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Steelers vs. Ravens, 1 p.m., Sunday Thursday, September 03, 1998 By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
No one has come out and said it publicly, but the word has been floating around the NFL for two years now: Rod Woodson has lost it.
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It was why the Steelers gave up on him, why San Francisco gave up on him, why he was penalized 11 times last season, many for grabbing receivers before they could run past him.
Woodson hasn't been the same since the opener of the 1995 season, when Barry Sanders juked him out of his anterior cruciate ligament. He has lost speed, and medical people say his shoulders have been weakened from making all those tackles during an 11-year career that may one day land him in the Hall of Fame.
But if Woodson at 33 truly is on his last legs, the Baltimore Ravens did not acknowledge it when they paid him a $3 million signing bonus to play for them this season at left cornerback.
And Sunday, for the first time, he will play against the Steelers, the team that employed him in his prime for 10 seasons.
"Strange?" Woodson asked, repeating a question. "I don't know. It will be a little different, I would guess."
Rod Woodson in purple will be different enough. But the Ravens did not sign him because he plays like Deion Sanders. They signed him because he brings something else to a defense packed with young talent like Peter Boulware, Ray Lewis and Jamie Sharper.
"We needed mentors like Rod," Baltimore Coach Ted Marchibroda said. "This is what Rod has provided for our defense. We have young corners. They listen to his every word. They see the way he performs on the field, the way he practices. It's been extremely good for our football team."
No matter how many intangibles Woodson brought to the Ravens this year, he still must perform, and the Steelers are bound to test him. Woodson, who maintains his home in Gibsonia, worked out with Carnell Lake and Charles Johnson this year. They and other Steelers likely will greet him warmly before the game, but Johnson won't get puffy-eyed when he lines up at wide receiver opposite Woodson Sunday.
"I know what you can beat Rod on," Johnson said, laughing in front of a gaggle of reporters in the locker room yesterday.
Everyone there knew what Johnson meant: The old hitch-and-go. It has been Woodson's nemesis because he is so aggressive. Run down field, fake a short curl, go deep. Woodson has been burned by that move at times, but not as many times as people might think.
"Rod is very aggressive," Johnson said. "He's made a lot of plays because of his aggressiveness, so I don't see him changing that."
So, Johnson can sell the fake?
"Like a flea market," said Johnson, laughing again.
And will Woodson make a good client?
"We'll find that out on Sunday, huh?"
The truth is, the Steelers haven't been able to replace Woodson adequately since he left after the 1996 season. They signed Donnell Woolford as a free agent last year, but he had reached the end of the road, lost his job and was cut in June. They thought they had the answer this year when they signed Dewayne Washington as a free agent from the Vikings to pair up with Chad Scott, but Scott injured the same knee ligament in May that Woodson hurt in 1995. So they moved Carnell Lake from strong safety to fill the spot at left cornerback.
"That's the best safety in the NFL," Woodson said of his friend. "It's unfortunate that he has to play corner, but it's fortunate enough for the Steelers that he can play corner.
"He's so talented that they took him out of the position that he felt comfortable with, and put him in another one. The way it looks, he's becoming very comfortable being a corner in the NFL. I always told him he would be a corner if he had to play there."
Lake, in training camp, said that if the Steelers had kept Woodson, they would have made the Super Bowl last season, maybe made another along the way if they would have kept Woodson and one more player.
"I paid him to say that," Woodson said, laughing. "It's unfortunate, not just myself, but a lot of players have moved through the Steelers' organization and are playing elsewhere and are doing very well.
"It would have been interesting to see if everyone would have stayed there how we would have been over the years. That's not reality. Reality is that guys have come and gone. They have a new team and a new era."
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