Rust aside, Maddox just plain lousy
PITTSBURGH – Rust was to be expected from quarterback Tommy Maddox. He’d missed the two previous games after being knocked out of the Tennessee game. Maddox’s poor performance in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-6 loss to the expansion Houston Texans, though, went beyond a lack of timing.
“This one’s simple,” Maddox said after the game. “They scored 24 points and I gave them 21 of them. Put it on my shoulders. I’ll take the heat. I deserve it.”
Maddox completed 30 of a franchise-record 57 passes for 325 yards, but his lone fumble was returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Kenny Wright and both of Maddox’s interceptions were returned for touchdowns by Aaron Glenn.
When asked about Maddox’s performance, Coach Bill Cowher said: “It wasn’t very good.” Or about the same thing Maddox had said.
“You can’t go out there and turn the ball over much less turn the ball over and give them touchdowns, especially when the defense is out there playing its heart out,” Maddox said. “I think they gave up [47] yards all day and we get beat, so my hat’s off to the defense.
“We kept fighting. We were down there. We had our opportunities. We just couldn’t get it done.”
After missing two games and a quarter of a third game after suffering a spinal concussion, Maddox returned to a cheering Heinz Field crowd, but on the first possession fumbled at the end of a third-and-18 play in which he ran for 5 yards.
“I was actually just trying to step behind the safety and get down on the ground,” he said. “I couldn’t beat him to the sideline. I was already past the line of scrimmage. I was actually trying to be smart with it and I ended up giving them a touchdown.”
Wright picked up the ball and sprinted down the sideline to put the Texans ahead, 7-0.
Maddox came back on the next possession to convert a pair of third-and-longs before his pass on a quick slant to Plaxico Burress was intercepted by Glenn and returned 70 yards for another Houston touchdown.
Maddox was asked if he’d forced the ball into double coverage.
“Well, there was a lot of coverage out there,” he said. “We did a lot of good things. We moved the ball on them. We were down there a lot of times. That’s why it’s so frustrating. Take away two slant throws and we moved the ball very well. Those two slant throws resulted in 14 points for them.”
Maddox threw his second interception, on another slant route, with 2:02 left in the game. The Steelers were training 17-6 before Glenn’s 65-yard touchdown return set the final score.
Were the Texans sitting on that slant route?
“Yeah. He guessed right,” Maddox said. “We hit him on some plays that he didn’t. Those two he took a chance on and it paid off for them.”
Maddox admitted to a poor game, but he didn’t receive much help from a line that allowed six sacks and a receiving corps that dropped at least eight passes. Burress led the group with five drops, including one that should’ve been a touchdown.
“This is one of the roughest days I ever had in my life,” Burress said. “When you go in there and try your hardest, you should never be embarrassed, but I can honestly say that I left a few plays out on the field that would have really boosted our offense and might have changed the outcome of the game. Things did not go my way.”
Maddox would hear none of it.
“I have not been real concerned with how everyone else played,” Maddox said. “I am not going to sit here and talk about anybody else. It was my fault that we lost today.”
“Tommy shouldn’t say it was all on him because it’s not on Tommy,” said Hines Ward, who broke his own single-season team receptions record in the game. “It’s the whole offense as a unit. We just didn’t play well today.”
Maddox said he didn’t feel rusty. Ward seconded the opinion.
“I don’t think so,” Ward said. “Houston had a good scheme coming in. They blitzed us every down. Consequently, third-and-long, they kept blitzing and we kept falling short. That was their game plan, to blitz and blitz and hit Tommy. They had a great game plan. With their game plan, they created turnovers and we didn’t execute. It was just one of those days.”
Maddox ended his post-game chat on a similarly philosophical note.
“If it did not hurt this bad,” he said, “it would not feel so good when things are going good. So that is why we line up and play the game.”