And now we hear from Gerry Dulac on today's practices:
OLB Lawrence Timmons (groin) missed his fifth consecutive day of practice and it is not known when he will return.
Even though Timmons has done a good job learning the playbook, his missed time on the practice field is "quite a setback," said linebackers coach Keith Butler.
"To play linebacker in this system, you don't get comfortable till the second or third year," Butler said. "He's a smart kid. He can sit there and tell me on sideline what he's supposed to do, but when the bullets start flying we don't slow it down for him in a game.
"He's got to be able to quickly think about it. He's got it down mentally, but to go out and do it is different than telling me what he's supposed to
do."
Say it ain't so.
When the Steelers worked on their kickoff return in the morning, WR Willie Reid and free-agent RB Gary Russell handled the first two returns.
But, on the third kickoff, CB Ricardo Colclough handled the return -- the same player who muffed several kicks and punts last season.
Proof that new coaches sometimes have to learn the hard way.
Gene Collier checks in from Latrobe:
Yesterday's news item that New York Jets coach Eric Mangini has been using some classical music, particularly by Mozart, as the soundtrack to parts of training camp inescapably triggered memories of former Steelers coach Bill Cowher's brush with Mozart.
After an especially ugly win, Cowher emerged from the locker room and proclaimed, "Well, it was no Mozart."
Wiseacres in the media who merely recorded another Cowher malaprop with a reflexive snicker assumed Cowher meant to say "it was no Rembrandt," meaning that it was not an artisitic win.
But really, he was standing closer to it than we were. Maybe it didn't sound very good either.
Placekicker Jeff Reed continues to work episodically with the narrowed goal posts, which are only nine feet apart instead of the standard 18 feet, six inches.
If aiming at the nine-foot opening is in some way helpful, why not squeeze them down to three feet, or maybe just a hair wider than the ball's shorter axis?
Is this why I have no future in the equipment industry?
No ceremonies are planned, but 2007 is the silver anniversary of the greatest passing performance in NFL history, at least relative to accuracy.
In the fall of 1982, the Cincinnati Bengals' Ken Anderson completed 70.55 percent of his passes. The more relevant point to Steelers fans is that Anderson is the successor to Mark Whipple as Ben Roethlisberger's quarterback coach.
Just so that everyone's clear, DD GrassMaster is the name of the playing surface at Heinz Field, not the warm-up act for JayZ.
For anyone thinking that new Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seems to be spending an excess of time on the return game early in his first training camp, be advised that the Steelers have no player among the top 25 active punt returners, nor a single player among the league's top 25 kickoff returners.
Can't hurt to work on it a bit.
Felt good about reporting to camp with the same general dimensions as second-year running back John Kuhn, 6-0, 255. Yet he looks so different from me.
And Ed Bouchette weighs in from camp:
Rookie linebacker Lawrence Timmons (groin) continued to watch practice this morning, as did starter James Harrison (shoulder), and first-year linebacker Derek Rehage (thumb). They all play on the outside.
It's no surprise then that they claimed Marquis Cooper off waivers Monday from Seattle. He too is an outside linebacker. It was either that or forget the 3-4, forget the 4-3, the Steelers would have had to play the 5-2 defense against New Orleans Sunday night.
All these special teams practices got me to thinking (yes, a little rare but I do it on occasion): The spotlight will be on special teams play like it's never been for the Steelers.
The first mistake on special teams during a game will draw, no doubt, the first snide remark: Gee, imagine how good they could have been had they practiced special teams a little more.
And what if the special teams turn out to be among the best in the league and the offense and defense stink?
Mike Tomlin takes these special teams practices seriously, but you would not know it by watching him on occasion during the special teams practices.
Sporting his usual Johnny Cash look, the man in black (long sleeves, long pants, baseball cap, sunglasses included), came over to chat with a sports writer for awhile, and later had his back turned to the special teams drills while talking with some other citizens along the sideline.
Dan Kreider's role probably will be reduced this year because there will be more use of just one back in the Steelers offense. But here's a fullback who has quietly made a good, long career after not being drafted. He also has avoided, so far, those dreaded physical ailments that always seem to cut down fullbacks too early.
Tim Lester, the first blocking back for Jerome Bettis, was forced out of the game because of shoulder problems. Jon Witman finally had to give it up because of back problems. Those are two telltale career hazards for a football player whose job description is running and slamming his body into others usually bigger than he is.
Kreider is 30 and he's been among the best blocking fullbacks in the AFC for a long time. He also has not shown signs of back/shoulder problems that dogged Lester and Witman.
The West Coast offense isn't the only thing Bill Walsh left as his legacy. He also blazed a path for minority hiring in NFL coaching circles and in the front office.
That's the opinion of longtime Steelers scout Bill Nunn, who dug out some gems at small black colleges in the late 1960s and early 1970s who helped fuel four Super Bowl victories in Pittsburgh.
"I feel he did a lot to open up minority hiring in the league when he got to San Francisco,'' Nunn said as he watched the Steelers practice at Saint Vincent College. "He opened a lot of doors early before it became popular.''
Back in the 1970s and 1980s not only was there no Rooney Rule, there were precious few black men on coaching staffs in the NFL, and fewer working in the front office. Walsh helped change that but never drew attention to what he did. He quietly hired Dr. Harry Edwards, a black sociology professor at Cal, in 1985 to assist the 49ers. He also hired Dennis Green in 1978.
First Published: July 31, 2007, 6:45 p.m.
