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Monday, August 28, 2000 By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
All summer long, Troy Edwards has proclaimed Hines Ward as the Steelers' starting flanker, and he said it would not surprise him if it happened in the season opener Sunday.
Edwards, who started the past four exhibition games, has been plagued by dropped passes. He dropped five over the past two games, including three against the Washington Redskins Friday night.
"Right now, Hines is playing well," Edwards said. "He might be in the starting lineup when we start against Baltimore. I won't have any hard feelings about that. I haven't been playing right. I have a good play, and I come back and have two terrible plays."
Edwards and Ward tied for the team lead with 61 receptions last season. Edwards, their No. 1 draft pick in 1999, joined Ward as a starter over the final five games when Courtney Hawkins sustained a sprained ankle.
The Steelers moved Edwards to Ward's position this year, flanker, to make room for top draft choice Plaxico Burress at split end. Ward and Malcolm Johnson opened the first game this summer as the starting wide receivers, but Burress and Edwards have taken over the past four games.
Burress led all wide receivers with 10 receptions for 147 yards. Ward was next with nine catches for 104 yards. Edwards had seven for 72 yards.
But Edwards admittedly has had trouble holding onto the ball.
"I think I'm just pressing a little too hard. I'm trying so bad to do something, to make something happen, I think that's a big problem. I'm just glad its the preseason and it didn't cost us a game or anything."
Edwards did lead the Steelers with four receptions Friday against the Redskins, but he could have had so much more. He dropped Kent Graham's first pass of the night and what might have been a 43-yard touchdown pass from Kordell Stewart in the second quarter at the 2.
"I'm not disappointed," Edwards said. "I had the drops, but I think we moved the ball well.
"Washington is supposed to be one of the best teams in the NFL, on paper, but I think we handled them real well. If we wouldn't have had the dropped balls, we would have moved up and down the field."
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