Cowher names Maddox starter
PITTSBURGH – Steelers coach Bill Cowher didn’t hesitate Tuesday to announce Tommy Maddox will start against Houston, mostly so it wouldn’t distract his team. Last week, Cowher waited to pick Kordell Stewart as his quarterback, mostly to distract their opponent.
Cowher, determined not to let a quarterback debate divide a team that is 6-1-1 in its last eight games, said Maddox was playing too well before getting hurt Nov. 17 to lose his job to an injury.
The decision was difficult, mostly because Cowher will sit down a hot quarterback – something NFL coaches rarely do. Stewart played virtually error-free in the two-plus games Maddox was out, completing 51 of 69 passes for 562 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and running for 135 yards.
But Cowher apparently is convinced Maddox gives the Steelers (7-4-1) the best chance to go deep into the postseason, where they stumbled twice with Stewart. The Steelers are in excellent position to win the AFC North, with a 11/2 game lead over Cleveland and Baltimore and three of their final four games at home.
“I’ve talked with Tommy and talked with Kordell, and we certainly won’t hesitate – if we need a spark – to go to Kordell,” Cowher said. “The bottom line is, at time of the injury, he was playing well and did not merit losing that job.”
Cowher didn’t name a starter last week because he wanted Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin to prepare for both quarterbacks. He decided a similar mystery game this week would be counterproductive.
“The circumstances of last week lent themselves to not making a decision until game day,” Cowher said. “But I thought it was important that it doesn’t become an ongoing subject that is more distracting to our team than to any opponent.”
The switch is as much about style as performance.
With Stewart, the Steelers are an effective, grind-it-out ball control team that sometimes goes long stretches without scoring. They were held to one touchdown in winning 25-23 in Jacksonville, a week after nearly blowing a 17-point lead in beating Cincinnati 29-21.
Maddox, the surprise story of the NFL season before getting hurt, adds a big-play and quick-score element. Starting for the first time in a decade, Maddox has thrown for 16 touchdowns and 1,872 yards in 10 games, including a team-record 473 yards against Atlanta the week before he was hurt.
The most compelling statistic for choosing Maddox is that Maddox has produced 23 touchdowns to Stewart’s 10, in almost equal playing time.
The unknown element is whether a scary head and neck injury that left Maddox paralyzed for more than a half-hour will adversely affect him when he resumes playing.
Maddox doesn’t expect that to be a problem, saying he has been hit much harder and not injured.
“If you’re worried about that, you shouldn’t be playing,” he said.
Meanwhile, tight end Mark Bruener will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury that was first thought to be minor.
Bruener was diagnosed Sunday with a sprained right knee but, during arthroscopic surgery Tuesday, team doctor Jim Bradley discovered bone and cartilage damage that will take six months to heal.
Bruener will be replaced in the lineup by Jerame Tuman and on the roster by tight end Matt Cushing, who has been on and off the team all season.