Cowher not ignoring offensive worries
PITTSBURGH – Finally, the Pittsburgh Steelers are acknowledging what’s been evident for weeks: Their starting offense, most notably Ben Roethlisberger, looks confused and unpolished, a worrisome prospect with the opener barely a week away. That worry, however, doesn’t extend to the quarterback who didn’t throw a touchdown pass or led a TD drive during four exhibition games. Roethlisberger said he is convinced that the Steelers’ problems, including his own, are easily repairable before they open Sept. 11 against Tennessee.
The rest of his teammates might need some convincing of that.
“We’re going to put together our first game plan and, hopefully, come out and execute it,” Roethlisberger said following the Steelers starters’ latest misadventure during a 21-17 victory over Carolina on Thursday night. “The big thing is, we want to work on the little things. If we can put the little things together, the big picture will come together and, hopefully, it will be pretty nice.”
Coach Bill Cowher wasn’t as upbeat as his quarterback after the starters played the first quarter and into the second without scoring, continuing a trend that saw them produce only three points in the preseason.
Certainly, it didn’t help that the top three running backs were out, but Cowher is concerned about the lack of rhythm in the passing game, the numerous overthrown and underthrown passes and the inability to sustain a drive.
Several times during the game, an angry-looking Cowher could be seen shaking his head in frustration during the frequent offensive breakdowns.
“I don’t think in the past couple of weeks we have played at the standard we need to be at,” he said. “We have some work to do.”
Or, perhaps, a lot of work to do.
“We have to stay away from the negative plays,” wide receiver Hines Ward said. “The third-and-longs, those are hard to overcome. We overcame a couple of them last year but last year we were a great team with second-and-short, third-and-short.”
That success was partly the result of having the NFL’s running game, an asset missing most of the preseason as Duce Staley (knee) and Jerome Bettis (calf) were hurt and No. 3 running back Willie Parker was limited to one carry in the final two games to prevent him from getting hurt.
Also, the skill-position starters got relatively little on-field time together after Ward ended his two-week holdout, so Roethlisberger often found himself matched with sets of receivers that won’t be together much during the season.
Roethlisberger said that once he gets more than a couple of series or a couple of drives to get settled in with Ward, Antwaan Randle El and Cedrick Wilson, he is certain that the timing in the passing game will quickly return.
Also, the Steelers kept first-round draft pick Heath Miller all but invisible, though he had a 29-yard reception among two catches for 37 yards Thursday.
No doubt offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt wasn’t about to showcase for opposing defensive coordinators the various wrinkles he has planned for the 255-pound Miller, who will play a much bigger role in the passing offense than any Steelers tight end of recent vintage.
Roethlisberger’s poor play (16-of-36, 145 yards, two interceptions) also might have partly resulted from conservative play-calling designed to keep him from rolling out or trying to create plays in meaningless exhibition games.
“We haven’t run a lot of plays that fit me getting out of the pocket,” Roethlisberger said. “Once we start game-planning, that’s to our strength and our advantage.”
One quarterback who helped himself was Charlie Batch, the former Lions starter whose job was in jeopardy as Cowher weighed whether to keep two or three quarterbacks.
With Roethlisberger and Tommy Maddox assured of jobs, Batch might have played himself onto the opening-day roster by throwing for two touchdowns and leading a game-winning drive against Carolina’s backup defense. Batch played the rest of the way after Roethlisberger was lifted early in the second quarter.
“I needed to let him play and give us a chance to get a true evaluation,” Cowher said of Batch, who missed last season with a knee injury.