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

PITTSBURGH – Tommy Maddox compared the defense of the Carolina Panthers to that of the Indianapolis Colts, a team that doesn’t blitz much, a team that would rather wait for you to make a mistake. “Carolina tries to do it mostly with their front four,” said the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “But that’s just what we’ve seen on film. What they’re going to play against us might be totally different.”

It probably will be different. If Carolina is anything like Houston or anything like Tennessee, it will choose to blitz Maddox, who has been sacked seven times and harried into six turnovers in his last two starts.

The man in charge of stopping all of that pressure, though, offensive line coach Russ Grimm, really doesn’t believe that blitzing Maddox is the coming trend in defending the Steelers.

“I don’t know if it’s the chink in his armor,” said Grimm. “Some people decide to play him different ways. Some people have sagged off and played a soft coverage. They came after us some last week and had some success, but we’ll be ready for both.”

Grimm feels that if his junior hogs up front hadn’t miscommunicated on one blitz, hadn’t busted two protections for two more sacks, or hadn’t flat-out been beat for another, Maddox wouldn’t have looked so shaky in his return to action after being knocked out of the Tennessee game three weeks prior.

“It’s a combination of a bunch of things,” Grimm said. “I don’t think it’s so much his mobility. There are a lot of quarterbacks like him who’ve been able to deal with pressure.”

A recent run of injuries along the offensive line has been part of the problem. Center Jeff Hartings has been in and out of the lineup with a knee injury; rookie right guard Kendall Simmons missed a game and a half with a knee injury; right tackle Marvel Smith missed half a game with an elbow injury; and left tackle Wayne Gandy left Sunday’s game with a calf injury.

“We’ll see where Wayne’s at. He’s looking pretty good today,” Grimm said. “Oliver (Ross) will work at the left tackle spot if Wayne can’t go. He’s played there in the past, played there last year when he had to fill in for Wayne. We’re comfortable with that.”

Hartings played the fourth quarter Sunday against Houston, as scheduled. He’ll start Sunday against Carolina.

“Chukky (Okobi) stepped in and did a nice job but Jeff’s healthy and ready to go,” Grimm said. “Chukky played pretty solid. He’s been pretty good. He’s getting better each game.”

Back-up Keydrick Vincent played well against young tackle Marcus Stroud two games ago, but was replaced by Simmons last week. Grimm said there isn’t a decision to be made between Vincent and Simmons.

“No, I don’t think so right now,” Grimm said. “Kendall was playing well and got nicked. Keydrick stepped in and did a nice job. Kendall was back in there last week and played pretty well against a good player, Gary Walker.”

According to Grimm, all’s well with those responsible for keeping Maddox upright.

“Overall I think we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “We had Kendall nicked and Jeff nicked. They’re back now, and we feel comfortable with the back-ups we’ve got. They’ve all done it in the past now so if we need one of them to step in again we’ll step in and go.”

If Carolina chooses not to blitz Maddox, it’ll rely on pressure from a defensive line that’s responsible for 117 quarterback hurries and 33 of the team’s 42 sacks (second in the NFL).

Rookie defensive end Julius Peppers and his 12 sacks are out of the lineup due to a league suspension, but bookend Mike Rucker has seven sacks and defensive tackles Kris Jenkins and Brentson Buckner have combined for 12 sacks. Peppers’ replacement, Al Wallace, has 17 hurries and 23 tackles in limited time.

“Wallace has played well the last two games. It’s a good line,” Grimm said. “Nothing in the NFL’s easy.”

It seemed so easy two games ago when the line was moving Jacksonville seemingly at will. Last week, though, was a different story.

“That’s the way it always is,” Grimm said. “What have you done for me lately? That’s just the nature of the business.”