Oct 25, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 5 min read

PITTSBURGH – They called him “Plexiglas” last year, but the Baltimore Ravens don’t have much to say about Plaxico Burress this time around. Not since Tommy Maddox became the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Burress has 21 receptions for 330 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 121/2 quarters this season with Maddox throwing the ball. With Kordell Stewart quarterbacking the first 111/2 quarters of the season, Burress caught only 6 passes for 62 yards and no touchdowns.

It might be easy to assume that all boats are floating with Maddox at the position, but Hines Ward, for instance, caught 23 passes for 279 yards from Stewart and only 15 passes for 152 yards from Maddox.

Maddox explains it away by saying, “I’m just reading the defense and wherever the defense tells me to go, that’s where I’m going to go.”

Burress used an example from Monday night’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.

“They came out in a lot of single-high safeties, which shocked us,” said Burress. “It shocked me and Tommy, and he was like, ‘If they’re going to keep playing that, we’ll keep coming to you.'”

The Colts often came out of Coach Tony Dungy’s patented cover-2 schemes by bringing a strong safety up to the line to stop running back Jerome Bettis. It allowed the Steelers to pass for 151 yards in the first half, the most in any of the 12 halves of football they’ve played this season.

“I was very surprised at the coverages they were running. I had a big smile under my big yellow mouthpiece,” Burress said after catching 6 passes for 79 yards. Most of his damage, of course, was done in the first half when he caught 5 passes for 61 yards before the Steelers coasted through the second half with a big lead.

“Tommy’s just making it easy for me,” Burress said. “I’m trying to get open and I know Tommy’s going to put the ball where it’s easy to catch. That’s all it is. The coach is making great calls, the offensive line’s playing great and Tommy’s going to play great. He’s one of those quarterbacks who’s going to know all the reads, pick up all the blitzes and he’s going to make all the right throws. The offense is playing well. The team’s going to do nothing but get better.”

Excuse Burress for feeling a bit giddy these days. The third-year pro’s recent three-game stretch of 18 catches is a career high, and those are the only three games he’s played with Maddox. Burress’ 8 catches two weeks ago in Cincinnati matched the career-high for a single game he’d set last year in Baltimore.

Prior to the game last year, Shannon Sharpe mockingly referred to Burress as “Plexiglas.” When asked if he still resented the comment, Burress gave what sounded like a stock answer: “I just like playing against Baltimore period. It’s going to be competitive and physical. They’ll be doing their talking and we’ll be doing our talking. I don’t think it’s at the hype it was at last year. It’ll just be settled on the field.”

Was that a yes or a no? Regardless, Burress must be licking his chops over these new, young Ravens.

Instead of future Hall of Famer Rod Woodson watching the deep ball at free safety, rookie first-round pick Edward Reed will be there. Instead of wily vets Kim Herring or Corey Harris at strong safety, undrafted rookie free agent Will Demps will be there. And instead of Duane Starks playing cornerback on one side of the field, second-year pro Gary Baxter will be there. The only returning starter in the Ravens’ secondary is cornerback Chris McAlister, who was locked up one-on-one with Burress when Burress caught 8 passes for a career-high 164 yards last year.

“They’ve got a lot of new faces over there, but they’re disciplined,” said Ward. “They’re not giving up the big plays. Last year, Bobby (Shaw) caught a big play on them and Plaxico had a couple big catches on them. This year they’re not giving that up. They’re playing deeper. When you get old, you kind of want to jump on things, consequently you give up big plays. Whereas the younger guys don’t want to get beat deep and get cussed out by the coaches and consequently they play deeper. There are some plays I don’t even see the safeties in the screen. That’s how deep they are.”

The deepest will be Reed, a friend of Burress who was picked by the Ravens in the first round of the draft to the disappointment of the Steelers, who were also interested in Reed. But Burress doesn’t even want to guess as to how the Ravens might defend him Sunday.

“I get a different look than what I see on tape every week,” he said. “You never really get what you see on tape. I just adjust during the game and play hard.”

One thing’s certain, though. Defenses have to respect the Steelers’ passing game these days.

“It’d be stupid not to,” said Ward. “If you overlook our passing game, you might end up getting beat by it. I don’t see why teams wouldn’t game-plan for it.”