Who will be the Steelers
QB in 2004 and more importantly beyond that point?� This is the million dollar question that could and should very
well be answered this offseason.� Perhaps
the Steelers will rip up Maddox' contract, which has three years remaining, and
pay him like a premium or at least mid-level starting QB.� This would be approximately $4-5 mil per
year or $3-4 mil per year more than his current signed deal.� Well if you have read any of my articles
dating back to last summer, you know where this writer stands on that scenario.
Many fans in defense of Maddox this season continually complained about the
offensive line.� While I agree that the
o-line needs to improve, I also think that the QB bears his share of the blame
for the offensive ineptitude.� While
watching SB XXXVIII, I saw a journeyman QB named Delhomme who was under
constant pressure.� Carolina doesn't
have 5 all-pro linemen, yet Delhomme managed to get outside the pocket and made
plays downfield.� We all know what would
happen if Maddox got flushed (did someone say toilet?) from the pocket.� And here's the kicker...many Maddox
supporters will clamor to the argument that "if you give Maddox time he's
very accurate".� To that my
response will be and always has been that 90% of the QBs in this league will be
very accurate if you give them time.� Do
you think Delhomme performed better because he was forced to scramble outside
the pocket and make plays?� I think he would
have been plenty fine if his o-line gave him the requisite 6 unfettered seconds
that many Steeler fans feel is Maddox' birthright.
Thank goodness Rooney came out and spoke about Maddox' contract a few weeks, by
saying that the Steelers never promised Maddox and McElroy anything.� This was the first inkling that the front
office shared my view.� Please note that
my view is Maddox is a valuable commodity given the fact that he is signed for
3 more years at solid backup money (approx 1 mil per year).� I have a feeling Maddox and McElroy are
going to try and make it ugly this offseason, citing broken promises and crying
foul play.� Here's hoping that this
website (and this writer personally) will try to compensate for the mainstream
media's puckering up to the player, and keep the fans abreast (did some say
Janet Jackson?) of both sides.
Puckering up and media is a good segway to Bettis.� The media picked up on Bettis' remarks that he'll restructure his
contract to stick around with the team this year.� Give Bettis credit that he at least realizes his market
worth.� He realizes that he won't make a
penny over the veteran minimum this season if the Steelers release him.� Also, he realizes that he won't be handed a
job, and fans in his new town won't care that he's a lovable but bloated-belly
back.� In fact, fans in his new town
might actually hold him, not his o-line, accountable for his failures.� Nope, Bettis is best served to stay in
Pittsburgh where he can pow around with his boys (the 'burgh media), sell his
products (have you been to a Giant Eagle lately), and continue to hoodwink many
fans.� Here's guessing the Steelers will
follow Ron Cook's lead and do the stupid thing, when they could follow Mill's
(see his recent Bettis article) or my thinking (see my Overweight and Plodding
article back in November) and do something smart and cut all ties with
him.� It will be two years too late, but
better late than never.
Everybody's screaming at Fox for the 2-point blunder, which I agree was a critical mistake.� You don't even look at your stupid 2-point card (most coaches who can do arithmetic shouldn't even need a damn card) until there's 5 mins left in the game or your down by more than a score.� But the even more critical mistake was when Carolina was down 29-22 and Delhomme completes a pass to the 15-yard line with 1:40 left on the clock.� Fox should have let that clock run and let his offensive players settle down.� If you're going to take a timeout there, you do it after the play clock runs down to 1.� In fact, Belichick is a very smart game management coach (one of the very few out there), and I'm betting that if Fox doesn't call a timeout there Belichick does for his team.� You see as soon as Carolina gets down to that field position, the clock is now an on New England's side.� New England has to preserve clock in case Carolina scores.� You do the math...15 yard line, 3 timeouts, and 1:40 on the clock is an eternity.� So New England would have been best served to call timeout if Carolina hadn't.� But unfortunately Fox blew it and we didn't get to see if Belichick is truly the genius I'm giving him credit to be.� But in today's game, you don't have to be genius to be a good game management head coach, you just have to be able to avoid doing idiotic things which we saw all too often from coaches this postseason (see Martz, Sherman, Fox, etc.).