Steelers notebook
Injuries likely to keep Bell, Poteat out of Oakland Game PITTSBURGH – Kendrell Bell and Hank Poteat probably won’t play Sunday night against the visiting Oakland Raiders after suffering injuries in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 30-14 loss to the New England Patriots.
Bell was in and out of the game Monday night after aggravating an ankle injury that occurred in the second preseason game. Poteat has “a little bit of a turf toe,” according to coach Bill Cowher. “Both of those players are probably doubtful for this game as far as I know at this point. Again, I’ll have further information probably by tomorrow.”
Bell was replaced in the lineup by rookie Larry Foote, a fourth-round draft pick out of the University of Michigan. Last year’s Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year made a solo tackle and assisted on another while playing Bell’s mack inside linebacker spot Monday.
A replacement for Poteat would be more difficult to find, particularly in the defensive backfield. On kickoff returns, he’ll be replaced by rookie Antwaan Randle El, but the Steelers have only four cornerbacks on their roster. Poteat, the first backup for the dime defense, is the fourth corner.
Cowher may have more injuries to report Wednesday. Center Jeff Hartings, for one, missed snaps with a sprained medial collateral ligament.
“He finished the game,” Cowher said at approximately 12:20 p.m. Tuesday. “A lot of these guys aren’t in here yet. The training room just opened up at noon. I just don’t have an update at this point.”
NO HUDDLE, NO SURPRISE: The Patriots went to a pure no-huddle offensive attack on their first possession of the second quarter. From the spread formation, quarterback Tom Brady passed 17 consecutive times before being sacked on pass attempt No. 18 to end the first half.
In the third quarter, the Patriots used the no-huddle attack on their first series, which ended with a touchdown.
Cowher said his team was not surprised by the approach.
“We expected that,” he said. “At times we left our 3-4 personnel on the field by design and then we went to the dime. It wasn’t so much what they did. It was our failure to get off the field on those third-down situations. You can analyze everything else and take out of it what you want, but that’s what to me it came down to. That and the turnovers.”
Even though New England threw 43 passes, Brady was sacked only twice – once by Kimo von Oelhoffen and once by the combination of von Oelhoffen and Clark Haggans.
“We were dropping a lot of people into coverage,” Cowher said. “We were giving them the underneath things. A lot of what they were doing was based on us wanting to blitz and trying to get some of those players free with run after the catch. You know, the screens they’d run to Troy Brown in the past that have gone for a lot of big plays. We were prepared for that. A lot of the dinking and dunking, that wasn’t going to beat us. It was making sure you don’t miss tackles, and you’ve got to get off the field on third down.”
INEXCUSEABLE: One of the penalties Cowher deemed critical was a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala. After a 4-yard gain to the New England 1 on third-and-goal, Fuamatu-Ma’afala was flagged for pushing safety Lawyer Milloy after the play.
“What happened to Chris is inexcusable,” Cowher said. “That’s a very selfish act. I don’t care what’s being said – whether he’s taunting you, getting in your face – you cannot do what he did. You don’t shove him. They’re always going to get the second guy. And that’s a fact as long as you’re in this game. They don’t get the first guy; they get the second guy. You’ve got to walk away from those things. So I thought that was a very selfish act on his part.”
QUOTABLE: Cowher on why he didn’t remove Stewart from harm’s way with the Patriots leading by 30-7 in the fourth quarter: “Everyone else is out there battling. We’re going to play for 60 minutes. I’m not sitting here worrying about people. We’re playing for 60 minutes. The regular season’s here, we play the game 60 minutes – win, lose, tie, draw. That’s the way we approach the football game. That’s why we used every timeout and that’s why we went down there and tried to score and were in the red zone. I don’t sit here concerned, and I hope no player’s out there concerned about looking at a score and wondering whether they’re going to get hit or not. And I don’t think he was. I know I wasn’t thinking about it. I was thinking about playing the game of football for 60 minutes and that’s the way our football team will play.”