The Steelers' grand plan to package their two most-recent, first-round picks as their starting wide receivers has fallen incomplete.
Troy Edwards, last year's top pick and leading receiver, has lost his starting job at flanker to Hines Ward. And while rookie Plaxico Burress remains the starting split end, he did not enhance his standing with his performance Sunday against Tennessee.
"Hines has played very well," Coach Bill Cowher said yesterday. "We'll get Troy into the game. Troy played well last week, blocked very well. But I think Hines has been very productive and, at this point, there's no justification for putting him on the bench."
Edwards started the opener against Baltimore, but his hamstring was injured in practice, and he missed the second game in Cleveland. He was listed as questionable last week, although he resumed practice Thursday. He did not start against the Titans, but he returned kicks and played when they used four wide receivers.
When Cowher revealed his injury list for this week, Edwards was not on it.
Ward, who has started the past two games, leads the Steelers with 12 receptions for 154 yards. Edwards has five catches for 57 yards. Ward and Edwards tied for the team lead last season with 61 receptions. Edwards led the Steelers in yardage as a rookie with 714 and Ward, a third-round draft pick from Georgia in 1998, led them with seven touchdown receptions.
Asked how Edwards took the news, Cowher said: "Listen, I'm going to do what I think is in the best interests of this team, and people have to understand that. They have to accept it. They may not like it, but that's the way it's going to be."
Last season, Edwards played split end behind Courtney Hawkins and did not start until the second half of the season, when Hawkins was injured. He started six games. After they drafted Burress with the eighth overall pick in April, they put Burress at split end and moved Edwards to flanker.
Ward started the first exhibition game in Dallas, but the Steelers then promoted Edwards, and he started the next four games and the regular-season opener.
Edwards caught two passes for 7 yards in the opener and caught three for 50 yards Sunday. He did not complain when Ward started ahead of him against Tennessee. He has said Ward deserves to start.
Still, it has to be a blow to Edwards, their No. 1 pick from Louisiana Tech last year. When he was shut out July 30 in Dallas, and Burress caught four passes for 60 yards and a touchdown, Edwards felt ignored.
"You're all acting like I'm just an average receiver," he said two days later. "I'm going to be a great receiver in this offense also."
He said he and Burress had a friendly competition.
"I'm going to beat him out, I'm not worried about that. I've been leading my team ever since I've been playing football and I'm not going to back down now."
With Ward starting, Edwards must wait until they use four wide receivers to get into the offense. He practiced in the slot position this summer, but Bobby Shaw has nailed down that job. While no Steelers receiver is among the top 40 on the NFL's rankings this week, Shaw is tied for fifth in the AFC with three "big-play" catches, receptions for more than 25 yards.
"We'll get Troy into the game," Cowher said. "Bobby's played pretty well. Those are nice problems to have. He'll do some returning as well."
Edwards returned three kickoffs against Tennessee for 77 yards. He has one fair catch on a punt, and he ran one end-around in the opener that lost 9 yards.
Burress, after a good start in the opener, has caught just two passes in the past two games. He has six receptions for 104 yards. He dropped two others against the Titans and was penalized for a false start when the Steelers had a lead in the fourth quarter. Burress complained after he caught one pass in Cleveland that they were using him as a decoy.
"He's got to make those plays," Cowher said of his two drops against the Titans. "There's no excuse for jumping offside. He's a young football player, but you can't continue to do those things, and he'll be the first one to admit it, and should be."
The demotion of Edwards is the second for the top two draft choices from last season. Scott Shields, their No. 2 pick in 1999, started all five exhibition games at free safety but lost his job to Brent Alexander before the opener.
Kris Farris, a third-round pick in that draft, was waived Aug. 21.
Ward replaces Edwards in Steelers' starting line-up 
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