Archives for January 2005

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‘In the big picture, as Cowher so often says, his relationship with Donahoe means nothing. But even though today’s game means little for the Steelers, don’t think for a minute that Cowher wouldn’t love to beat the Bills today and keep Donahoe out of the playoffs.’

‘"I remember a few of the guys talking about going to Buffalo," fullback Dan Kreider said. "We all thought, ‘Man, it’s going to be cold up there.’"’

‘"It sounds as if the Steelers will come in here and do everything that they can to win the game," Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe said. "But to us, it doesn’t matter. We win, or we’re done. We have to beat the team they put on the field."’

‘Put aside the subplots of how this is rookie Bills coach Mike Mularkey’s first game against his former team; or how Bills president Tom Donahoe, another ex-Steeler, has built what could be considered a "Pittsburgh North" in Buffalo during his four-year tenure. All that matters is the playoffs.’

‘If there’s a football god, then the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills surely will make the NFL playoffs today when the regular season concludes.’

‘Because their game is at 1 p.m. and the other two games are later in the day, the Bills won’t immediately know if they are in the playoffs. But the Steelers certainly wouldn’t mind ending the Bills’ season. "They are a hot team that we might have to face down the road," said quarterback Tommy Maddox, who will start for Roethlisberger. "They’ve won six in a row and something like nine out of 11, so if we can beat them and keep them out of the playoffs that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Plus, we want to keep our own streak going."’

‘How much responsibility did Donahoe and Cowher share in acquiring those players? Who knows? We do know this: Donahoe and Cowher collaborated to create quite a few winning teams. Neither has produced a big winner without the other. Donahoe’s successor, Kevin Colbert, has brought in Pro Bowlers as free agents and the Steelers drafts have been productive on his watch. Until Cowher and Colbert produce a strong Super Bowl contender with only players that they have acquired and developed, Donahoe will have to get some credit for their success.’

‘”He has been around the league for so long and seen so many different things, he never got flustered,” Mularkey said. “That would have been easy to do here with the media pressure and the fan pressure. I just never once saw it. He is very much like this team. He exemplifies this team. He stayed the course and you’ve seen the results.”‘

‘"They are not just beating teams," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "These games have been over in the third quarter."’

Steelers after a Super Bowl, not a 15-1 record (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Nine teams fight for last four spots (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Cowher sticking to QB plan (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Steelers fans can rock to band’s fight song (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Haynes remains patient, thriving in reserve role (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Surging Bills will provide stiff test for Steelers (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Breaking into the game (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Veteran Bills QB still going strong (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Q & A with Chris Gardocki (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Grudge Match (Beaver County Times)

Buffalo thrills, Pittsburgh chills (Beaver County Times)

Weather is fine in Buffalo (Beaver County Times)

Odds are Steelers will have trouble (Washington Observer Reporter)

Still no clear winner in Cowher-Donahoe split (Washington Observer Reporter)

Teams needing help shouldn’t complain (Washington Observer Reporter)

Backups will get not against desperate Bills (Uniontown Herald Standard)

‘”Really, it is no different,” wide receiver Eric Moulds said. “People will say it’s because the implications are so important, win and we’ve got a shot at getting into the playoffs. But had we lost once in the last six weeks we pretty much would’ve been out of it. Every week has been pressure, so we know how to deal with it. We’ll just go out and play and see what happens.”‘

‘”A lot of coaches, especially rookie head coaches, might have scrapped their plans at that point to appease their boss, but Mike remained calm during the storm,” says Bills quarterbacks coach Sam Wyche, who learned how lonely it can be at the top during head coaching stints with Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. “Mike believed what he was doing was our best bet to become winners, so he stuck with it. That took a lot of guts to do, especially when you are in your first year on the job and your boss says he isn’t happy with the way things are going.”‘

‘In Donahoe’s case, he built one franchise into a power, then stole from it to build another. As that beer commercial says, “Brilliant!”‘

‘”The people up here are very different. In Mississippi, it’s known for a lot of different things in history as being a bad state, but it’s a hospitable state. There’s a lot of friendly people there, it’s a nice home environment where everyone knows each other and you can walk down the road and know someone. It’s different here. To me it’s kind of segregated up here, different styles of people live in certain areas, and that’s much different than in Mississippi.”‘