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Sunday, September 09, 2001

To their credit, the Steelers have said nothing publicly about their displeasure with Jacksonville's Tom Coughlin for picking up another of their discards just before their game with the Jaguars.

And why should they?

It's legal, it's smart and it probably causes the offended team more problems than it helps the offenders.

Why? Because the Steelers, in this case, believe they now have to change some of their calls at the line of scrimmage since safety Ainsley Battles supposedly gave all that information to Coughlin this week.

Do you think a young player, perhaps Kendrell Bell or Casey Hampton, might forget one of the switched calls after his head has been swimming all summer with the original calls he had to learn?

Some people in Tampa Bay became upset when the Dallas Cowboys were set to sign quarterback Ryan Leaf after the Buccaneers cut him. Tampa Bay and Dallas play today.

Buccaneers Coach Tony Dungy didn't give a hoot.

"Obviously, he knows our offense very well and practiced against our defense. There are probably some things he can give them, but we're probably not going to change a whole lot.

"I don't think there's really that much to be gained or lost. ... You have people that leave your team all the time. You still have do what you do really well."

The Seahawks weren't really surprised when Cleveland's Butch Davis claimed quarterback Josh Booty off waivers after Seattle cut him. The Browns and Seahawks play today.

Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren even recalled that when he was released 30 years ago by the St. Louis Cardinals, he received a call from the late George Allen, then coach of the Los Angeles Rams.

Allen wanted to pick Holmgren's brain about the Rams, who opened the season against the Cardinals.

Gamesmanship has been going on in the NFL for quite some time, to one extent or another. It would surprise no one if the air-conditioning in the Steelers' locker room today in sultry Jacksonville is not quite up to standards.

The Steelers once had a coach on Chuck Noll's staff who spun stories about his days as a college coach. He insisted he once spied on an opposing team from a manhole cover!

Noll was too straight-laced for such stuff. Once, in the 1980s, the Three Rivers Stadium faithful drowned out the opponent's offense as the quarterback tried to call plays. Noll actually flapped his arms on the sidelines to try to get the crowd to quiet down so the enemy could operate. Noll later said he did not think it was fair.

Coach Bill Cowher encourages home fans to make noise while the other team has the ball. It's an accepted practice around the league today.

So why should anyone worry about another team picking up their scrap just before they play them? The best reaction to such skullduggery is to do nothing, say nothing, change nothing.

John Steigerwald of KDKA-TV might have had the best suggestion: Cowher took Battles aside, told him he would be cut and that Jacksonville would likely pick him up. He informed him to give Coughlin nothing but misinformation about the Steelers. After the game, Jacksonville would cut Battles the way the Jaguars cut Jim Miller in 1997, then the Steelers would re-sign him. And give him a bonus to boot.

Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com