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The football, as it has been the past two seasons, is in Tommy Maddox's hands.

Maddox put off an expected meeting yesterday with coach Bill Cowher and the Rooneys two days after the team drafted quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the first round.

"Tommy did not come up," said agent Vann McElroy, who indicated Sunday that Maddox would fly from Texas on Sunday night for the meeting at Steelers' headquarters yesterday. "He's just too emotional right now."

Maddox was scheduled to arrive here last night, and the meeting will be reset with Cowher. What occurs in that meeting, whenever it takes place, could determine whether Maddox remains the starting quarterback in 2004, or at least takes the job into training camp. Cowher has tentative plans to keep Maddox in his job, but the Steelers want to gauge the quarterback's feelings about the situation before they act on anything.

McElroy said over the weekend that Maddox was upset because the Steelers drafted Roethlisberger with the 11th overall pick. But the Steelers have not heard that or anything else from Maddox yet.

Maddox had expected to meet with Dan Rooney and/or his son Art Rooney II after the draft to discuss a restructuring of his contract, which calls for a $750,000 salary this season plus incentives. The pick of Roethlisberger changed the parameters of that discussion.

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who is interested in the status of his own contract, said no one should assume that Maddox will go down easily because of Roethlisberger's presence.

"Tommy, I know, is probably a little down about the situation," Burress said before a workout yesterday. "But I've been playing with him for two years now and I pretty much know he'll step up and defend his position."

Burress said he did not react much to the pick of a quarterback on the first round.

"They thought it was a great pick. I'm pretty sure we'll all find out when we get in there and start playing with him. We'll get out there and see how he fits."

Roethlisberger, during his first news conference as a Steelers player at their headquarters yesterday, said he talked to backup quarterback Charlie Batch but not Maddox.

"I want to talk to Tommy and Charlie about what is going on and absorb any knowledge I can from them. Whatever they are willing to help me with I am going to take it all in because I want to be the best I can be and I am going to need those guys to help me, hopefully, as much as I can help them with competing."

Roethlisberger will wear the same No. 7 he has worn since he was a high school freshman in Findlay, Ohio, taken because of his admiration for John Elway. The most recent Steelers player to wear that number was Pete Gonzalez, a backup quarterback in 1998-99. Quarterbacks Jim Finks, a Hall of Famer, and Jack Kemp, a former U.S. congressman, also wore the No. 7 with the Steelers in the 1950s.

The Steelers will have to provide Roethlisberger with a bigger jersey than the one they presented him with at the news conference yesterday because it was too snug, although his long name filled out the back of the jersey.

While Roethlisberger was the third quarterback drafted Saturday behind Mississippi's Eli Manning at No. 1 and North Carolina State's Philip Rivers at No. 4, he refused to take a back seat to them.

"I feel that once I get on the field, my will to win is much greater than both of them," said Roethlisberger, who left Miami (Ohio) with a year of eligibility left but needs only three credits to graduate. "I don't know theirs, but I know mine is. I think the hard-nosed and the toughness is going to help me prevail."

The ESPN cameras Saturday captured some toughness by his Miami (Ohio) coach as well when Terry Hoeppner angrily slapped a water bottle away when the New York Giants chose Rivers with the No. 4 pick in the draft instead of Roethlisberger.

"He is an emotional guy," Roethlisberger said. "He just wants what is best for me and he is extremely happy now. He thinks this is a great organization, and I agree with him. I think he was more upset because two quarterbacks were taken ahead of me. He thinks I am the best."

NOTES -- The Steelers told Burress' agent that they will wait until minicamp ends before they decide whether to enter into negotiations to extend any of their players contracts. Burress is signed through 2004 and would become an unrestricted free agent after that. "We'll all find out what they want to do, whether they want me here or not," Burress said. "I think the situation I'm in speaks volumes about me and says a lot about them, so we'll find out. I'll just go out and play and play hard. Whether I'm here or not, that's up to them." Said agent Eugene Mato, "It's really in Pittsburgh's hands; Plax wants to retire a Steeler."