Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Tommy Maddox threw for more than 6,000 yards in 2002-03. Now, two years later, he'll likely be looking for a job. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: A shooting star: Tommy Maddox

Between now and March 2, the Steelers almost certainly will release quarterback Tommy Maddox, thus ending one of the most uplifting tales in club history.

Actually, the uplifting part likely concluded Oct. 16, when the Steelers lost to Jacksonville or Sept. 19, 2004, when a tendon in Maddox's right arm was torn, opening the door for Ben Roethlisberger.

But before the debacle that was Jacksonville, before Big Ben, there was Tommy Gun, an admired and productive Steelers player who came within overtime of leading the team to an improbable appearance in another AFC championship game weeks after he was temporarily paralyzed on the same field in Tennessee.

Sophocles could have authored this gripping Greek tragedy. Maddox, who owns several Steelers passing records and once was as popular as Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, knows the final act beckons. He is due $1 million this year, including a $100,000 roster bonus in the first week of March. He slipped to No. 3 behind Charlie Batch after the Jacksonville game, and his popularity, like other Steelers quarterbacks before him, waned.

Maddox said he expects to be released by the Steelers and hopes to sign with another team.

"I would obviously think they'll try to re-sign Charlie," Maddox said last week from his home near Dallas. "It's kind of win-win for me. It would be very exciting for me to remain in Pittsburgh. I'm very comfortable there, and my family is comfortable there. But, if it's time to move on, it's time to move on. I'm excited about the future."

Maddox spoke for the first time publicly about the trash thrown by unknowns onto his lawn after the loss to Jacksonville last season, about the mitigating circumstances that led to that fiasco and about his experience at Ford Field after the Steelers beat Seattle in the Super Bowl. He also spoke about his one regret in Pittsburgh.

First, though, a retelling of the extraordinary riches-to-rags-to-riches-to-rags story of Tommy Maddox, 34, is in order.

Drafted by Denver in the first round as a sophomore from UCLA in 1992, he was to be John Elway's successor. Two seasons later, the Broncos traded him to the Los Angeles Rams, then he bounced to the New York Giants, then to the Atlanta Falcons' training camp and then out of football in the fall of 1997. Maddox worked three years as an insurance broker in Dallas.

The football bug bit him again in 2000, and he played for the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League. Early in 2001, he played for the Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL and earned the league's MVP honors in its only season.

Maddox wrote a letter to every team in the NFL, and only the Steelers brought him in for a look. They signed him June 12, 2001, to compete for a job, and he was the surprise of training camp. He made the team as Kordell Stewart's backup. After two games and two losses to open 2002, the Steelers trailed the Cleveland Browns at home in the second half. Coach Bill Cowher yanked Stewart, and Maddox completed 11 of 13 passes to lead the Steelers to a touchdown that tied the game and a field-goal drive to win it in overtime.

Cowher named Maddox his new starter. He went on to help the Steelers to a 10-5-1 record with the kind of precision passing unseen in Pittsburgh since Neil O'Donnell was on top of his game in 1995. Fans loved Maddox for many reasons, including Stewart's own precipitous popularity dip.

Along the way, Maddox threw for 473 yards and four touchdowns in a wild, 34-34 tie with Atlanta, snapping the Steelers' passing record by 64 yards.

Then came that horrific Nov. 17, 2002, in Tennessee. Maddox was hit and paralyzed, taken off the field by ambulance as players from both sides knelt and prayed. That night, he regained all feeling in the hospital. There was an overwhelming response of concern and then delight by Steelers fans at his recovery.

Maddox missed only two starts, and the Steelers continued to roll. Like few quarterbacks before him, he owned the town.

He threw for a team-record 367 yards in a playoff against Cleveland, rallying the Steelers from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to win, 36-33. He threw for another 266 and two touchdowns in Tennessee six days later, but the Titans won in overtime, 34-31. A victory would have sent the Steelers to Oakland for the AFC championship game.

Maddox was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year, and the future looked bright for him and the Steelers.

But his success in 2002 ironically may have led to the Steelers' downfall in 2003. Coach Bill Cowher later acknowledged that he became enthralled with the passing game and leaned on it too much in 2003, starting in training camp, at the expense of the franchise's fabled running game.

"That was the one year coming out of camp [in] five years with this team that I don't think anybody knew what our identity was," Maddox said. "It was a different year. The offensive line had a different mindset. When you've had that mindset so long in a city, to all of a sudden change, it's a different deal. If you're going to play that way, the defense plays differently, the offense differently, the games are different.

"It's totally a different experience than anything the Steelers had gone through before."

They went 6-10 that season, but Maddox passed for 3,414 yards, second only to Terry Bradshaw's 3,724 in 1979. His four 300-yard games that season tied a club record and, in just two seasons as their starter, he holds their career record with six 300-yard games.

Even though the Steelers drafted Roethlisberger in 2004, the plan was to groom him for a season behind Maddox. That all changed in the second game when Maddox's right elbow was injured and the Big Ben era began in a blaze.

This past August, Maddox had what he felt was his best training camp, so good that it convinced the coaches to play him sparingly in exhibition games. They used those to get Roethlisberger more work and also to showcase Batch for a possible trade.

"I played only four series in the preseason," Maddox said. "The only regret I had is I didn't go tell them I wanted to play more. There's nothing more valuable than game experience."

He remained a strong No. 2. But Maddox pulled a calf muscle in the Friday practice before the Oct. 10 Monday night game in San Diego. He did not make the trip and was told he would miss three to four weeks. His calf felt better the day after the game, and he practiced that week. So did Roethlisberger, even though his knee was injured against the Chargers.

All three quarterbacks took snaps that week, and it appeared that either Roethlisberger or Batch would start.

"Ben was trying to get back," Maddox said. "All three of us were rotating and taking a little bit here and there."

The day before the game, Maddox was asked if he could start against Jacksonville despite the limited amount of practice he had.

"I wasn't going to turn down a chance to go out there and play. Never will."

The rest is history, ugly at that -- the fumbled snap, the three interceptions, including one in overtime that was returned for a touchdown. Fans booed him during the game.

"It was tough," Maddox said. "I was excited about the opportunity, maybe too excited. I didn't play well, and that's obviously tough to handle."

He did not handle the booing well, either, "probably because I had never gone through that in the city. I had a great relationship with the City of Pittsburgh and the fans, and it kind of took me off guard a little bit because that relationship always had been good.

"It was hard to deal with. I didn't handle it good, especially right after the game -- your defensive mechanism jumps up, and you kind of want to fight everybody and defend yourself."

And the trash reportedly thrown on his lawn in the following days?

"There were a few things I had to pick up and put in the trash can," Maddox said. "It was blown way out of proportion. I was never scared or worried."

Batch was promoted to No. 2. After Roethlisberger had knee surgery, Batch's hand was injured in the first half against Cleveland, and Maddox played the entire second half and helped to preserve a 34-21 victory.

Maddox started in Baltimore Nov. 20, and the Steelers lost in overtime, 16-13, but no one blamed the quarterback this time. He threw for 230 yards and one touchdown and gave the Steelers a chance to win. His only interception was memorable because Hines Ward reached up, dropped the ball, and inadvertently kicked it into the air. It was caught by a diving linebacker.

It was to be Maddox's final appearance in a game with the Steelers, but he will walk away with a Super Bowl ring and plenty of good memories.

"The ups far outweighed the down," Maddox said. "When you're older, you realize the importance of being part of a team that wins a Super Bowl. Watching my kids play on the field after the game was worth it in itself; it was fun for me, I enjoyed it."

Maddox also became a mentor to Roethlisberger, who often praised the veteran's help.

"When you have a guy willing to come to you and ask questions and help him. and you're able to see that success, yeah, I took a lot of pride in how he played," Maddox said. "I wanted him to do well, be successful."

He got his wish, and now Tommy Maddox has two more:

"I would just like to get somewhere where I can compete, whatever position that is."

And, "I think I would rather be remembered for things we did off the field in Pittsburgh. We tried to make the city of Pittsburgh better for kids, tried to help kids have a future. Those are things I'm more proud of than anything that happened on the field."

Those experiences on the field weren't all bad, either.