HEAD COACH BILL COWHER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
December 28, 2004

Coach Bill Cowher:  I am going to give you the health situation with our football team as we head into this game against Buffalo.  Number one, we have one player who is definitely out, and that is Deshea (Townsend).  Deshea broke his hand.  We are optimistic at this point.  I would say, and this is very early, but I would say he is probably going to be questionable for our first playoff game, and probably on the upside of questionable.  He will not be practicing until that week.  We have two players that are doubtful: Jerome (Bettis) with an ankle and Clark Haggans with a groin.  We have three players that are questionable, the first of which is Ben (Roethlisberger).  Ben has a bruised rib cartilage, nothing more than that.  It is probably the best of everything when you take a look at the diagnosis, the MRI, and everything.  So I have talked with him today and he will be in tomorrow, and expect him to throw tomorrow, and we will see where he is at the end of the week.  So we will go from there.  Also questionable is Kendrell (Bell).  He has his groin, and hopefully he will be ready to play by the end of the week.  Duce (Staley) with his hamstring is also questionable and hopefully he will be ready to go by the end of the week.  There are four players that are probable:  Brett Keisel with a hamstring, Verron Haynes with a knee, Hines (Ward) with a hip, and Plaxico (Burress) with a hamstring.

Let me just say this in regard to this football game, certainly we are looking at the playoffs and we will certainly keep that in mind as it relates to the health of our players.  But we are not going to approach this game any differently than we have approached the other 15 games.  I am a firm believer that you are who you are.  We are a football team that we when we step on that field, we are going to play our way.  It is for no other reason than that.  I think the last thing you can do is try to go into any football game and diminish the importance of it.  Certainly, you are going to keep the big picture in mind, but we are going to go out there, and we are preparing this week as we always have to go up there and win this football game.  It is going to be a big challenge for us because certainly Buffalo, with all the things that they have at stake, they are the winners of six games in a row, eight of the last nine games, they are a very formidable opponent and they can be an opponent that we see somewhere else down the line.  We are not going to diminish that.  We will get our week off.  This to me is a little bit different that if we were playing in six or seven days.  If you are playing that first week, then maybe you would approach it differently.  But I look at the fact that we have a bye week.  We are going to get our time off.  We have to go up and play football.   That is what we are planning on doing.

Who starts at cornerback for Deshea Townsend?

We are going to look at Chad (Scott).  Chad has been working.  Hopefully, he will be ready to go, and we will put him over on the right side and leave Willie (Williams) on the left side. 

He (Chad Scott) has not played the right side in a long time, has he?

That is correct.  We moved him around at times.  He has been a guy that we have used in match-up situations.  But he has been practicing over there.  We were actually thinking about, coming into this week, and I talked to him last week about it, was getting ready to get some nickel and dime work, and move Deshea inside, he would be ready to go out there on the right side.  So obviously, the plan changed a little bit.  We will put him out there.  Ricardo (Colclough) will work the inside part of the nickel and sub package. 

Are you hopeful that Duce Staley might be able to start against Buffalo?

I am hopeful. 

Are you not ruling Ben Roethlisberger out as the starter?

Not at this time. 

Would it matter if there were no playoff implications for the other team, would you approach it differently?

No, to me it does not matter.  This is not about what we owe anybody.  This is what we owe ourselves. This is how you play the game.  At this point in the season, we have to play the game the way we know how to play the game.  Those are not things you turn on and off.  If you think you can turn it on and off, then you are going to be mistaking, and down the road it is going to be very disappointing.  We need to play this game as we have always played it, allow me to keep the big picture in mind as it relates to the players.  They don’t have to worry about that, they just go out there and play.  That is how we are going to approach this game.

You have been in that situation several other times.  Has this generally been your philosophy, or do you sort of tailor it team-by-team depending on the make up of your guys?

I think that is the way you have to approach it, and we always have.  If your guys are hurt, you are not going to risk setting them back.  We need to have them in two weeks, but we are going to have a bye.  We will sit down and look at the health situation again with each guy as it relates to where we are by the end of the week and then make decisions accordingly as we approach this game. 

Will you substitute more liberally with some back up guys?

There is a chance that could happen at some point.  It is hard to say.

How serious is Jerome’s ankle?

He is doubtful.

What about beyond Sunday?  Is he going to be okay?

Yes, he is not out of this game.  So, I can’t answer that right now.  But I am very hopeful.

Is it a sprain?

Yes.

Are you anticipating having Clark Haggans back for playoffs?

Very much so.

What is Buffalo doing well on offense?

I know offensively they are clicking very well. (Lee) Evans has come in and became a very big play receiver. You know what Eric Moulds has always been. Willis (McGahee) has given them a lot of stability even though Travis Henry is a pretty good back, too. I think Drew (Bledsoe) is becoming more comfortable in that system. They have had five returns for touchdowns, three kickoffs and two punts. Their defense has been very opportunistic. They are just playing really good football right now. They are not just beating teams; these games have been over in the third quarter. These guys have been very, very impressive when you watch them play games. They are playing at a very high level right now.

Do you enjoy going against one of your former assistant coaches?

It is good to see guys doing well. Mike (Mularkey) is doing a great job up there. To come back from a 0-4 start, to get those guys to play were they are. Mike is a good football coach.  He has been around it and they have obviously responded to him. I think that he has a good feel for players. He’s the opponent this week. He’s on the other side. But it doesn’t surprise me to see where they are right now because of the quality of guy that he is and the type of coach that he is. There are a lot of Pittsburgh ties with this game. You are looking at a good football team that is young, and they are on the rise.

Are they being more aggressive on defense?

They really have not changed their system defensively much because Jerry Gray has stayed there. Coach (Dick) LeBeau was with him last year when he was up there. They really kept pretty much the same defensive staff as they had there. I think that it is a very attacking defense and if you’re not prepared going in there, they can create a lot of disruption and obviously create a lot of turnovers. I think that it is more of the style of defense they have. They have some pretty good players over there too; Takeo Spike and (London) Fletcher are two linebackers that can make a lot of plays. You look at Sam Adams and Pat Williams, those are two big men on the inside who make it hard to run the football. (Aaron) Schobel when you watch him play, he is so active coming off the corner. (Nate) Clements and (Terrence) McGee are the two corners, Lawyer Malloy is back there. They have a veteran group. A young group, it’s a very impressive group defensively in terms of team speed. I think the veteran leadership that they have there, Troy Vincent is back with them as well with Takeo and London and those two tackles inside. You look at them on paper, and it should not surprise you what they are doing defensively.

How familiar are you with Jerry Gray?

I am not really familiar enough to pass judgment. Dick (LeBeau) may be better able to answer that than I am because he worked with him.  I just know looking at their defense they play pretty good. They have some pretty good players over there.

Is what Buffalo does on offense what Mike Mularkey did here?

There are a lot of similarities. Different packages are featured different weeks but you see some of the same plays and there are some different plays. Mike is always going to have his shifts and different plays of some nature. There will be something that we have not seen, and you know that it’s going to be there. But there are a lot of similarities. 

Are you monitoring how Ben Roethlisberger throws this week?

Yes, we have to look at that. We have to look and see where he is, see how he feels and go from there.

Will he need to wear any more protection, like a flack jacket?

I think he had one on the other day. I haven’t really asked to that degree yet. It’s only Tuesday.

Is adding another quarterback at all part of the equation?

It is a distinct possibility, yes.

Might Verron Haynes play more a little more at running back?

Verron is a good back and certainly it has been a while since we have had Jerome and Duce up at the same time and he has certainly fit into that second slot.  As you can see he is a quality back. If Jerome is not able to go which he is doubtful today and hopefully Duce can, and he will.  Willie Parker will get some playing time, as well. Look at those four guys again it has been nice because we have been able to three of the four guys available at some point through the course of this year. Verron Haynes is a good back. I think you can see with the opportunities he gets, he has made the most of them, and we feel very comfortable with him in the backfield.

Does that speak to the play of the offensive line?

The offensive line has been very well. I still think that you can’t diminish the efforts of our running backs. Our running backs the other day between Jerome and Verron, they ran really hard. They made some people miss. Our offensive line has been so solid. They imposed themselves really in the second half of that game last week. That’s the thing we talked about going in, we knew it was going to be a game were it was going to be a battle. And you knew at some point somebody would have to impose on the other person. It wasn’t going to be determined in the first quarter, second quarter, and probably in even the third quarter but at some point in that game, something had to give. And we knew that going in and it was a mind set, could you sustain the approach. Certainly that first drive in the third quarter re-established the tempo in the game.

Will you limit the number of carries that Duce Staley gets if he plays?

We will see how it goes. We’ll see how he feels, and go from there. I’ll talking with him and monitor it as we go.

Would you like to get Jerome 1,000 yards? 

My feelings in regards to all that is that I’m not looking at records, or trying to appease any of that. We have to do what is in the best interest of this football team as we prepare our quest for what everybody wants, and that’s a championship. I think that you cannot deviate from that just to serve the individual purposes of the players.

Does 15-1 mean anything to you?

It is a pretty good year. A pretty good start of a year but we all recognize that it’s what you do when you all start at 0-0 that really matters.