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Wednesday, September 04, 2002

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Throw out the records? What if they threw out the players and let Bill Cowher go head-to-head with New England Coach Bill Belichick instead?

"I wish it did," Cowher said, smiling broadly. "I'm in better shape than he is."

In many ways, that is true in the coaching ranks, too. Cowher's won-lost record dwarfs Belichick's.

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Add one more possible milestone to the Steelers' grand opening in New England Monday night -- Cowher can win his 100th regular-season game. He has a .619 winning percentage with a 99-61 record in 10 seasons with the Steelers and can become the 25th coach in NFL history to win 100 games.

Belichick's regular-season record in seven seasons with Cleveland and New England is 52-60.

But Belichick has a Super Bowl ring as a head coach and Cowher does not. And that ring came in part at Cowher's expense when New England upset the Steelers in the AFC championship game Jan. 27. The Patriots, 10-point underdogs, upset the Steelers, 24-17, at Heinz Field. People lauded Belichick for his shrewd coaching that day while Cowher endured hearing how his team lost for the third time in four AFC championship games at home.

When Belichick's Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl, it raised his postseason record to 4-1; Cowher's is 6-7.

Monday night, it will be a double Bill again on the sidelines in new Gillette Stadium as Cowher's Steelers take their first step toward that elusive Super Bowl.

"It doesn't come down to that at all," Cowher said of the coaching matchup. "The players are the ones who play the game.

"He had a great season last year, and Bill Belichick pushed all the right buttons a year ago, he really did. I commend him for it, and he deserves all the recognition he received. He's a very good football coach."

Though the circumstances have changed, the Steelers are favored to beat New England this time around, too. They also are favorites to reach the Super Bowl from the AFC.

"We're looking forward to the challenge," Cowher said. "Expectations, that's why we are in this business. ... I look at challenges as excitement, not as a hurdle."

It has galled the Patriots that they are underdogs at home to a team they beat in Pittsburgh the last time they squared off. Both teams are relatively intact from that game, but the bettors have shrugged off New England as a fluke winner last season.

"We don't worry about who's favored and who's not favored," Cowher said. "They're the defending world champions and, until someone else dethrones them, they're the best football team in the National Football League."

Cowher, during the first of his weekly, high-profile news conferences beamed live by one television station and two radio stations (with repeats later), slightly downplayed the overall importance of the opener.

"A lot will be made about last year and the last game, but the circumstances are different this time, though," Cowher said. "That last game was single elimination. This is the first of 16 weeks, not that you don't forget. Certainly, the atmosphere will be involved with it, but the circumstances are different. ...

"You just have to guard against -- with the high expectations -- the overreaction element of it. Because this is the first game of the season, we have 15 more to play and many, many challenges ahead of us. As long as you keep things in perspective and approach it one week at a time, you'll handle it. You have to. It's the right way to do it; these guys understand that."

Some players, though, already have conceded this game means more to them because the Patriots cost them a chance to reach the Super Bowl. Linebacker Jason Gildon even said it bothered him that the Patriots "gloated" over their victory in the AFC championship game.

"I would have been gloating," Cowher responded, "if I had just had a chance to go to the Super Bowl. I'm not going to sit here and start getting into words, a challenge of words, you guys do a good job of that. They did what they had to do last year, they had a great year last year. This is the first game of a new season; that's how we're approaching it and we have a stiff challenge ahead of us against the defending champions and we're looking forward to that challenge ...

"That was the last game we played, the memories are there. You go back and watch the video, you have a chance to rehash and go through the whole scenario again. It's the first game of the season, we want to get off to a good start. It's a tough game, it will be a big challenge for us.

"Anytime you open up a new stadium, there's a little added emotion from their perspective, and the fact they're the defending champions, that's a nice challenge in itself. I don't think you're going to diminish in people's minds about last year but that was last year. That was the last game of the season. This is the first game of the season."