Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
Notebook: No lineup changes expected
Jerry DiPaola is the Tribune-Review high school sports editor. He can be reached via e-mail.
Coach Bill Cowher said Tuesday that starters won't be benched for the game Sunday in Cincinnati.
"I think you have to be very careful after two games to suddenly try to make changes to maybe implicate that it's one player here, one player there," he said.
That means Amos Zereoue, who is 12th in the AFC with 104 yards rushing, will remain the starter at running back. Asked if Zereoue has been tentative to hit the holes, Cowher said, "Sometimes, you have to make your own holes, and sometimes they are there, and sometimes he does a great job of making something out of nothing.
"I think it has to be our persistence in staying with it, and like anything else, the more you do something, the better you become."
The struggling special-teams units are another story, however.
Cowher said he is contemplating changes after Kansas City Chiefs return ace Dante Hall returned a kickoff 100 yards and a punt 45.
"I think with the first kickoff, nobody touched a hand on him. They did a good job of executing their return, and we did not do a good job of keeping leverage on the returner. "The punt return that they had was not one of Josh's (Miller) better kicks, but at the same time, we lost containment on the outside, and we had a chance to have it contained."
PERSONNEL/INJURY UPDATE
Undrafted rookie Dante Brown was promoted from the practice squad to alleviate a potential manpower shortage at running back. Third-down back Verron Haynes has a left knee injury and is questionable for the Bengals game.
Zereoue might replace Haynes on third down, but Jerome Bettis remains the No. 1 backup.
Linebacker Erik Flowers was released to make room for Brown, and linebacker James Harrison replaced Brown on the practice squad.
Center Jeff Hartings is listed as questionable with an ankle injury, which may give him a chance to rest his chronically sore knee. Strong safety Mike Logan (quad contusion), backup safety Chris Hope (groin) and linebacker Clark Haggans (knee) are probable.
LEWIS' PLEA
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis made his way down the Ohio River from McDonald and Fort Cherry High School to Cincinnati, but he just hopes he won't be followed.
Steelers fans have helped sell out Paul Brown Stadium for all four Steelers-Bengals games since it opened in 2000. They do it by purchasing tickets from Bengals fans, who are apparently tired of seeing their team lose.
Frankly, Lewis would prefer that his fellow western Pennsylvania natives stay home Sunday and watch on television.
"We've got to quit having all the people giving their tickets away to those people from up the river," said Lewis, the Bengals' first-year coach. "We've got to challenge our fans to come out this week in their orange and black and keep that yellow and black out of the stadium."
With their supporters turning the three rival AFC North stadiums into homes away from home, the Steelers are 9-2 in Cincinati, Cleveland and Baltimore since 1999.
LONG-STANDING RIVALRY
Cowher and Lewis first met on the high school football fields when Cowher played for Carlynton and Lewis for Fort Cherry in the mid-1970s. There was a good rivalry between the schools, and it carried over one summer to a football camp at IUP.
"There was some trash talk done at that camp about the game we were going to play next year," Cowher said.
It was in that game that Cowher's special teams problems might have taken root.
"They won 6-0 on a kickoff return for a touchdown," he said. "How ironic is that?"
Cowher claims he wasn't a part of Carlynton's coverage team.
"Even if I was, you would have to go back into the films to find that one out. I wouldn't tell you."
