Aug 13, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 4 min read

LATROBE – Mathias Nkwenti is short enough to block with leverage and has arms long enough to keep pass rushers away from his body. “The perfect tackle,” said tackle-turned-analyst Tunch Ilkin.

But Nkwenti didn’t get the call when Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Wayne Gandy went down with an injury Sunday. It took a minor injury to rookie right guard Kendall Simmons late in Monday’s practice for Nkwenti to get his chance.

Simmons left the field to have x-rays taken of his hand, which were negative.

Steelers Coach Bill Cowher didn’t know enough about the injury to comment, but didn’t seem concerned. He instead issued a challenge to Nkwenti, who stepped in at left tackle, pushing Oliver Ross back to right guard.

“I’d like to see him pick it up a little bit and have a little more sense of urgency in his play,” Cowher said. “He does do some steady things. He’s got a lot of ability. He just needs to play with more of a sense of urgency, and I think if he does that everything’s ahead of him.”

Nkwenti was the Steelers’ fourth-round draft pick last season, but was inactive all season. He improved in the spring, and at camp has stone-walled players such as Kendrell Bell, Aaron Smith and Kimo von Oelhoffen during line drills. On the final plays of the one-minute drill Monday, Nkwenti stopped Rodney Bailey two times.

“But you’ve got to be able to do it on a consistent basis,” Cowher said. “I like where he’s at. He’s so much further along than he was last year at this time. Again, he needs to get some confidence; he needs to get his feet in there; he needs to play a lot. So maybe an opportunity will present itself and he’s got to prove he can be a consistent football player. Again, a lot of that is ahead of him.”

Cowher was told that Simmons, the rookie first-round pick, had banged his hand during the one-minute drill. Cowher didn’t know which hand was injured.

“It’s just his hand. There may be a broken bone in there,” Cowher said. “There’s nothing wrong with the wrist. We’ll have more of an update after x-rays are taken.”

The injury was eventually diagnosed as nothing more than a contusion.

Safety Mike Logan (hamstring) returned to practice and worked on a limited basis, while cornerback Dewayne Washington (virus) took part in both of Monday’s practices. Tight end Jerame Tuman remained sidelined with an abdominal injury suffered last week when he took an elbow to the midsection in practice. Gandy has a lateral ankle sprain and probably won’t play Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

Burress on hot streak

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress had perhaps his best practice of training camp. He not only caught several passes with his hands away from his body, but made a spectacular, one-handed, leaping catch of Kordell Stewart’s first pass of the afternoon scrimmage. Burress leaped over cornerback Chad Scott to pull the ball down for a big gain.

“He’s had a very good camp,” said Cowher. “He’s comfortable in this offense. He had some success last year and I think that’s the thing. His confidence level right now is very high, and I think a lot of it is based on how he finished last year. I think you can see it carrying over right now.”

Burress caught 38 of his 66 passes last season in the final seven games. In the post-season, he made 10 receptions.

“I think receivers are a lot like hitters and right now he’s seeing the ball and catching anything that’s coming near him,” Cowher said.

Joe the Toe

Cowher, who lives in Fox Chapel, was asked if backup kicker Joe O’Donnell has any kind of edge going his way since he’s also from Fox Chapel.

“Nah,” Cowher said. “I was receiving a number of letters for a number of years about giving him a chance, so at least he’s finally here, and he had a chance to have a good experience in the world league.

“He’s got a strong leg and hopefully he’ll have some more opportunities in this exhibition season.”

In his only kickoff Thursday night, O’Donnell booted the ball to the Jets’ 8-yard line.