Of all the roles he has played with the Steelers, Kordell Stewart finds himself in a new one this season, that of backup quarterback.
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| | Kordell Stewart's brief appearance Sunday never got off the ground.(Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) |
Stewart has been the No. 3 quarterback, has been the starting quarterback and has played wide receiver and specialty-situation quarterback. But only twice, late in the 1996 season, has he been the true backup, and not at all since he became the starter three years ago.
Even last season, when Mike Tomczak was promoted to No. 1 for the final five games, Stewart switched to wide receiver while Pete Gonzalez and then Anthony Wright were No. 2.
It's something that takes getting used to. It might have been hard for Stewart to watch the Steelers' offense perform poorly and not score in the 16-0 loss Sunday to Baltimore at home, but he couldn't let on during the game.
"Once we get into a rhythm, that's when I think we'll start clicking," Stewart said. "But it seemed we were never in a rhythm until that one drive. We had some things happen in spots here and there, but it was really nothing to sit on the sideline and be happy and excited about. And you couldn't show any frustration, because you have to encourage those guys to go back out there and try to get it going again."
The No. 2 quarterback is part cheerleader, part coach, part player, part psychologist.
Having been a starter, Stewart knows what it's like coming off the field and being hit with suggestions from everyone on the sideline. It has helped him deal with Kent Graham as his backup.
"He's the guy out there doing it," Stewart said. "I've been in that position before. I'd come to the sidelines, and everyone would want to tell me what to do and what they saw. But when you're dropping back and you feel the heat coming, you're going to respond in a certain way. That's the way he was doing it.
"We talked all day, when I felt it was the right time to go talk to him. Because when you're trying your best and things don't happen and balls are flying all over the place and guys are hitting you from the backside or you step up and it's right there in your face, or you try to make a throw and it doesn't get there, there's a lot of frustration that can set in on the person out there doing it. So it was all about timing when it came down for me to say something to him.
"I was real reluctant and real cautious about it, because you don't want someone saying, 'Kent, we got to do this and we got to do that.' It's not a comfortable feeling to hear that when you're out there trying your hardest.
"I know how it feels."
The only previous times Stewart served as the backup came in a meaningless game at the end of the 1996 season at Carolina and in a playoff game that season at New England.
While opening the season as the backup quarterback was new to him, the other role he served Sunday against Baltimore was not. Stewart came into the game after Graham took the offense from the Steelers' 5 to a first down at Baltimore's 1.
Stewart did that often in '95 and '96 with Neil O'Donnell and Tomczak. Back then, he often ran the quarterback sneak, which was virtually unstoppable. He also would run an option or a bootleg.
Sunday, he handed off to Jerome Bettis for a 1-yard loss. He rolled right and ran into a wall of defenders, and he threw incomplete into the end zone on second down. On third down, he fumbled coming back from center on another intended handoff to Bettis.
"They pursued outside to stop anything from getting on the outside and plunged everybody in the middle," Stewart said. "I just think teams have been real cautious about the sneak and done a good job of containing things we're trying to do."
Thus, the handoff and would-be handoff to Bettis.
Coach Bill Cowher indicated he might expand Stewart's role, and Stewart welcomed that, to a point.
"Yeah, I'll get in there. Of course, it interests me. I'm a competitor. I want to help out and do the best I can.
"But I just hope it doesn't go back to the old stuff like it used to be, me playing wide receiver. That's something I want to stay away from. My career, from this point on, I want it to be quarterback, so I can develop and gradually get better and better, so when I have the opportunity again, I'll get in there and have fun."
The role of Slash was effective if teams did not know whether Stewart would line up at wide receiver or quarterback when the team broke the huddle. So, if he's to revive the role, it might only be in situations like the one Sunday -- short yardage or when the coaches believe they need more movement from the position.
"I hope it's Slash in the sense of being quarterback," Stewart said, "because we have a lot of receivers here who can play. Just get the right guys out there, get together and have them work together.
"I wish that's the direction we're trying to go, in a sense of me playing quarterback, as far as Slash is concerned. That's what I want to do. My talents, if they're being used to the extreme as they've done in the past and really going out there and doing things, then I think we'll have a great chance of me succeeding in this offense."
Stewart tries to adjust to life as Steelers' No. 2 quarterback 
