Bubby Brister once complained about playing in December in Three Rivers Stadium with the wind blowing off the lake.
Well, it's not December, it's not Three Rivers Stadium, there is no lake, and it's not Bubby Brister.
And one more thing. It wasn't the wind.
Kris Brown became the first player in four years to miss four field goals in one NFL game, and many people are blaming the new wind patterns at Heinz Field for it.
Brown is not one of them. He dismissed that suggestion as did Steelers Coach Bill Cowher yesterday.
Cowher told Brown he should revisit Heinz Field about 2:30 or 3:30 this afternoon, not to determine which way the wind is blowing but to stare down the devil.
"Get back on the bike," Cowher told Brown. "Go back over there to the same spot on the field and go kick."
Cowher spent a good portion of his news conference yesterday expressing confidence in his kicker, one day after the two had a discussion.
"I just wanted to talk to him to see where he was mentally," Cowher said. "My confidence in him is based on [the fact] he has been there and done this. It is not like he is a rookie or even a second-year player. He is a third-year player, a proven player. I think he has proven over the years that he made some big kicks for this team. He is a very strong-minded guy. I have a lot of confidence in him. Sunday has not hindered my confidence in him at all."
Brown kicked a field goal from 38 yards Sunday at the closed end of the field, to extend his record to 12 of 14 this season. Then, he missed a 41-yarder wide right at the open end, had a 33-yarder deflected at the closed end and then missed two more wide right on the open end, from 48 and 35 yards, the last with eight seconds left that would have forged a tie.
Punter Josh Miller, who holds for Brown, suggested the shifting wind in Heinz Field was to blame. Some others in the organization also believe the wind had an effect; others did not. The football did not seem to drift right after Brown kicked them, they went off the ground that way. And is anyone surprised that in November in Pittsburgh it might be a little windy? As Jerome Bettis once said about bowling, it's a game of adjustments.
"We had no problem with the [48-yard] kick we made against Cincinnati a few weeks ago, and it was pretty windy there," Cowher said. "It was just one of those days."
Punt returner Hank Poteat, who has to settle under footballs kicked high into the air, said the wind at Heinz Field is no different than any other stadium and said it does not cause him any particular problems.
Still, what would it hurt to send Miller, Brown and snapper Mike Schneck over to Heinz Field once or twice a week to kick and learn the nuances of the winds and the field? None of the three has to attend meetings like the rest of the players.
"It is no different," Cowher said. "He still has to kick on the road, and you don't spend a whole lot of time there."
No, but that's the reason they call it the home-field advantage, isn't it?
"I don't think that is much of an issue," Cowher said. "The wind is going to be different every week. These guys kick over [at their practice fields on the South Side], and this is open and very windy. Those conditions exist."
Cowher, whose first coaching job came in Cleveland with special teams, compared kicking to playing golf when he talked with Brown Monday. He said you shoot for the pin, not the green in golf, and you shoot for the middle of the uprights in football.
The coach called kicking "a lonely position" that "really requires a mentally tough and focused individual."
"You can simulate anything you want. You can go out there on the field, as Kris might do this week, and pretend that it is the fourth quarter and they just called time out and everyone is there. But there is nothing like being there. It is not the same. You can simulate it all you want, but you still have to go out there and do it. These guys get scrutinized tremendously.
"Sometimes, they go out there and kick those three points, then we come in and talk about the game and having a three-point victory and say, oh, that was a pretty good kick by the kicker. It is a very scrutinized, lonely situation at times. You can make adjustments all you want on offense and defense, but he still has to go out there and kick."
Sunday, in Cleveland, Brown likely will have to do it again, this time with the wind blowing off the lake, and Browns fans won't let him forget what happened in Heinz Field a week earlier.
"I would be surprised if there were any lingering effects from it," Cowher said. "I can't foresee the future, but I know my confidence in him is not going to vary."
Cowher urges Brown to get 'back on bike' 
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