Survival of the fittest
PITTSBURGH – Bill Cowher calls an NFL season a survival test best taken by teams with depth. This week that means Chukky Okobi and the running back tandem of Amos Zereoue and Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala since Cowher ruled both center Jeff Hartings and tailback Jerome Bettis out of Sunday’s game at Baltimore because of knee injuries. “They clearly could not play this week,” said the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “We’ll take it week to week.”
Bettis sprained an MCL and Hartings damaged cartilage Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Steelers are fully prepared to play without Bettis, who missed the team’s last seven games last season. Amos Zereoue and Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala helped the Steelers win five of those games, including the one that virtually clinched the division in Baltimore. But Okobi is a relative novice. The second-year pro played in the final regular-season game last season and then filled in for Hartings in the second half of Monday’s game.
“He’s excited. He’s worked very hard, taken a lot of reps. He’s looking forward to the challenge,” Cowher said. “It was good he got in the end of the game Monday night to get some playing time and (feel) the speed of the game because certainly we won’t be able to simulate that here, particularly this week. We’re going without the pads because of it being a short week and it’s going to be a very physical game, so it was really kind of good he was able to get some playing time Monday night.”
“It’s just another game, man. There’ll be more. I’m ready to go,” said Okobi, who obviously enjoys the media spotlight. He was asked if he was “gunning for Ray Lewis.”
“Yeah, you guys always want to start something, man,” Okobi said. “I’m gunning for whoever, basically. I’m not out there headhunting one guy. Anybody in a purple jersey, I guess I’m gunning for that guy.”
Another reporter mentioned Lewis, the All-Pro linebacker whom the Steelers expect will return to the Ravens’ lineup after missing two games with a shoulder injury.
“I think you guys are making a bigger deal out of Ray Lewis than I do,” Okobi said. “He’s an excellent football player, but we have excellent players here that I go against every day, too.
“They’ve got a lot of really good football players on their defense, so for me to focus on 52, that would be silly. If you focus too much on him, the other guys will get you.”
“It won’t be Jeff, but Chukky’s really good,” said left guard Alan Faneca. “He’s got his head in the game plan every week. He’s always stayed up to date even though he hasn’t been playing. He’ll be fine.”
Faneca was asked if Okobi is as gregarious in the huddle as he is in the locker room.
“I would actually say Chukky is the exact opposite of that,” Faneca said. “I guess maybe he has a personality with the media, but I would describe him as the opposite.”
Quiet or not, Okobi is certainly confident he can do the job. He hasn’t changed much in that regard since the Steelers drafted him in the fifth round 18 months ago out of Purdue.
“Last year we had the best defense in football and I did it day in and day out against these guys,” Okobi said. “In my opinion, I think we have some of the best football players in the world and I’m able to do it against them, so I have no concerns about doing it against anybody else.”
The replacements for Bettis certainly aren’t lacking in confidence, either. Fuamatu-Ma’afala gave a stunned look when asked if the Steelers can win without Bettis.
“We’ve done it in the past,” he said.
In fact, the Steelers are 3-0 against the Ravens in games Bettis has missed with injuries. Last year, Fuamatu-Ma’afala started against the Ravens in the regular season and Zereoue, who will start Sunday, started against them in the playoffs.
“That was Amos’ breakthrough game,” safety Lee Flowers said of a 63-yard, two-touchdown performance.
But Zereoue may have played better last week when he gained a career-high 87 yards on 15 carries. He feels he’s closing in on his first 100-yard game.
“Just can’t get over that hump,” he said. “But (last game) was a good thing, definitely a confidence booster and you just build from that.”
NOTES: Cowher said that long snapper Mike Schneck has recovered from his elbow injury and will play this week. … The Steelers yesterday released safety Erik Totten from the practice squad and filled the spot with center Matt Anderson, a rookie free agent out of Texas who was with the Steelers throughout the off-season.