Tommy Maddox - Looking For Jenny and Finding Big Cats
Bill Cowher stood behind Tommy Maddox during the Jacksonville game, and was correct in doing so. It went south on him, but he was right. It looked wrong, as well as ugly, but there was no better decision, and both of them hung in there like men.
To the metaphorical death.
However, Cowher was still right.
Tommy Maddox didn't lose the game, although his reality did bite. Thirty rushing plays for a fribbling 73 yards (2.4 yards per run, for those caught without a calculator) lost the game. In football parlance, "Steelers" has meant "rushing domination" for decades, and on Sunday, it didn't happen. I sat wind-burned in section 516 row W thinking that it was more painful watching run after run stopped than it was to witness Tommy Tu-Tone dial it up 28 times and throw more balls in the dirt than LA Angels' pitchers. How can it be that an aging insurance agent in serious need of a haircut gets 16 yards in one run and have that be the longest of the day for a team that perfected the art of smashmouth? I'm astounded.
But, not speechless.
Pittsburgh was soundly beaten in the possession game. Why? No running game. This forced the defense to play more than admirably, holding Jacksonville to a below average NFL offensive outing even though they were led by Byron Leftwich, a quarterback who is as consistently good as a healthy Chad Pennington. The D was so tough that the Steelers were one quick-footed, hard-driving, highly-regarded, well-spoken professional running back among running backs from a two-touchdown victory. That, my readers, is where Cowher screwed up. He didn't prepare for a running attack and laid the ball in Tommy Maddox' hands, who proceeded to drop it five times, one of which was at a very inopportune moment.
The scary thought is that Tommy Maddox was playing on all six cylinders. The other scary thought is that Maddox and Charlie Batch looked equally well in pre-season. Cowher could have gone either way. Would it had made any difference?
Not without Jerome Bettis.
We'll beat Cincinnati because the Bengals are the darlings of the NFL right now and Carson Palmer, as nice of a young man as he may be, is scraping his fingernails on the chalkboard with his golden boy status. And, speaking of that, I'm tired of Chad Johnson. Why does the media give him a pass act like...the anti-Hines Ward? Must be a great interview.
I will always attempt to close my blogs on the bright side, because life is good and it is certainly too short. I was in the press box in 2001 when Jeff Miller punted a liner into Troy Brown's hands for a return TD, and when Kris Brown suffered yet another blocked kick into, you guessed it, Troy Brown's hands that eventually ended up another TD. Kordell Stewart didn't lose that game. The kicking game did. Now, finally to my uplifting point...the 2005 Steelers cover kicks like it's supposed to be done, and Antwaan Randle El's punt return as well as Quincy Morgan's kick return almost made me cry in joy.
Pitttsburgh by two TDs over the Bengals.
Bill Cowher stood behind Tommy Maddox during the Jacksonville game, and was correct in doing so. It went south on him, but he was right. It looked wrong, as well as ugly, but there was no better decision, and both of them hung in there like men.
To the metaphorical death.
However, Cowher was still right.
Tommy Maddox didn't lose the game, although his reality did bite. Thirty rushing plays for a fribbling 73 yards (2.4 yards per run, for those caught without a calculator) lost the game. In football parlance, "Steelers" has meant "rushing domination" for decades, and on Sunday, it didn't happen. I sat wind-burned in section 516 row W thinking that it was more painful watching run after run stopped than it was to witness Tommy Tu-Tone dial it up 28 times and throw more balls in the dirt than LA Angels' pitchers. How can it be that an aging insurance agent in serious need of a haircut gets 16 yards in one run and have that be the longest of the day for a team that perfected the art of smashmouth? I'm astounded.
But, not speechless.
Pittsburgh was soundly beaten in the possession game. Why? No running game. This forced the defense to play more than admirably, holding Jacksonville to a below average NFL offensive outing even though they were led by Byron Leftwich, a quarterback who is as consistently good as a healthy Chad Pennington. The D was so tough that the Steelers were one quick-footed, hard-driving, highly-regarded, well-spoken professional running back among running backs from a two-touchdown victory. That, my readers, is where Cowher screwed up. He didn't prepare for a running attack and laid the ball in Tommy Maddox' hands, who proceeded to drop it five times, one of which was at a very inopportune moment.
The scary thought is that Tommy Maddox was playing on all six cylinders. The other scary thought is that Maddox and Charlie Batch looked equally well in pre-season. Cowher could have gone either way. Would it had made any difference?
Not without Jerome Bettis.
We'll beat Cincinnati because the Bengals are the darlings of the NFL right now and Carson Palmer, as nice of a young man as he may be, is scraping his fingernails on the chalkboard with his golden boy status. And, speaking of that, I'm tired of Chad Johnson. Why does the media give him a pass act like...the anti-Hines Ward? Must be a great interview.
I will always attempt to close my blogs on the bright side, because life is good and it is certainly too short. I was in the press box in 2001 when Jeff Miller punted a liner into Troy Brown's hands for a return TD, and when Kris Brown suffered yet another blocked kick into, you guessed it, Troy Brown's hands that eventually ended up another TD. Kordell Stewart didn't lose that game. The kicking game did. Now, finally to my uplifting point...the 2005 Steelers cover kicks like it's supposed to be done, and Antwaan Randle El's punt return as well as Quincy Morgan's kick return almost made me cry in joy.
Pitttsburgh by two TDs over the Bengals.
posted by Tim McGhee at 7:28 PM
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