Steelers hoping to rebound against Raiders
PITTSBURGH – Just what the Steelers need after an embarrassing loss on national TV: a visit from the Oakland Raiders on national TV. Will redemption be theirs?
Or will the Raiders, like the Patriots before them, run roughshod over, under, around and through the Steelers’ defense?
We’ll all find out beginning at 8:30 p.m. today, when ESPN (and WTAE-TV locally) beam live coverage of the 1-0 Raiders visit to Heinz Field to meet the 0-1 Steelers. Oakland is coming off a 31-17 win at home over Seattle, while Pittsburgh enters its home opener after suffering a 30-14 loss at New England.
While the Raiders come to town with a new head coach (Bill Callahan replacing Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden), Oakland’s offense will be just about the same as the one Gruden orchestrated the last several seasons. Callahan coordinated Oakland’s offense the last four seasons.
“The guys are pretty accustomed to the way things are being done,” Callahan said. “When we made the transition, we tweaked a few things, but they were very minor. I have a lot of familiarity with these guys and that transition has gone along very smoothly.”
Of course, that transition should be an easy one when you have a veteran quarterback like Rich Gannon and bookend Hall of Fame receivers like Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.
Defense is another issue all together for the Raiders. After struggling with run defense all of last season, Oakland overhauled its defense by replacing nine of its 11 defensive starters. The overhaul was completed last week, when the Raiders signed free agent defensive tackle Sam Adams.
Also new to the Raiders are former Steeler Rod Woodson, former Bronco Bill Romanowski, former Charger John Parrella and rookie linebacker Napoleon Harris, Oakland’s top draft choice. Somewhat of a newcomer is defensive end Trace Armstrong, who missed most of last season with an Achilles tendon injury. The only returning starters are cornerback Charles Woodson and defensive end Tony Bryant.
All of those veterans on defense, plus all of those veterans on offense, should add up to a serious run at the Super Bowl.
“These are really great pros,” Callahan said. “They are high character people. They have bought into what we are doing. They were productive in their past and continue to produce. They are great people to work with every day.”
Conversely, it hasn’t been great for any of the Steelers to show up for work since Monday. The only saving grace was that the week’s work was short and that they get to play again tonight. The Steelers believe they are a good team and relieved they have another chance to show a national television audience what they can do.
“If you want to see a physical game, tune in Sunday night,” Steelers safety Lee Flowers said. “We learned last Monday that we can’t win if we give up big plays. Now, we have another chance to show a national television audience that we can live up to the hype.”
If the Steelers fall to 0-2 with a loss to the Raiders, there won’t be much hype left for them to live up to.