still needs to be there,” Cowher said.
– Will wide receiver Troy Edwards be around for the season opener Sept. 9 at New England?
Since Cowher took over in 1992, only one first-round draft pick has washed out, offensive lineman Jamain Stephens. But, three years after being a first rounder, Edwards goes to camp fighting for the fifth and last receiver’s spot on the roster.
– Are Plaxico Burress’ troubles behind him?
Burress had a breakthrough season, seemingly establishing himself as the big-play receiver the Steelers have sought for years. But he also troubled them with off-the-field brushes with the law, the kind of distractions that a championship-seeking team doesn’t need.
– Who will be the backup quarterback, Charlie Batch or Tommy Maddox?
Batch, a former starter in Detroit who is playing in Pittsburgh this season for a relative pittance, has far more recent playing experience than Maddox, and thus might have the edge as camp begins.
– Can second-round draft pick Antwaan Randle El go from being one of the most versatile college quarterbacks ever to a productive receiver in the NFL?
The Steelers like these guys – Stewart began as a “slash” and starting wide receiver Hines Ward was also a quarterback and running back in college.
With the starters unlikely to play much in the four exhibition games, Randle El could get a lot of passes thrown his way beginning with the Aug. 8 exhibition against the Jets.