One thing can happen that would be worse for the Steelers than Kris Brown's failure last Sunday against Baltimore.
If it happens again.
As Brown headed over to Heinz Field yesterday to practice his kicks and shoo away the ghosts, his teammates continued to support him and show faith that he will get the job done in the future.
What else can they do?
"You can't disrespect your kicker, man, because you lose your kicker, you're pretty much done for the season," safety Lee Flowers said.
"You can't go get a kicker from Giant Eagle and put him out on the 50-yard line and tell him to kick a field goal."
Probably not, even though quarterback Kurt Warner was a stock boy at a supermarket before the St. Louis Rams discovered him.
Brown has been among the most accurate kickers in the league since he arrived as a rookie with the Steelers in 1999. He was 25 of 29 as a rookie, 25 of 30 last season and 12 of 14 until he missed his past four in Heinz Field Sunday. He tied Gary Anderson's Steelers record by kicking a 55-yarder this season.
He has no history of melting down, even during his days in Nebraska when he made 57 of 77, so the Steelers don't expect him to lose it. But it has happened. It happened to Al Del Greco of Tennessee last year.
Entering the season, Del Greco had led the NFL in field-goal percentage since 1995 at 85.1 percent. He began last season by making his first six kicks, then came a miss from 46. He went downhill, making 27 of 33 but missing from short range.
Against Baltimore in the playoffs, it all came apart. As did the Steelers against the Ravens Sunday, the Titans overhwelmed the Ravens, 317 yards to 134, 23 first downs to 6. But one Del Greco field-goal attempt was blocked and returned 90 yards for a Ravens touchdown with the game tied, 10-10. He was 1 for 4 that day, and he was released after the season.
"I think kickers are like golfers," Flowers suggested. "If you have a bad swing, it's just going to multiply. Del Greco is a prime example. He missed a couple field goals last year, and now where's he at? He's sitting home."
It can have a snowball effect, and there is no Viagra for kickers.
"He's 23," Flowers said, laughing. "He better not need that stuff yet."
Brown actually turns 25 two days before Christmas. Del Greco is 39 today, and perhaps age just caught up with him. But Gary Anderson missed the biggest kick of his life when he had a chance to put the Minnesota Vikings in the Super Bowl and sent a 39-yard kick wide right in the 1998 playoffs against Atlanta.
That had no lasting affect on Anderson. Last year, at age 41, he made 24 of 25 field goals, including the playoffs.
Failing at his job in one game is different for a kicker than it is for, say, a tackle or a running back. Jerome Bettis can lose yardage on four consecutive plays and still have plenty of time to bounce back. A kicker doesn't get that many chances to make up for a poor kick.
"If that's all you do all day is kick, then you must make those kicks," Flowers said. "We're not trying to sit here and figure out what happened. ... he didn't make them. It's over with, but we still have faith in you because you won some games for us."
Coach Bill Cowher told Brown he should go to Heinz Field and kick a few to shake out the demons. Brown, punter/holder Josh Miller and snapper Mike Schneck made the trip yesterday. Brown said they might do so weekly, even though Cowher thinks it's unnecessary.
"I think it's a good idea to kick in some of the conditions," Brown said in the locker room at the team's practice facility on the South Side. "The conditions here are as bad as they can get over there, but I just think mentally you can get over there and take 10-15 kicks and you can get yourself mentally prepared for the games."
Brown tried 16 field goals at Heinz Field yesterday and made them all, the longest from 48 yards. It was the first time he did so. Why not before?
"I haven't had to. If I go out [last] Sunday and don't play as bad as I did, there wouldn't even be a question."
Brown fielded plenty of questions yesterday, his first meeting with the news media since Sunday night. He believes he is doing nothing wrong mechanically, that he just did not "put good swings on the ball" and can't wait to get that first kick away in Cleveland Sunday.
"The first thing you have to do is believe in yourself. You have to go out there, believe you're going to get the job done. Nothing needs to be changed, nothing needs to be looked at and scrutinized. The bottom line is, I just didn't get the job done.
"Until that point, I'd been kicking pretty well. Just out of the blue, something like this happens. I just always believed, if you're going to accept the good with the good, you have to accept the bad with the bad. It's part of being a professional."
And the wind in Cleveland?
"There's wind every single game," Brown said. "If you're playing away, there's an issue with the crowd. These are not new problems. These are not problems we haven't had to face already. We've had to deal with these things before. You just have to go in and play the best game you can and give it everything you have, that's only thing I can tell you."
Brown acknowledged it is difficult getting over his poor day's work Sunday, "but that's part of why I'm able to do what I'm able to do, because I can do that.
"For most people, it would probably get to them. But that's part of my job, being able to forget about not only a kick you miss but a kick you make. you're only as good as your next kick."
Brown aiming to boot ghosts 
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