Archives for August 2009

‘"People say I look 100 percent, but I don’t feel like myself. It’s coming, it’s definitely coming. But your body is so weird. I haven’t felt like I’m quite there."’

‘When your team is coming off three straight 7-9 seasons, that’s nothing to brag about.’

‘”We play in a very tough division,” Posluszny said of the AFC East, which includes the highly regarded New England Patriots. “But I believe we can compete with anybody. We have confidence in our abilities. Now, we just have to make plays and win games. Talking about it is one thing. But during the season, we have to go out and do what we need to do to win.”‘

‘"First year was call the play and run it," he said. "Last year, a majority of the plays were called and I ran it. Now, it’s more on the quarterback to get us in the right play and get us into a play you feel comfortable with. … The way you handle that is by not running a ton of plays. It’s running the ones you’re good at."’

‘Coach Dick Jauron was encouraged by Owens’ progress Thursday. He added it’s possible the receiver will be cleared to start practicing fully next week. It was the third straight day Owens has worked out, and marked the most time he’s practiced since jamming his foot in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 9.’

‘”I think we’ve made some strides,” Fewell said. “He’s not there yet, but it is a work in progress and he’s definitely improving.”‘

‘Roethlisberger, Parker, and the remainder of Pittsburgh’s first-team should play most or all of the first-half on Saturday, in keeping with third-game-of- preseason tradition.’

‘”It’s going to be tough,” said receivers coach Tyke Tolbert. “We all have input. The good thing about my job is I’m going to coach whoever is out there. When it gets down to it, the higher-ups make those types of decisions. All the guys out here right now are my guys, so I coach them all hard and coach them the same and try to get them to be as successful as possible because you never know what’s going to happen.”‘

‘"I wasn’t happy with the way I played," Posluszny said. "I thought I was just an average player. I did my job and I was where I needed to be, but I didn’t really make any big plays, didn’t really make anything happen."’

‘There will be deals on sports cards, comics and other collectibles, and Booker Edgerson and Al Bemiller will sign autographs for $5 each from 1 to 2:30 p.m.’

‘"That’s always a good thing when the X-rays come back negative. I’m enthusiastic about that. Hopefully I can get back as soon as possible. … I’ll try to get back as soon as I can because we’ve still got work to do and I still need to be out there with those guys."’

‘Cornerback ranks second only to quarterback on the NFL pay scale. The going rate for a proven starter on the open market is $7 million to $8 million a year and up.’

‘”You know what it is going to do here wind-wise, and snow-wise and cold weather-wise,” said Jauron. “But we have no idea what it’s going to do early in the season and we could easily get rain. The footing and how you compete and how you backpedal, how you turn, plant and drive, cutting, you have to work on those things because they’re not easy.”‘

‘Coach Dick Jauron wouldn’t rule Jackson out from playing in Buffalo’s preseason game at Pittsburgh on Saturday.’

‘”I feel good,” said Jackson. “It was a little scary yesterday when I first did it, but I feel fine right now. That’s always a good thing when the x-rays come back negative. So I’m enthusiastic about that and hopefully I can get back as soon as possible.”‘