Bob Smizik: Cowher's rules are ignored
Share with others:
Any person in authority, be it parent, teacher, boss, law-enforcement officer or coach, understands the importance of establishing rules and then enforcing them. Without rules, there can be chaos. Without the enforcement of rules, there can be confusion that will lead to chaos.
We don't know precisely what rules Bill Cowher has established with the Steelers. He doesn't talk a lot about them. He probably doesn't have a lot because his philosophy appears to be to treat his players like men and expect them to act accordingly. This approach has worked exceedingly well over the years.
Cowher went out of character Sept. 24 after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals when he publicly set down very specific rules regarding game behavior after the Steelers had shown a marked lack of discipline by taking a penalty for excessive celebration and another for taunting.
On the first, Verron Haynes came off the bench to join Willie Parker, who scored, in celebration. The scorer is allowed to celebrate within the boundaries of the rules. If a teammate joins him, even one already on the field, it is a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. On the second, safety Mike Logan stood over a fallen Cincinnati player, Brad St. Louis, who could have been seriously hurt, and taunted him. A 10-yard penalty was assessed.
After the game, Cowher was furious with this behavior. "That will not happen again," he said, with teeth clenched. "That's on me. Trust me, that will not happen again."
Asked if Logan's taunting penalty was stupid or selfish, he said, "Both. Stupid, selfish, both of those. Just like the celebration. There is no reason for those things. Like I said, it will not happen again."
It was left to the imagination of the media and fans exactly how Cowher phrased this new rule to his players and how he would enforce it.
Whatever he said, it didn't leave much of an impact with his players. Two of them flagrantly ignored Cowher's rule in the loss Sunday to Atlanta. Cowher then compounded the transgression by failing to levy a punishment against the rule-breakers.
Who would have thought discipline would be a problem with the Steelers?
Maybe, just maybe, the 2-4 Super Bowl champions haven't gone bad but are only absent the same tough mental discipline that enabled them to win eight consecutive games at end of last season. It happens all the time. Teams win a championship and after that, with almost no one noticing -- not even the players themselves -- the discipline slips a notch. Sometimes, that's all it takes. That lack of extra focus can be the difference between winning and losing.
The Steelers took another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for excessive celebration after a touchdown against the Falcons. Shockingly, it was veteran leader and team captain Hines Ward who was the culprit.
After Nate Washington scored late in the second quarter, he began his little dance that almost all players feel compelled to do after a touchdown. But when Ward joined in, dancing directly behind Washington, the penalty was on its way. When rookie Santonio Holmes became the third celebrant, it looked almost as if the players were making a fool out of Cowher.
How dare him expect them to act like Super Bowl champions.
The 15-yard penalty was enforced on the ensuing kickoff, which Allen Rossum ran back 51 yards to the Steelers' 28. It looked as if lack of discipline would give another opponent a score. Fortunately, for the Steelers, James Farrior intercepted a Michael Vick pass on the first play from scrimmage and no scoring occurred as a result of the penalty.
Foolish me. I actually expected some sort of disciplinary action to take place in the second half. I thought Ward and/or Holmes would be benched. It would have left the Steelers with a wide receiving corps of possibly three, Washington, Cedrick Wilson and Sean Morey. But in view of the emphatic nature of Cowher's warning -- "It won't happen again"-- did he have another choice?
He did. He ignored his stern warning he had delivered after the Cincinnati game and the team played on as if nothing had happened.
In the excitement and drama of the overtime loss, the penalty was overlooked until Cowher's news conference yesterday when Ed Bouchette and Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette asked about it.
Bouchette: "What you said wouldn't happen again happened. What's your reaction to that?"
Cowher: "I guess never say never. It was addressed."
Bouchette: "You addressed it the last time, too, right?"
Cowher: "Yes."
Dulac: "Is it more disappointing than upsetting to you that it happened again?"
Cowher: "Both."
Dulac: "Is there anything you can do?"
Cowher: "I've addressed it. I'd rather just leave it at that."
So that's where it stands. Cowher has addressed it -- again. Which means the most-watched action the remainder of the season will be the seconds immediately after a Steelers touchdown.
How those seconds play out should be illuminating.
First Published October 25, 2006 12:00 am
