Commentary
Don’t think Maddox earned a starting spot PITTSBURGH — So, you think Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox earned a start for his performance in Pittsburgh’s 16-13 overtime win over Cleveland?
Don’t even go there.
That was Steelers coach Bill Cowher’s position in the moments after the exciting win, in which Maddox did his best Mike Williams imitation by completing 11 of 13 passes for 122 yards and the game-tying touchdown.
Cowher’s been there before. So has starter Kordell Stewart. So, too, has Maddox. They’ve all been involved in quarterback controversies.
No one likes them, except the radio talk show crowd.
Seldom does anything good come from them.
The negatives always outweigh the positives.
Always.
Maybe that’s why Cowher nipped it in the bud, providing the answer before anyone could ask the question.
“I’m in no position to make a decision on our starting quarterback, but I’m leaning toward starting Kordell and, if we need a lift again, going to Tommy,” Cowher said.
“As far as I know right now, I’m still the starter,” Stewart said.
“I just feel like a quarterback,” Maddox said. “You prepare to play every snap, just like I did last week and the week before that. When you get a chance to go in, you just try to play the best you can play.”
Even if it isn’t a controversy, this mess is far from over. Cowher, you can bet, will have a shorter leash on Stewart. And if Maddox is needed again, it could be for good. There is logical speculation that if the Steelers had a home game next Sunday, Maddox would be the starter.
Cowher proved to be a man of his word against the Browns. He told both quarterbacks coming in that he wouldn’t hesitate in going to Maddox if Stewart was playing poorly or just being ineffective as the leader of the offense.
Cowher said it, then he did it.
It is no coincidence that he went to Maddox with 4:14 remaining and the Steelers trailing by a touchdown. And it wasn’t truly very surprising that Maddox tied the score in only 2:12.
“We all knew going in that Tommy could do the job,” wide receiver Hines Ward said. “He’s a coach out there, not just a player. We needed a spark. We weren’t getting first downs. Tommy came in and did it.”
“It was just the time,” Cowher said when asked why he went to Maddox when he did. “Tommy’s been good in those situations. I like the way he’s running the no huddle situations.”
Cowher, too, had an answer for why, even at this early date and without the benefit of analysis, he was willing to stick with Stewart, who completed 15 of 25 passes for 143 yards.
“I don’t think he played that poorly,” Cowher said.
“Kordell was fantastic,” Cowher said. “He was on that sideline with the receivers, he was talking to Tommy.”
Cowher described the Steelers quarterback situation with a baseball analogy, comparing Stewart to a starting pitcher and Maddox to a reliever.
“In football why can that not be the same?” Cowher asked. “You go out there and you play well, but all of a sudden you get into a little funk. Why not go to a relief pitcher?”
No one could recall if that had ever been done in football, let alone successfully. There were a few brief stretches when backups had success in relief of starters.
The plus side is obvious. “It wasn’t just Kordell not getting us in the end zone,” Cowher said. “But now we know if we need a spark, we can go to Tommy.”
It worked once, but can it work over the course of a season?
“We’ll see,” running back Jerome Bettis said.
No, there is no quarterback controversy in Pittsburgh.
Not yet anyway.
Stay tuned.
Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com