Steelers Talk

[holybuckeye33]

I can't believe Holmes is having such a hard time at the NFL level. Finally, the Steelers go after a Buckeye in the early rounds (move up for him even) and now all I've heard all season around here is about how "my" Ohio State guy can't adjust to the pro game or hold onto the ball. Hopefully, they will involve him into the offense more in the coming weeks, but he has to hold onto the ball. I think his kick/punt returning days are over.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Steelers react to 'hunger' criticism

ALAN ROBINSON

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - Willie Parker's comments that the sagging Pittsburgh Steelers may have been overly satisfied with winning the Super Bowl didn't exactly unite his teammates. They apparently didn't divide them, either.
Wide receiver Hines Ward said he wishes that Parker hadn't been so outspoken, but his teammates must decide whether Parker's words apply to them now that the Steelers (2-6) have lost six of seven games.
"If you're not putting in the time and effort as much as the guy next to you, maybe it's not important to you to turn this thing around," Ward said Wednesday.
Alan Faneca doesn't dispute the notion that finally winning a championship came as a much-needed relief to a franchise that played in six AFC title games in 12 years before winning the Super Bowl.
"Being as close as we were for so many years, that did satisfy that hunger a little bit," Faneca said. "But I think, at the same time, myself and everybody came back in here ready and hungry to get another one. There's different types of hunger."
Parker, exasperated by a turnover-filled, 31-20 loss to Denver on Sunday that left the Steelers (2-6) trailing Baltimore by four games in the AFC North, was the first player to publicly speak out about a possible post-Super Bowl letdown.
"Last year, we were getting the job done, we just seemed hungrier," Parker said. "This year, it seems like we've already got what we want, what's the use? What's the use of going out there and selling out?"
Dating to the midpoint of last season, the Steelers have lost nine of 16 regular-season games - yet also won a Super Bowl during that span.
Ben Roethlisberger doesn't deny that "sometimes, teams get comfortable" and that the Steelers have not always played up to the level of their competition. They have played five teams that are 5-3 or better, and only two (Miami, Oakland) that are below .500.
"We played some good football teams, you got a bull's-eye on your chest and teams are really gunning for you," Roethlisberger said.
Five of the Steelers' eight remaining games are against teams that are .500 or below, including two games against Cleveland (2-6) and one against Tampa Bay (2-6). New Orleans (6-2), which plays Sunday in Pittsburgh, and AFC North leader Baltimore (6-2) own the best records.
The danger of falling so far out of playoff contention so early, Ward said, is that players may stop playing as hard as they should and effectively give up on the season.
"I'm embarrassed and disappointed," Ward said. "To come off the year we had, to come back 2-6, it's not how we envisioned our season to be. The leaders on the team, we need to work even harder and lead by example so these guys don't give up, I'm not going to give up. ... Right now, a lot of people are looking at us to see what's going to happen now that we're down and out."
Ward joined the Steelers in 1998 and played through two losing seasons, 7-9 in 1998 and 6-10 in 1999, before they went 9-7 in 2000. They have had only one losing season since, going 6-10 in 2003, and they were a combined 26-6 the last two seasons.
"For me, having been through a losing year, I know there's a lot of changes expected," Ward said. "Guys have got to go out and play because you don't know if you're going to be here or not. You're really playing for your job. We're going see what guys are going to quit on us and what guys are going to keep working."

[BuckNutty]

Porter promises victory Sunday against Saints
Thursday, November 09, 2006

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Today, many Republicans know how the Steelers feel. Riding high as the dominant team, they have been swept up in a landslide of losses and face the next few months as lame ducks, soon to be no longer the ruling party of the land.

The shock of it all, at least for the defending Super Bowl champions, was evident as they reconvened yesterday to begin preparations for what they hope will become a better second half to a lost season.

In fact, linebacker Joey Porter promised a new beginning will take place Sunday when they play the 6-2 New Orleans Saints at Heinz Field.

"You know me," Porter said, "I want to put some of the pressure on my shoulder for us to go out and get this victory: We will come back with a victory on Sunday."

His teammates can only hope Porter's words work as well as they did during the playoffs last season, when he called out the Indianapolis Colts and later the Seattle Seahawks' tight end, Jerramy Stevens.

The circumstances are different this time. At 7-5, the Steelers had to win eight games in a row to win Super Bowl XL. At 2-6, they'd probably have to win 12 in a row to win Super Bowl XLI, a miracle not on their minds these days.

"I'm embarrassed,'' admitted reigning Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward. "I can't speak for other players. Me, personally, myself? Yes, I'm embarrassed. I mean, to be 2-6? There's nothing fun about being 2-6. Especially, when you go out there and you put it all on the line to try to win ball games, yet for whatever reason you can't find a way to win games."

They have lost six of the past seven games and continue to grope to find a way out and how to describe what got them here.

"It's tough," said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, "because we know we're a good team with a bad record. It's frustrating out there right now."

Halfback Willie Parker said after their most recent loss Sunday to Denver that he sensed a "hungrier" team last season than this one and a lack of trust in teammates. He declined to talk yesterday.

"If that's what he thinks, so be it," said Ward, a co-captain on offense. "But you'd have to ask Willie about that.

"I can't speak for other guys, I only speak for myself. I know me, it doesn't matter what happened last year, you have to move on."

Other teammates disavowed any connection to a Super Bowl hangover.

"I didn't hear [Parker's] comment, but I don't believe that's the situation," tackle Max Starks said. "I think all of us go out there and play our hardest. Nobody's thinking 'I need to sit down, I got what I wanted now.' "

Said cornerback Deshea Townsend, "That's his opinion. I don't know, I feel like guys are playing hard, we're just coming up a little short."

Porter said Parker and any of his teammates are entitled to speak their opinions and noted that he has led the locker room many times in that area. But he does not agree that there has been a softening of the attitude among the 2006 Steelers.

"The way we go out and fight on defense, I know it's definitely nobody on my side of the ball who feels like that," Porter said.

"I hate to lose anything I do. Me being a sore loser is natural. To lose the way we've been losing is frustrating."

Guard Alan Faneca, co-captain of the offense with Ward, acknowledged that there was satisfaction with winning a Super Bowl after coming so close in 2001 and 2004, but he does not believe it took away his team's desire to try to win another this season.

"I think hungers change," Faneca said. "I think as close as we were for so many years, that did satisfy that hunger a little bit. At the same time, I think myself and everybody came back in here ready and hungry to get another one. So, I think there are different types of hunger."

Porter said it's not a lack of hunger that separates this year's club from the world champs, it's a glut of turnovers.

"We haven't lost any hunger. We had more turnovers now than we had all of last year. We were involved in every game, but you're not going to win the game when you have four, five turnovers a game. The people you're playing are just too good for you to overcome that all the time."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06313/736911-66.stm

[iambrutus]

Ike Taylor gets benched

Steelers Searching For Answers, Cowher Benches Taylor

November 9, 2006 1:25 p.m. EST


Christopher Cornell - All Headline News Staff
Pittsburgh, PA (AHN) - At the beginning of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers rewarded cornerback Ike Taylor for helping the team capture a long-awaited Super Bowl title by giving him a five-year, $22.5 million contract extension. This week, he'll be earning that paycheck from the bench. Head coach Bill Cowher has decided to sit Taylor in favor of Bryant McFadden after Taylor was torched by the Broncos' Javon Walker last week.
Pittsburgh has one of the better pass defenses in football, surrendering 189 yards a game in the air. However, last week against Denver, the Broncos found plenty of holes in the 'Steel Curtain'. Pittsburgh gave up 227 yards in the air and three touchdowns.
Javon Walker gave Taylor fits all day. With Taylor covering him for most of the game, Walker caught six passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. He caught two 10-yard fade route touchdowns with Taylor covering him and Taylor also missed tackling Walker when he galloped to a 72-yard touchdown run.
The Louisiana-Lafayette product told the AP he's got to battle his way back into a starting spot.
"It's just something I've got to fight my way through," Taylor said. "[Cowher] just said, 'Fight your way [out] of it,' and that's what I've got to do."
Cowher will go with McFadden as Taylor's replacement. McFadden is a two-year veteran from Florida State. He's played mostly as a defensive back in dime coverage, but he's also started two games at cornerback this season in place of Deshea Townsend.
McFadden told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he's anxious to capitalize on the opportunity.
"I feel every week is an opportunity for me," said McFadden. "Whenever my number's needed to be called, I always want to go out and play football and stay around the ball and try to be consistent."
Taylor, 26, had been the team's top cornerback the last two seasons. He normally covers the opposing team's top receiver. He was a fourth-round draft pick out of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2003. He became a starter last year when he led the NFL with 25 passes defended.
Taylor will be relegated to dime coverage as the Steelers don't use nickel coverage very often.
The Steelers are trying to turn around their season to finish with a winning record. They currently sit at 2-6 and they've lost nine of their last 16 regular season games. Their 2-6 record is the worst mark through eight games by a defending Super Bowl champion in the NFL's history.
They'll try to right the ship in the second half of the season when they play five teams with records under .500. They play the Browns twice and the Bucs once who have just four wins combined together. It won't get easier for them this week however, as they will take on the resurgent New Orleans Saints who are 6-2.

[BuckNutty]

Originally Posted by iambrutus

Ike Taylor gets benched

Good. Hopefully this well deserved benching will wake his ass up.

[iambrutus]

Originally Posted by BuckNutty

Good. Hopefully this well deserved benching will wake his ass up.

i hope it does, plus it give McFadden more PT which can only help him.