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Cowher preaches return to basics for Steelers
He also offered some sage advice: Play better.
In most circumstances, such a response would be considered a cop out, one delivered by the coach of an underachieving team who is either out of answers, resigned to his team continuing to underachieve or bored by now with the weekly pestering he must endure from an increasingly annoying media.
But it's quite possible that in this particular instance Cowher has delivered the message his players needed to hear in a manner they're certain to understand.
At 5-4-1, they have their problems.
But while they sort through the re-emergence of Kordell Stewart at quarterback, not having a kicker on the active roster as of Cowher's weekly press briefing at noon yesterday and linebacker Joey Porter's Sunday declaration that the defense is "mediocre," the last thing the team needs is to come completely apart at the seams from within.
While still in first place, this team is a lot closer to doing that than probably a lot of people realize.
Frustration lingers over the Steelers' inability to dominate as they did a season ago. The injury list for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals includes, in addition to fallen starting quarterback Tommy Maddox, starting center Jeff Hartings (knee, out), starting inside linebacker James Farrior (knee, out) and safety Mike Logan (groin, out), an integral member of the special teams and the six-defensive backs "dime" defense. The running game is unreliable (the Steelers will probably turn to Jerome Bettis again over Amps Zereoue in another attempt to jump-start that against the Bengals). And for two successive weeks, the defensive play calling has been questioned if criticized by Porter and fellow linebacker Jason Gildon.
Were he still around, Bubby Brister might assess the current situation and, first place standing or not, declare that this team is "about fixin' to come unglued."
To keep it together, Cowher is preaching togetherness and a return to the basics and fundamentals.
He's implored his players to concentrate on doing their jobs, not on who should be doing what and when (good advice, indeed, since that, after all, is the media's job).
"Right now is not the time to start to question what you're doing," Cowher said. "Now is the time that we have to step up and start answering and be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. That's the thing I think our whole football team has to understand, and I think they do."
He left out "if you fail to plan, plan to fail," and "play like a champion today," but you get the idea.
To make sure his Steelers did, Cowher had the team watch the tape of Sunday's mistake-filled, 31-23 loss at Tennessee as a team Monday, a day the players usually enjoy as a day off following victories.
You can bet the idea there was to reinforce the notion that there was plenty of blame to go around for everyone, and that they didn't lose to an inferior Titans team solely because Kendrell Bell isn't playing in the "dime," because they passed too often or ran too little, or because they missed a field goal here and there.
"I wanted them to experience the same feeling I had when I watched it," Cowher said. "It was not a good feeling. We didn't play very good. And it was important that they watched it and they discussed it.
"If they had anything they wanted to make comments on, then they had the opportunity to comment."
Apparently, no one did, not that it would have mattered.
"Talking about it won't get it done," Cowher said. "We have to get it done on the field and let that be our talking."
What Cowher would like his Steelers to speak most directly to in that regard are converting makeable field goals (40 yards and in), eliminating turnovers and playing better situational defense (third downs, red zone). But even those specifics pale in importance to each player realizing it's up to him to do a better job than he's been doing from here on out.
"It's not going to be about injuries," Cowher said. "It's not going to be about the three things I talked about. It just comes back to basic fundamentals, blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, technique, focus."
Cliches or not, that about sums it up.
