Oct 31, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 5 min read

PITTSBURGH – They started the season slowly, but the Steelers have learned lately that it pays to burst out of the gate. In their last three games, the Steelers have scored on 11 of their first 12 possessions, and 10 of those scores have been touchdowns.

New quarterback Tommy Maddox deserves much of the credit, but he deflects it to offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who scripts the first 10 to 15 plays of each game, even allowing players to have a say.

“Every Friday, I write down my favorite plays, but I don’t know how much he looks at it,” said Maddox. “Mike is a great coordinator to play for. He calls an unbelievable game and he does such a good job of keeping defenses guessing that it makes it easy for me. I tell him all the time, ‘You call them and I’ll chuck them.'”

Even Coach Bill Cowher praised Mularkey’s play-calling of late.

“He’s got people on their heels,” Cowher said. “He’s done a great job.”

Mularkey, though, doesn’t believe he’s doing anything differently, or even better, than he did last year, his first as the coordinator.

“Every time I sit in Fridays, I think I put the perfect script together for the first 10 plays,” he said. “How it unfolds depends on how well we play, execute and if we don’t kill ourselves. We’re pretty good when we don’t beat ourselves.”

In their first three games, the Steelers turned the ball over 12 times and were penalized 26 times. In the last four games, they’ve turned the ball over five times and have been flagged 25 times.

“You’d look at it (earlier) and say it was bad play-calling,” Mularkey joked. “I’ve done it the same way every Friday in my short time as coordinator. It’s just a matter of execution. When it happens, it looks like I’m smarter than I am.”

The fast starts have paved the way to three wins. The Steelers have jumped out to first-half leads of 24-0 against Cincinnati, 21-0 against Indianapolis and 21-0 against Baltimore. It’s no wonder the players can’t wait to take the field every week.

“We script plays during the week and sometimes on Sunday we can’t wait till that play is called because we know it’s going to be a big play,” said wide receiver Plaxico Burress. “That right there adds excitement to it. You’re excited to play because you know you’re going to be successful.”

How many plays are scripted?

“Two that we know of,” Burress said. “He tells us the first two plays and he goes from there. … The first two plays of the game, we know. Other than that you can guess, but that’s all we know and it’s good. I don’t want to know what I’m going to be running all game. You kind of get ahead of yourself, but when it’s spur-of-the-moment, you’re just going out playing and reacting. And it’s fun. It adds excitement to the game.”

Mularkey will go over the first 10 to 15 plays and their scenarios with Maddox, but tells the rest of the team only the first two. He used to give them more.

“I just caught myself, the first time I ever did it as a coordinator, going straight down the line like a lot of guys do in this league,” Mularkey said. “Sometimes circumstances don’t allow that to happen. I do have 10 plays in mind that I like, but they may not fall exactly 10 in a row. They may go 10 in a row based on circumstance, but rarely has it.”

And despite what Burress’ numbers may be indicating, Mularkey doesn’t have certain players in mind when he draws up his script.

“I am not pre-determining trying to get one guy or another the ball and I’m not sitting there counting how many times I’m running or passing,” Mularkey said. “But over the last four games, we’ve thrown it 119 times and run it 119 times. Not on purpose. That’s the way it was all last year. I’m not trying to feed anyone. I’m just trying to put the best situation against what we’re getting and both of those guys are going to get the ball. They’re both being very productive right now. It’s not because of Tommy Maddox or because of me; it’s the way the plays are unfolding, based on what they’re doing against us.”

The Steelers are proving that giving Mularkey a balanced offense is like giving a kid the proverbial key to the candy store.

“It’s been emotional, as many highs as lows this year,” he said. “That’s the great part about the job. That’s what I love about it. I told those guys after the championship game, ‘I know how you’re feeling right now, but you’ll miss this feeling one day. I know how bad it is, but you’ll miss it.’ No other job in the world can give you the emotions this one does.

“So it’s been exciting, which is good. It needs to be that way.”