new december 20, 2009 news clippings - national football...

December 20, 2009 News Clippings

Pittsburgh Steelers

SPORTS / STEELERS

Steelers' Game 14 matchup: vs. PackersGerry Dulac examines Green Bay's first visit sine 1998 Sunday, December 20, 2009 By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Rashard Mendenhall needs 60 yards to reach the coveted 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Game plan

When the Packers have the ball: For a quarterback who has been sacked an NFL-high 47 times, Aaron Rodgers has been remarkably productive. He is second in the NFC in passing yards (3,579) and touchdowns (25) and has thrown only seven interceptions. He has been particularly effective on third down, completing 68 percent of his passes for 11 touchdowns and an NFL-best passer rating of 127.9. His favorite targets are WRs Donald Driver (58 catches) and Greg Jennings (56). Rodgers was not sacked in only one game this season -- Oct. 25 against Cleveland, the same team that sacked Ben Roethlisberger eight times. Most of the protection problems have come against RT Allen Barbre, who was replaced by Mark Tauscher. That could be a problem against OLB LaMarr Woodley, who has seven sacks in his past five games.

When the Steelers have the ball: After switching this season to the 3-4 defense, the Packers have evolved into one of the toughest units in the league, ranking No. 2 in total defense and rush defense and No. 3 in pass defense in the league. Inside backers Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk will be responsible for slowing Rashard Mendenhall, who needs 60 yards to go over 1,000. But rookie OLB Clay Matthews leads the team with eight sacks and will be asked to pressure QB Ben Roethlisberger from the outside to force him to step up in the pocket -- a tactic teams have been using to keep him from getting outside containment. The Packers are second in the NFC with 23 INTs, 11 of which are by CBs Charles Woodson (8) and Tramon Williams (3). But Roethlisberger also has to be aware of FS Nick Collins, who is second on the team with six picks.

Keep your eye on

RB Ryan Grant: He is seventh in the NFL with 1,068 yards, but his average of 4.3 yards per carry is second-lowest among backs with more than 1,000 yards. He had 137 yards and a 62-yard touchdown run in last week's victory against the Bears -- his second 100-yard outing in the past four games. The Steelers have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in the past 31 regular-season games, 35 counting playoffs. But each of the past three opponents has rushed for more than 100 yards and two backs -- Baltimore's Ray Rice and Cleveland's Joshua Cribbs -- have had 88 and 87 yards, respectively.

Intangibles

The Packers have won five games in a row and are coming off a 21-14 victory against the Chicago Bears. This is their first regular-season appearance in Heinz Field. The Packers are in position to claim one of the two wild-card playoff spots in the NFC. The Steelers have lost five consecutive games and are coming off a 13-6 loss in Cleveland 10 days ago. They need to win their remaining three to have a chance at a wild-card playoff spot in the AFC.

Keys to victory To win, the Packers must ...

1. Hawk Ben. After being sacked eight times vs. the Browns, Roethlisberger will get lots of blitz pressure from the Packers' linebackers.

Data

Game: Steelers (6-7) vs. Green Bay Packers (9-4).

When: 4:15 p.m.

Where: Heinz Field.

TV: WPGH.

Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970).

Page 1 of 2Steelers' Game 14 matchup: vs. Packers

12/20/2009http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09354/1022312-66.stm

2. Be in the Driver's seat. Rodgers has thrown five TDs of 47 yards or longer and will stretch the field with his WRs, Driverand Jennings.

3. Be Dom-inant with the 3-4. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers has transformed the Packers into the No. 2 defense in the NFL.

To win, the Steelers must ...

1. Raise their level. They have fared better vs. teams with winning records, beating Chargers, Vikings and Broncos in earlier five-game win streak.

2. Turn the Packers into hackers. Haven't intercepted a pass in past five games and James Harrison hasn't created a turnover in past eight.

3. Not Grant yards on the ground. Allowed 171 yards rushing to the Browns and ability to stop the run has become more suspect each week.

Gerry Dulac can be reached at [email protected].

Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on December 20, 2009 at 12:00 am

Page 2 of 2Steelers' Game 14 matchup: vs. Packers


SPORTS / STEELERS

Head to Head: Steelers WR Santonio Holmes vs. Packers CB Charles WoodsonA closer look at the game within the game, Cornerstone players Sunday, December 20, 2009 By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steelers WR Santonio Holmes vs. Packers CB Charles Woodson

The name is the same, and so is the position. They even share the same defensive coordinator. Soon, they might have something else in common -- an NFL defensive player of the year award.

Cornerback Charles Woodson is tied for the National Football Conference lead with eight interceptions and is one of the reasons the Green Bay Packers are ranked No. 2 in total defense and No. 3 in pass defense in the NFL.

He reminds his defensive coordinator, Dom Capers, of another cornerback with the same last name -- Rod Woodson, who played for the Steelers from 1987-1996 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in August.

"He's the Rod Woodson of our defense," said Capers, who was the defensive coordinator for three of Woodson's seasons with the Steelers (1992-94). "They are very similar players. We would always have Rod cover the other team's top receiver and we have Charles do the same thing."

Today, that probably means he will shadow wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who, statistically, is the Steelers' second-leading receiver with 70 catches. But he leads the team in receiving yards (1,080) and is Ben Roethlisberger's favorite target when the Steelers need a big play.

In the past five games, Holmes has 34 catches for 490 yards and two touchdowns. He has been the intended receiver 54 times, or 33 percent of the 166 passes thrown by Roethlisberger and Dennis Dixon (against Baltimore), in those five games.

"He does it all, the way they use him," receiver Hines Ward said of Woodson, a 12-year veteran who has 44 career interceptions. "They play him inside, he gets sacks, picks, forced fumbles, pass breakups. And he's doing it week in and week out. He's a 12-year veteran who's still playing at a high level. That's what makes him special."

Said tight end Heath Miller: "He does everything but dispense the water on the sideline."

Woodson's career has been revitalized with the Packers. Since coming to Green Bay as an unrestricted free agent in 2006, he has 27 interceptions in 59 games. He had 17 interceptions in 106 games with the Oakland Raiders, his previous team.

Woodson, 33, has been having such a phenomenal season that he is being touted as a candidate for the NFL's defensive player of the year, an award won last season by Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison. Woodson has returned two of his eight interceptions for touchdowns and also has 15 passes defensed, four forced fumbles and two sacks.

"Rod was defensive player of the year in 1993," Capers said, referring to a season in which Woodson had eight interceptions, one for touchdown. "Charles has a chance to be that for us."




Page 1 of 1Head to Head: Steelers WR Santonio Holmes vs. Packers CB Charles Woodson


SPORTS / STEELERS

On the Steelers: No matter what fans say, not every Guy deserving of Canton Sunday, December 20, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

The Pro Football Hall of Fame decided to hold a fans' vote this year. You can vote for any of the nominated players at a Web site, and what a group you can vote for this season.

There are first-time eligible candidates such as Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice, considered shoo-ins to make it on their first try. Who would not vote for these two men? Smith is the leading rusher in NFL history, Rice the leading receiver.

Yet neither of those two lead fan voting. Nor does Kevin Greene, who has more sacks than any linebacker since that statistic became official.

No, the man who leads the Fan's Choice is a punter, Ray Guy.

A guy who trotted onto the field and swung his leg six or seven times a game and rarely came into contact with anything more than a football is the player the fans think most belongs in the Hall of Fame.

It's a good thing the fan vote does not count. Unlike fan votes for all-star teams, thankfully they will not determine who makes up the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010. You would not know that, however, if you've seen the way the Hall's Web site ballyhoos what it calls the Fan's Choice (oh, that it were only one fan). It trumpets its new promotion at the top of its site, and ads, commercials and commentators make it sound as if these fan votes truly do count. According to the Hall's Web site, "The Fan's Choice Program is being touted in New York City's Times Square with a giant 90x120 foot billboard." Wow.

Pandering to fans is a long-held American sports tradition, but this one goes too far. Yet perhaps it is a good thing because it exposes the vote for what it is. It is obvious there is ballot-stuffing done by Raiders fans. I have little doubt that supporters for Ray Guy and other Raiders have gotten out the vote (they might call it the Guy's vote rather than the Fan's). Maybe 40 of them have voted 1,000 times each to put him at the top with nearly 40,000 votes. Seven of the top nine in the balloting played or coached most of their careers with the Raiders -- Guy, Tim Brown, Jim Plunkett, Lester Hayes, coach Tom Flores, Cliff Branch and Todd Christensen. Rice, who is No. 3 in the voting, played four seasons with the Raiders.

Ever hear of Otho Davis? Me neither. He was a trainer for the Colts and Eagles. He is No. 13 in the fan voting.

Dermontti Dawson is nowhere among the fans' top 25. Maybe Steelers fans should get to work, although it is work for nothing because their vote means nothing (maybe Steelers fans famous for stuffing those fan ballots for NFL players of the week know this and do not want to waste their time).

Dawson, one of the greatest centers in NFL history, made the list of 15 semifinalists for last year's class. As one of 25 semifinalists in the real vote that counts this year, he awaits the results of voting to see if he reaches the finals again.

As one of 44 voters who count for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I voted for Dawson. I did not vote for Ray Guy. Many of

Page 1 of 2On the Steelers: No matter what fans say, not every Guy deserving of Canton


my colleagues have because Guy has made it to the finals before, but I will wager none of those voters, not even the one from Oakland, had him first on their ballot.

I will never vote for a punter, not unless another Sammy Baugh came along; a guy who not only was among the game's great quarterbacks but its greatest punter, averaging more than 50 yards a punt.

Guy averaged 42.4 over his career and there was no such thing as the dead ball era when he played (1973-86). Daniel Sepulveda averages 43.7 yards per punt for the Steelers this season. There are 24 punters in the NFL today who have a better average this season than Guy did for his career. If I were going to vote for a Raiders' punter for the Hall of Fame it would be Shane Lechler, who averages 51.4 yards this season.

Guy was said to have great hang time. OK, that makes me want to vote for him. I do not know what kind of hold he has on Raiders Nation nor on my colleagues who keep voting for him. I even heard one national radio host declare that it is "embarrassing" that Ray Guy is not in the Hall of Fame. I would like to ask this former NFL defensive lineman which of five real players he would like to keep out of the Hall this year in order to put Guy in. A maximum of five modern candidates can be elected.

When it comes to voting for Ray Guy, ever, I will have to punt.

Memo to Ryan Clark: The fan always wins

Ryan Clark made one mistake in his comments Wednesday in the Steelers locker room. Hey, take on the media, we're used to it, some even enjoy it.

What Clark should have known is you can never take on the fans. Not unless they threaten you or your family, throw something at you or perform some other illegal act. Then, call the cops and let them take care of it.

Clark did not really criticize fans directly, but he implied it. "The people on the outside don't understand the frustration you go through. They don't understand the work you put into it every day."

Fans work too. Like Ryan Clark, they support families. Many moms and dads work, some with two jobs, to put their children through college. The last thing they want to hear from a football player who makes millions is that they do not understand how hard he works.

But Ryan Clark has been a model of graciousness and courage during his time with the Steelers and like many, writers too, they receive vicious e-mails, hate mail that call them names and go far beyond good taste. Clark obviously sounded off in his frustration over that, combined with the five-game losing streak. He deserves a break for his one time letting off steam.

Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected].



Page 2 of 2On the Steelers: No matter what fans say, not every Guy deserving of Canton


SPORTS / STEELERS

Steelers: Capers comes full circle with defenseNearly 20 years ago, Dom Capers came to Pittsburgh and helped put the reason to the rhyme of Bill Cowher's novel defense. His return today with the Green Bay Packers is a vivid reminder how this defense has grown and matured. Sunday, December 20, 2009 By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Greenbay's Dom Capers

When he was hired to coach the Steelers in 1992, Bill Cowher did more than bring in a secondary coach from the NewOrleans Saints to run his defense. In a move that proved to be as monumental as it was prudent, Cowher hired Dom Capers and the two of them set about constructing a defense that would dominate the National Football League for large portions of the next 17 seasons and become a model for other teams to emulate.

Including the Green Bay Packers, even if they had to hire the original architect to do so.

Cowher and Capers had some help, though. Also on that maiden staff were Dick LeBeau, who was hired as the secondary coach; and Marvin Lewis, who was hired as the linebackers coach.

"We had a fun group," Cowher said. "All four of us were in a room, starting to put this thing together."

"A great staff," LeBeau said. "Where we've all gone from there is indicative of the type of coaches we had on that staff."

At the forefront was Capers, whom Cowher admired because he had to devise the secondary coverages for the Saints at a time when they played in the NFC West division with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints played a 3-4 defense, which consisted of three down linemen and four linebackers, and their two outside linebackers were Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling -- players who could rush the quarterback

Cowher had been defensive coordinator in Kansas City when he was hired by the Steelers and also used the 3-4 defense with the Chiefs. But LeBeau said Cowher considered using the 4-3 defense with the Steelers, the same alignment they used to win four Super Bowls in the 1970s.

Both alignments were installed in the playbook, LeBeau said, but Cowher and Capers decided on the 3-4 and the defense went on to become the most successful in the NFL for the next two decades.

"The fundamentals of it are still the same; it's just different people play it with a little different philosophy," said Capers, who will have no problems recognizing his former defense today when he returns as defensive coordinator for the Packers. "When I first came to Pittsburgh, there were only three teams using the 3-4. Now about half the league uses it."

Since installing the 3-4, the Steelers have led the NFL in total defense four times, including last season, and finished among the top three five other times. Capers left after the 1994 season to become head coach of the expansion Carolina Panthers, and the only other coordinator to run the 3-4 so effectively with the Steelers has been LeBeau, who took the defense to even greater heights, especially when he came back for his second stint with the Steelers in 2004. The Steelers ranked No. 1 in total defense in three of the next five years.

Data

Game: Steelers (6-7) vs. Green Bay Packers (9-4).

When: 4:15 p.m.

Where: Heinz Field.

TV: WPGH.

Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970).

Page 1 of 3Steelers: Capers comes full circle with defense


"Every year, when you look at what you're doing, teams take on projects and the projects consist of looking at the other top teams and looking at what they do," Cowher said this week from his home in Raleigh, N.C.. "When you win championships, people start to look at that. I don't think there was any question a lot of study was being done of what we did."

One of those doing the studying was Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who came by the research honestly.

Early examples

McCarthy grew up in Greenfield, attended the former Bishop Boyle High School in Homestead and rooted for the Steelers as a kid. He was well aware of the success they had with the 3-4 defense.

In his first three seasons, McCarthy used the 4-3 defense he inherited with the Packers, even though he said he has always favored the 3-4. But, after the Packers finished 6-10 and gave up 380 points in 2008, he brought in Capers to convert the Green Bay defense to the 3-4 alignment.

"There's no doubt my experience competing against the 3-4 and what Pittsburgh's accomplished with the 3-4 definitely influenced it," McCarthy said. "I always felt the 3-4 was beneficial from a personnel standpoint for your football team. Not only just for defense and the issues it creates for offenses, as far as a preparation standpoint and matchup standpoint. But alsofor your special teams, collecting as many of the linebacker body-types as you can. I don't think you can have enough of those on your football team."

To help with the transition, Kevin Greene, one of the key components in Capers' defense with the Steelers, was brought in to coach the outside linebackers. Another member of that defense, safety Darren Perry, was hired to coach the secondary.

"It seems like yesterday," Capers, 59, said one morning this week from Green Bay, where the temperature was minus-1 (without the wind) and he was preparing for a defensive meeting. "I used to be sitting in a meeting room with Kevin and Darren as players and now they're sitting in defensive staff meetings with me."

Then McCarthy drafted nose tackle B.J. Raji with the ninth overall pick this past April and then traded up to select outside linebacker Clay Matthews with the 26th overall pick. Having a hard-to-move nose tackle is one of the key components of the 3-4 defense, and Raji has been rotating at that position with veteran Ryan Pickett. But Matthews is a starter at right outside linebacker and leads the Packers with eight sacks.

Capers has taught them the same thing he taught Joel Steed, Greg Lloyd, Chad Brown, Levon Kirkland and Jason Gildon when he came to the Steelers 17 years ago.

"When we first got here, when he put in all the installs, a lot of the film [Capers] used was a lot of Pittsburgh," Raji said by phone this week from Green Bay. "If we watched 10 plays, 10 of them were Pittsburgh. You kind of got the feeling we were going to be like that."

"He did show us some of the scheme when he was in Miami, but most of film was the Pittsburgh," said Packers inside linebacker Nick Barnett, one of the veterans who had to make the transition to the new alignment. "And we got Kevin Greene and Darren Perry who ran that scheme before, so we have a lot of insight into how they ran it and how they were successful."

There is no mistaking the impact of the defensive switch.

After a slow start in which they gave up an average of 335 yards per game, the Packers rank No. 2 in total defense and rush defense and No. 3 in pass defense in the NFL. During their five-game winning streak, the defense has allowed an average of 254.6 yards per game, significantly lower than the 309 yards allowed by the Steelers defense during a five-game losing streak.

When Capers returns today at Heinz Field, the Packers and Steelers effectively are playing the same defense he helped install with Cowher in 1992.

"The core of that [original] defense has hardly changed at all," LeBeau said.

Outside pressure

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, who used the 3-4 alignment when he was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore, said one of the benefits of the defense is that pressure can be generated on the quarterback from a number of defensive positions.

But, most importantly, 3-4 teams have to have outside linebackers who can sack the quarterback. The Steelers have had a

PG PDFs

• Don Capers' journey ... Since he's been gone • Legacy of the 3-4



litany of those players since Capers arrived -- Lloyd, Greene, Brown, Gildon, Joey Porter and now James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley.

"They have to be producers for you," Capers said.

Capers had a natural in Green Bay in 260-pound defensive end Aaron Kampman, who was switched to outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense. But, after registering 3 1/2 sacks and a team-high 28 quarterback hits in nine games, Kampman sustained a season-ending knee injury in Week 11 and was placed on injured reserve.

Matthews, a rookie from USC, has started 10 games at the other outside linebacker spot and has eight of the Packers' 29 sacks, second among NFL rookies.

"There's no question the outside linebackers have to be productive players," Cowher said. "They have to rush the quarterback and the corners have to cover. That becomes the backbone of how good you can become. It allows you to not have to expose other areas, other zones, and make yourself susceptible."

There is one other key position to the 3-4: Nose tackle.

With Casey Hampton, it is not surprising that the Steelers have been the league's No. 1 defense in three of the previous five seasons.

"It starts with the nose," said inside linebacker James Farrior. "If you don't have a good nose guy who can solidify the front, then you're going to have problems."

"In order to stop the run, you got to have him to hold guys off those backers so they can run and hit," said cornerback Deshea Townsend.

Nobody knows better than Capers. He has two defenses on the field today as proof.






A look at the Steelers' first Super Bowl

By The Tribune-Review Sunday, December 20, 2009

A weekly glance at the 1974 season, the first time the Steelers went on to lift the Lombardi Trophy:

ANOTHER OATH OF OFFICE

Nominated in August, shortly after Gerald Ford ascended to the presidency, Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in as the nation's 41st Vice President. Rockefeller edged George H.W. Bush for the nomination, and he was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger after extensive Congressional hearings that passed by a 287-128 measure. It marked the first time that neither the President nor Vice President had been elected to office. Rockefeller was the second person appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment — the first being Ford when he replaced Spiro Agnew in 1973.

DO YOU COMPUTE?

The Altair 8800, generally called the first microcomputer, went on sale. It was manufactured by a New Mexico company as a do-it-yourself kit. It included an Intel 8080 microprocessor with the capacity of 8 bits, or 1 byte, and the kit had a 256-byte memory, about enough to contain one sentence of text. The computer didn't include a keyboard; instead input was done via eight toggle switches on the left side of the unit. There also was no display monitor, and the unit sold for $400 unassembled; $595 assembled. Paul Allen and Bill Gates, in their pre-Microsoft days, wrote the first microcomputer Basic program for the 8800.

THIS WEEK IN 1974:

• Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" was No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

• The Mel Brooks horror spoof "Young Frankenstein" was released in theaters.

• Guitarist Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones after five years with the band. He was replaced by Ronnie Wood.

WHAT THE STEELERS DID

A 32-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional playoff round not only sent the Steelers to the AFC Championship Game at Oakland, it was notable for being the only playoff game of O.J. Simpson's career. The Steelers held

Page 1 of 2A look at the Steelers' first Super Bowl - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

12/20/2009http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/print_658506.html

Simpson, running behind the "Electric Company" offensive line, to 49 yards rushing on 15 carries, although he did catch a touchdown pass. The Steelers trailed, 7-3, after the first quarter, but answered with four touchdowns before halftime to take a 29-7 lead (two extra-point tries were blocked). Franco Harris rushed for 74 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns, and the Steelers gained 235 yards on the ground. Terry Bradshaw was 12 of 19 passing for 203 yards and a touchdown to Rocky Bleier. In the other AFC playoff game, Oakland defeated Miami, 28-26, denying the Dolphins at a chance for a third consecutive Super Bowl title. In the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-14, and the Los Angeles Rams beat the Washington Redskins, 19-10.

The Tribune-Review can be reached at or .

Images and text copyright © 2009 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.

Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from Trib Total Media

Page 2 of 2A look at the Steelers' first Super Bowl - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Henry's funeral Tuesday in New Orleans

By The Associated Press Sunday, December 20, 2009

Chris Henry's funeral will be Tuesday in the New Orleans area, where the Cincinnati Bengals receiver grew up.

The Bengals announced Saturday that the afternoon funeral will be at Alario Center in Westwego, La. The 26-year-old Henry was from nearby Belle Chasse.

Henry died Thursday in North Carolina after falling out of the back of a pickup truck during what police described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee.

The Bengals will fly a charter to the funeral Tuesday and will return later in the day.

REDSKINS' O-LINE BANGED UP

The Washington Redskins could use their eighth offensive line combination of the season when they play host to the New York Giants on Monday night.

Right tackle Stephon Heyer was unable to practice this week due to a knee injury and was listed as questionable yesterday. First-year lineman Will Robinson, promoted from the practice squad last week, will make his NFL debut Monday if Heyer can't play.

Cornerback DeAngelo Hall (sprained knee), defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin (shoulder) and fullback Mike Sellers (bruised thigh) also are questionable.

JAGUARS WAIVE COX, WYCHE

The Jacksonville Jaguars waived defensive back Kennard Cox and defensive end James Wyche.

The move leaves the Jaguars with two open roster spots.

Cox, a seventh-round draft pick by Buffalo in 2008, has played in four games this season, and Wyche, a seventh-round draft pick in 2006, played in two games this season.

EAGLES-49ERS KICKOFF CHANGE

Page 1 of 2Henry's funeral Tuesday in New Orleans - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


The start of the Eagles-49ers game today was moved to 4:15 p.m. from 1 p.m. because of a snowstorm in Philadelphia.

The Eagles said yesterday that the change was made to accommodate fans and allow more time for city and stadium personnel to clear streets and walkways in and around the stadium.

The game will be televised on Fox as scheduled.

The Associated Press can be reached at or .



Page 2 of 2Henry's funeral Tuesday in New Orleans - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Packers are very familiar with Steelers

By The Associated Press Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Steelers' fingerprints can be found all over the Green Bay Packers' playbook and game plans. Aaron Rodgers hears the Pittsburghese in Mike McCarthy's voice whenever he gets angry, and the Packers' postgame snack this weekend in their coach's hometown will be his favorite pizza.

The Packers' coaching staff is loaded with Steelers alumni in defensive coordinator Dom Capers and assistants Kevin Greene, Darren Perry and Tom Clements. The Packers switched defenses from the 4-3 to the 3-4 because, well, it was the Pittsburgh way to go.

"Their defense is one of the top defenses in the last two decades in the National Football League," McCarthy said. "They're always going to be in the game because of that defense. We have a lot of respect for their outside rushers and scheme and, frankly, it has a lot to do with why we're now in a 3-4 defense."

It's not that the Packers are trying to copy the Steelers, even if a team that's won six Super Bowls and two in the last four seasons would be an ideal franchise to model. Rather, Green Bay is so infused with Steelers' DNA, it's only natural that the Packers are so Steelers-like in how they prepare, how they go about their business, how they play defense.

Maybe that's why the Packers (9-4), winners of five in a row and possibly only a victory away from the playoffs, view their game against the slumping Steelers (6-7) with a wary eye and a measure of trepidation.

After losing five in a row, the Steelers need a mini-miracle to reach the playoffs a season after winning the Super Bowl. They've shown a baffling inability to beat bad teams — losing to the Chiefs (3-11), Raiders (4-9) and Browns (2-11) in a month's time — but defeating a good one like Green Bay might allow them to reclaim their self-respect.

Right now, the Steelers seem baffled about why they've gone from good to bad so quickly, with Ben Roethlisberger saying, "We're stunned." They looked like it while losing 13-6 in Cleveland, playing with little intensity or passion.

The Packers don't anticipate that being a problem this weekend.

"I'm sure there's a sense of urgency on that side," Rodgers said. "But I think we understand what we're playing for as well. We're in the thick of this wild card,

Page 1 of 3Packers are very familiar with Steelers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


and we need to take a great step forward in this journey, if we can get a win."

Get a win. That's the Steelers' theme for the week, too, after a last-minute loss at home to Oakland on Dec. 6 segued into that embarrassing loss at Cleveland four days later. Just get a win. Don't talk about salvaging the season or winning three of row or being respectable; get one win, and then the healing can start.

"The emphasis for me and my guys is not to 'Hang in there,' " coach Mike Tomlin said. "Adversity is as much a part of this game as blocking and tackling. It's important that we keep that in perspective, and the perspective is we haven't played much winning football."

There's much to be won in Pittsburgh, at least for the Packers.

The postseason begins to come into focus for them if the Packers can extend their winning streak to six and the Steelers' losing streak to six. Also, winning in one of the NFL's most hostile environments in December would be excellent preparation for trying to do so in another tough venue in January.

To win, the Packers can't let Rodgers get tossed around by Pittsburgh's pass rush; he has been sacked a league-high 48 times, though only six times in the last four games. To give Rodgers time to throw, the Packers need Ryan Grant, coming off a 137-yard game against Chicago, to find some seams against the NFL's top-ranked rushing defense.

The Packers' own defensive rankings are Steelers-like so late in a season: No. 2 overall, No. 2 against the run, No. 3 against the pass. The Browns didn't allow Pittsburgh to score a touchdown, and Green Bay would similarly like to frustrate the Steelers offensively and not let the crowd get into the game.

Given that safety Ryan Clark was disparaging of some fans, saying they're too critical of a team that won a Super Bowl only 10 months ago, the Steelers' play early on might dictate what response they get in their own stadium.

"I know there's a certain level of anger and frustration and disappointment with where we are," Tomlin said. "The big thing is that we use that as fuel and we mold that into a winning-caliber performance."

Winning in Pittsburgh would be extra special for McCarthy, and not only because the Packers are one of the league's turnaround stories this season. This is one of those check-'em-off games every coach has in his career; the teams play in Pittsburgh only occasionally, so who knows if McCarthy will get a chance to win there again as a head coach?

If the Packers do, that post-game pizza from Aiello's is bound to taste extra good.

"This one means a lot, for sure," Rodgers said.

The Associated Press can be reached at or .



Week 15: Steelers Key Matchup

By The Tribune-Review Sunday, December 20, 2009

STEELERS WR SANTONIO HOLMES VS. PACKERS CB CHARLES WOODSON

STEELERS — WR SANTONIO HOLMES

In his fourth year, Santonio Holmes has transitioned into the leader of the Steelers' wideouts, taking that role away from future Hall of Famer Hines Ward. Holmes, the Super Bowl XLIII MVP has been targeted by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger a team-high 113 times. He passed 1,000 yards in a season for the first time last week; his total of 1,080 leads the team and ranks third in the NFL. Holmes' 70 receptions are also a career best. Holmes set a career high in receiving yards a few weeks back when he hauled in eight passes for 149 yards in a loss to Oakland. Holmes has eight games with at least 80 yards receiving.

PACKERS — CB CHARLES WOODSON

The 33-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner has found the fountain of youth in Green Bay and is being talked about as a serious candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Woodson has done it all this year. He is second in the league with eight interceptions, including two he returned for scores. He has forced four fumbles and has two sacks. His five sacks since 2008 lead all NFL defensive backs (safeties and corners). His 61 total tackles are already more than he accumulated all last of season. What has made Woodson so dominant this year has been his versatility — he has played corner, safety and linebacker .

ADVANTAGE: WOODSON

If there's one knock on Woodson, it's that he tends to struggle with quick players. Holmes could be the Steelers' quickest receiver — if he can get a free release off the line of scrimmage. If he can do that, he could make some plays against Woodson. However, the way Woodson has been playing, it might be tough to get anything accomplished against him. He has shut down some good receivers, such as Detroit's Calvin Johnson and Baltimore's Derrick Mason, and some elite tight ends, such as San Francisco's Vernon Davis and Dallas' Jason Witten. Woodson has found new life in Green Bay since coming over from Oakland. He has 27 picks in 59 games with the Packers and only 17 in 106 with the Raiders.

The Tribune-Review can be reached at or .



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Gorman: Steelers fall short of standard

By Kevin Gorman PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, December 20, 2009

In a locker room with too many spokesmen but too few leaders, defensive backs Ryan Clark and Ike Taylor vented this week on the state of the Steelers and the consistency of the media that covers them.

"I'm not going to say it's unfair," Clark said, "but it's just been wrong."

To justify that stance, Clark logged a ridiculous complaint by comparing the coverage in Pittsburgh to that in Philadelphia, where the fans once booed Santa Claus and the media is often just as merciless.

"You watch the Eagles, you watch the big plays given up, and I started checking other media outlets and you don't hear the things about them in their media that you hear about us," Clark said. "So, either we're held to higher standards, or the people that write about us are turds."

What a load of crap.

No question the Steelers are held to higher standards. At last check, the Eagles never have won a Super Bowl, let alone six. That comes as much from within the Steelers' organization as it does outside it. As Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says, the standard is the standard. The expectation of Super Bowl or bust is what has separated the Steelers from the rest of the NFL.

So, 6-7 isn't satisfactory, especially when your soft-serve schedule includes losses to Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland — teams with a combined 9-30 record — in an 18-day span with the season on the line.

Taylor topped Clark in the absurd analogy department, not once but twice:

"We just don't understand how the national media don't bash us, but our local media do."

Unlike the Steelers, who seem to have a lot to say about their problems but no ability to offer solutions, there's a simple answer to that.

On a national scale, the Steelers are no longer relevant. Not when the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints were undefeated and on a collision course for the first Super Bowl between undefeated teams in NFL history when Clark and Taylor waged a world-is-against-us war of words.

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"We feel like if y'all are going to write something, state facts, don't state opinions."

What Taylor doesn't get is that shaping public opinion is the media's job, which is why we pointed out last year the short-yardage shortcomings of the offensive line, that Ben Roethlisberger held the ball too long and took too many sacks, and that the secondary sometimes got scorched.

Even so, we'll stick to the facts.

The Steelers went 12-4 last season, winning six games by seven points or fewer and losing two by the same margin. Four victories — Cleveland, Baltimore, San Diego and Dallas — were decided by defensive turnovers.

Truth is, the Steelers easily could have been in this situation last year. They lost to Philadelphia, the New York Giants, Indianapolis and Tennessee in the regular season but didn't have to face any of them in the postseason. The Steelers also needed two of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history to beat the Arizona Cardinals, who had finished the regular season 9-7.

And that was with Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith both healthy.

This season, the Steelers have lost seven games by seven points or fewer and won another by a field goal. It's more of the same as last season: The secondary is getting scorched for fourth-quarter touchdowns. The patchwork line is so ineffective in short yardage that the Steelers went to the shotgun on a third-and-1 against the worst defense in the NFL. And Roethlisberger continues to hold onto the ball too long and still takes too many sacks.

The only difference is, the special teams have been a disaster.

There's a thin line between 8-8, which was the Steelers' record the year after their previous Super Bowl championship and, perhaps, the best they can expect from this season. One in which they have fallen short of the standard.

To say otherwise wouldn't be unfair.

It would just be wrong.

Kevin Gorman can be reached at [email protected] or 412-320-7812.



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Roethlisberger, Rodgers share some history

By Scott Brown PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, December 20, 2009

Quarterbacks, occasional golf partners and friends, Ben Roethlisberger and Green Bay Packers counterpart Aaron Rodgers are kindred spirits in another facet of their lives:

On the field, they absorb punishment on a regular basis.

Rodgers has been sacked 48 times, the most in the NFL, and Roethlisberger is on his way to getting sacked more than 45 times — again — this season. The Steelers' quarterback has taken such a beating over the past half decade that it is worth pondering whether the cumulative effect of the hits will shorten the six-year veteran's career.

"The answer is yes, but that's what football does to the human body," said former NFL coach Steve Mariucci, an analyst for the NFL Network. "It's been said the body can take a certain amount of hits, at any position, not just quarterback. Football is a very physical sport."

Roethlisberger and Rodgers will meet today when the Steelers (6-7) face the Packers (9-4) at Heinz Field.

Roethlisberger has been sacked an average of 46.3 times per season since 2006 and is on pace to get dropped more than 47 times this season. Roethlisberger has missed at least one game every season except for 2007 because of an injury.

It's a wonder Rodgers has not missed at least one game this season, given the abuse he has taken.

The second-year starter was sacked eight times by the Minnesota Vikings in an early October game. Rodgers went down six times apiece in back-to-back games in early November.

"I know this for our offense, is no one wants to give up the big hits because you don't want the quarterback getting hit," said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, a Greenfield native. "Everything we do from a design standpoint is to not get the quarterback hit."

Even if the Steelers took the same approach, Roethlisberger would still take his share of shots because of his derring-do on the field.

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That style has allowed him to win two Super Bowls before the age of 28. Yet his propensity to hold onto the ball in an attempt to make a play has also made Roethlisberger more prone to getting hit than most quarterbacks.

"He's a full gunslinger," Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said. "Coach (Mike Tomlin) likes to call him John Wayne."

Roethlisberger showed a rarely seen cautious side recently.

After sustaining a concussion Nov. 22, Roethlisberger didn't play the following week in Baltimore because he experienced exercise-induced headaches leading up to the game.

He later talked about the importance of taking the hot-button issue of head injuries seriously — as he did in being truthful with Steelers doctors about his post-concussion symptoms.

"You do have to think about your future and your family. It's not fun, but you can get knee replacement surgery, you can have rotator cuff surgery, but you can't get a new brain," Roethlisberger said. "If I have headaches, if I have symptoms, I am going to let them know because it's not worth losing your life over."

Roethlisberger has sustained three football-related concussions since joining the Steelers in 2004. He also suffered head and facial injuries in a motorcycle accident in June 2006.

Dr. Julian Bailes, who heads the neurosurgery department at West Virginia University, has said three or more concussions during a career can put players more at risk of depression later in life as well as cognitive and memory problems.

Bailes' conclusion, which has been published, followed a study of retired players that was commissioned by the National Football League Players' Association.

He said three is not an "absolute number" because much is still murky about the long-term effects of concussions. The former Steelers doctor did say, "I do believe after a certain number (of concussions) that threshold (for getting another one) is lowered."

That did not appear to be foremost on Roethlisberger's mind in his first game back from his latest concussion.

In the fourth quarter against Oakland, a broken play turned sensible Ben into swashbuckling Ben.

Instead of assuming the fetal position after he turned to hand off to Rashard Mendenhall — the second-year running back had run the other way — Roethlisberger lowered his head and banged his way for an 8-yard gain.



"That's who he is and that's who we want him to be," said defensive end Brett Keisel, Roethlisberger's closest friend on the Steelers. "I think that's what the fans and the organization want him to be. They want him to be himself; they want him to be that innovative guy that makes things happen out on the field on Sundays."

That could come at a cost — and may ultimately compromise Roethlisberger's stated goal of winning five Super Bowls.

Terry Bradshaw, whose four Super Bowl victories Roethlisberger is trying to eclipse, was sacked 1.82 times per game during his career. John Elway, whom Roethlisberger grew up idolizing and patterned his game after, was sacked 2.21 times a game during his career.

Roethlisberger, by comparison, has been sacked 2.77 times a game.

And, as with any quarterback, the hits Roethlisberger has absorbed are exponentially greater than the number of times the 6-foot-5, 241-pounder has been sacked.

"The beating will definitely take a toll over time, but at this point I don't think we've seen any evidence that it is hurting his productivity," said former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer. "Is there a chance that instead of playing 15 years at a high level he plays 10 or 11 years at a high level? I think that's a possibility.

"But I think if you're Ben and you're the Pittsburgh Steelers and if you're a fan, you'll take that tradeoff because he is as dangerous a quarterback in the NFL as there is to play right now."

Rodgers also is coming into his own for the Packers, leading them to five consecutive wins heading into today's game.

Having taken over as the starting quarterback on a veteran-laden team and for a storied franchise, Roethlisberger can attest to the kind of pressure Rodgers dealt with when he succeeded the legendary Brett Favre in Green Bay.

"We've had some pretty candid talks in the past and it hasn't been easy for him and it's never easy to replace someone like that," Roethlisberger said. "I really commend him for the way he's done it and the way he's been able to play."

NOT JUST ACHES AND PAINS

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has sustained his share of injuries since becoming the team's quarterback in September of 2004. Here is a list of notable injuries Roethlisberger has sustained:

2004



» Leaves late December game with bruised ribs shortly after getting hit by Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs; held out of regular-season finale the following week with home-field advantage in playoffs clinched.

2005

» Hyperextends his left knee in October game at San Diego; misses following week's game against Jacksonville.

» Undergoes surgery for torn meniscus in his right knee in early November and misses three consecutive games.

2006

» Suffers serious head and facial injuries in June motorcycle accident.

» Undergoes emergency appendectomy and misses season opener against the Dolphins.

» Helmet to helmet hit by Falcons defensive end Chauncey Davis forces Roethlisberger to leave October game with a concussion.

2008

» Suffers a spinal concussion after getting hit by Browns linebackers D'Qwell Jackson and Willie McGinest in a late December game; stays down for 10 minutes and is taken off the field on a stretcher as a precaution.

2009

» Strains right Achilles heel near end of final practice at training camp when he and left tackle Max Starks get their feet tangled; doesn't play in preseason game at Washington as a precaution.

» Leaves November game in Kansas City with a concussion after getting kneed in helmet by Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson; is held out of following week's game when he experiences exercise-induced headaches leading up to it.

QB COMPARISON

Ben Roethlisberger is often mentioned when it comes to the top quarterbacks in the NFL. Here is how many times he and some of his peers have been sacked since 2004, Roethlisberger's first season:

Player, Team: G/Sacks

Peyton Manning, Colts: 93/89

Drew Brees, Chargers/Saints: 92/107



Brett Favre, Packers/Jets/Vikings: 93/129

*Tom Brady, Patriots: 93/146

Donovan McNabb, Eagles: 75/166

Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers: 84/230

*—2003-09; missed 2008 season with knee injury

Scott Brown can be reached at [email protected] or 412-481-5432.





Saturday December 19, 2009

Capers has rejuvenated Packers defense By: Mike Bires Beaver County Times

PITTSBURGH — For Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers, it’s a return-to-their-roots today.

It’s homecoming for McCarthy, the Green Bay coach who grew up in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His parents still live in the house he grew up in.

It’s also a homecoming of sorts for Capers, the first defensive coordinator of Bill Cowher’s 15-year run as coach of the Steelers.

“It’s always fun to go back to a place you have been,” said Capers, who now coordinates the Packers’ defense. “I had three great years there (in Pittsburgh).”

Today, the surging Packers (9-4) can secure a playoff berth by beating the slumping Steelers (6-7).

There’s no doubt that Green Bay lines up a host of talented players, ranging from quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who’s fourth in the NFL in passer rating, to cornerback Charles Woodson, whose eight interceptions puts him in the hunt for the defensive player of the year honor.

But credit also goes to the men coaching the Packers.

McCarthy, who’s in his fourth season in Green Bay, is not the second coming of Vince Lombardi. But McCarthy did take the Packers to the NFC championship two years ago.

And during the off-season, McCarthy made a personnel change that’s put the Packers in Super Bowl contention this year. That was firing Bob Sanders as defensive coordinator and hiring Capers. McCarthy then hired two assistants who played under Capers in Pittsburgh — linebackers coach Kevin Greene and secondary coach Darren Perry.

Capers is making the same kind of impact he did 17 years ago when he first came to Pittsburgh. In 1991, the Steelers ranked 22nd in total defense. From 1992-94, they ranked 13th, third and second.

Last year, the Packers ranked 20th in total defense, including 26th against the run. This year, after switching from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4 that Capers prefers, they’re ranked No. 2 overall, No. 3 against the pass and No. 2 against the run.

Despite allowing 171 yards in last week’s loss to the Browns, the Steelers still lead in the NFL in rushing defense by allowing an average of 84.9 yards per game. The Packers are right behind at 85.0.

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“Dom and I are friends. We worked together,” said Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who first came to Pittsburgh as secondary coach from 1992-94. “I have a great deal of respect for Dom and all those guys he has on his side of the ball. They’ve done a great job.

“I wish them the greatest success in 15 of their 16 (regular-season) games. This is the only one I don’t wish them well.”

While LeBeau is famous for introducing the “zone blitz” schemes to the NFL, Capers uses a wrinkle called the “psycho” package. It’s a part of his massive playbook that calls for only one defensive lineman, five linebackers and five defensive backs.

“The size of Dom’s playbook didn’t really have anything to do with why he was hired here,” McCarthy said. “But it was interesting, because he brought along the original notes and some of his game plans and things that he did in Year 1 in 1992 in Pittsburgh. That was interesting, but going through that whole process, it’s about so many other things. He was brought in here for a reason, because of his expertise in that defense. He’s been an excellent fit for us.

“Our defense is in rhythm,” McCarthy added. “And Dom is keeping his foot on the gas. There is a confidence. There is a trust there. I’m very pleased with the way we’re playing on defense.”

One of the keys today is how the Steelers’ offense and coordinator Bruce Arians attack the Capers-led defense.

Mike Bires can be reached online at [email protected]

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Packers at Steelers: 5 Questions By: Mike Bires Beaver County Times

1. Can the Steelers be eliminated from the playoffs with a loss today?

No. Even a loss to the Packers would not officially knock out the Steelers (6-7) from wild-card consideration. As it stands now, the Steelers have the slimmest of playoff hopes. They need a minor miracle to land a wild card spot even if they win their last three games. If the Steelers would lose today, it would take a major miracle — like Baltimore (7-6), Miami (7-6) and the New York Jets (7-6) each losing their last three games — for the Steelers at 8-8 to sneak in through the back door.

2. Was Ryan Clark wrong to rip into the media?

Clark, the Steelers’ free safety and one of the most quotable members of the team, is entitled to his opinion. But his Wednesday remarks claiming the media has been incorrect and unfair for blaming certain players — namely defensive backs — was out of line. For example, last year, the Steelers’ defense allowed just two pass plays of 40 yards or longer. Already this year, they’ve allowed seven. Five of those seven have come during their current five-game losing streak that’s all but knocked them out of playoff contention. Every position on the team has contributed to the Steelers’ collapse. But if there’s one position that’s most to blame, it’s the secondary which Clark is a part of.

3. How many Steelers running backs have rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season?

Six: John Henry Johnson did it twice (1962 and 1964), Franco Harris did it eight times, Rocky Bleier did it in 1976 when he and Harris both rushed for more than 1,000, Barry Foster set a team record with 1,690 yards in 1992 when he finished second to Dallas’ Emmitt Smith for the NFL rushing title, Jerome Bettis did it six times and Willie Parker did it three times. The list will grow to seven today if Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 60 yards against the Packers.

4. Is Ramon Foster the best and biggest athlete in his family?

Foster, who’ll start at left guard today for the Steelers in place of injured Chris Kemoeatu, comes from a family with strong athletic blood lines. He has three close relatives playing pro sports. His brother Renardo Foster (6-7, 340) is an offensive lineman on the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad. His half-

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brother Rodney Carney (6-7, 205) is a forward on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster. His half brother, Ron Slay (6-8, 240) is a forward playing pro basketball in Italy.

5. How has Tom Clements fared as QB coach of the Packers?

Much has been made this week about Packers coach Mike McCarthy returning to his native Pittsburgh for a game against the Steelers. But McCarthy’s staff includes another Pittsburgh native. That would be Tom Clements, a former football and basketball star at Canevin Catholic High School who quarterbacked Notre Dame to the 1973 national title. Clements, who grew up in McKees Rocks, served as the Steelers’ quarterbacks coach from 2001-2003. He’s been with the Packers since McCarthy was hired in 2006. “Tom is a great coach,” said Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. “Maybe my favorite and best game-day coach I have ever been around.”

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Packers at Steelers: Key Matchups By: Mike Bires Beaver County Times

Rodgers vs. Roethlisberger

In Pittsburgh, Ben Roethlisberger is often called a “franchise quarterback.” He’s a former first-round draft pick who already owns two Super Bowl rings. In Green Bay, the same is now being said about Aaron Rodgers, a first-round pick in the 2005 Draft. “Oh, I would clearly say that Aaron Rodgers has fallen into the classification of a franchise quarterback,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s playing at that level.” At this stage of this season, Rodgers is putting up better numbers than Roethlisberger. He has more yards (3,579 to 3,346), more touchdown passes (25 to 19), a better passer rating (102.5 to 98.2) and fewer interceptions (seven to 11). However, Rodgers has been sacked a league-high 48 times. Roethlisberger is third at 38 sacks. So today, the team that wins could be the one whose QB plays best and/or who's sacked the least.

Woodson vs. Receivers

Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1998. He’s been to five Pro Bowls. And there are some who say that Woodson, at age 33, is playing the best football of his career. Under the schemes of first-year defensive coordinator Dom Capers, Woodson is being used in a variety of ways, especially when the Packers use a “psycho” package that features one down lineman, five linebackers and five defensive backs. He leads the Packers with eight interceptions. He’s also used on blitzes and has two sacks this year. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Woodson “is having a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber year.” There could be times today when Woodson will be matched up against any of the Steelers' top three wide receivers (Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and rookie Mike Wallace).

Grant vs. Run defense

Even though they were gouged by the Cleveland Browns last week to a tune 171 rushing yards, the Steelers still lead the NFL in run defense. It’s a slim edge over the Packers — 84.9 to 85.0 ypg — but it still something the Steelers' defense can hang its hat on. While Joshua Cribbs rushed for 87 yards against the Steelers last week, the Steelers still haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 31 straight regular-season games. Grant will try to snap that streak. He ranks seventh in the NFL with 1,068 yards and has surpassed 129 yards or more in a game three times this year, including 137 last week against Chicago. With 132 more yards, he’ll join Hall-of-Famer Jim Taylor (1961-62) and Ahman Green (2001-03) as the only backs in franchise history to rush for 1,200 yards or more in back-to-back seasons.

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Rodgers presents a challenge for Steelers' secondary By: JIM WEXELL Herald Standard

PITTSBURGH - Ryan Clark either knows something the rest of us don't know, or he's made a miscalculation not seen in these parts since Anthony Smith incorrectly sized up the Pittsburgh Steelers' chances in New England two years ago.

Clark ripped into the media and fans earlier this week for their criticisms of the Steelers' secondary, the unit he heads up as the free safety.

Whether the problems had been correctly identified or not, Clark should realize there are many problems in the Steelers' secondary, and they are great.

The Steelers' secondary, playing behind the league's No. 2 pass rush, is largely responsible for the following fourth-quarter defensive statistics (courtesy of SteelersDepot.com):

- 27th passer rating

- 28th passing yards per attempt

- 30th first downs

- 31st passing yards

- 31st touchdown passes

And the Green Bay Packers' ninth-ranked passing attack exceeds that of the Cleveland Browns (32nd), Oakland Raiders (31st), Baltimore Ravens (15th), Kansas City Chiefs (27th) and Cincinnati Bengals (23rd).

The 6-7 Steelers lost to those teams in their current five-game skid, while the 9-4 Packers come to Heinz Field on a five-game winning streak. They're led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has the NFL's fourth-best passer rating at 102.5.

The key to the Packers' surge from the depths of 4-4, following a loss to Tampa Bay, has been an offensive line that's been intact the last four games - its only such stretch all season.

In wins over the Chicago Bears, Ravens, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers, the Packers allowed only seven sacks, a noticeable improvement for a team that still leads the NFL with 48 sacks allowed.

The Steelers have 39 sacks this season, only two behind the league-leading Minnesota Vikings. So the return to health of left tackle Chad Clifton and right tackle Mark Tauscher will help the Packers in what the stat sheet says should be a mismatch.

Rodgers, with help from his line, could turn that mismatch around by exploiting the Steelers' secondary, which hasn't faced as productive a receiving duo as Donald Driver (58-887 yards, 6 tds) and Greg Jennings (56-855-3) since October. Second-year tight end Jermichael Finley (39-488-3) is another receiving threat. The Packers also have a 1,000-yard rusher in Ryan Grant and the league's second-ranked defense.

The Steelers enter today's 4:15 p.m. contest needing to sweep their remaining three games, while hoping for collapses from a half dozen teams that are either ahead or tied in the AFC wild-card race.

Most of the players aren't even looking at the numbers.

"It's about finishing strong," said right tackle Willie Colon. "You work your butt off in the off-season, and maybe you don't have a chance for the playoffs, but you don't quit. We've got to be able to understand that. We've got to have pride and we have to have fight."

Does Colon believe the team quit in losses to the dreadful Browns and Raiders the last two weeks?

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"I don't think it's an effort thing at all," he said. "We're not used to losing at all around here and sometimes you try so hard to win you kind of lose focus on the basics and some of the fundaments. I think that's what it is. I don't think anybody's giving up. I think we're playing a little uptight to tell you the truth."

Perhaps the Steelers will regain their underdog mentality today and turn the tables on the Packers, who only need to win one of their remaining three games to clinch a playoff berth. And perhaps Clark can turn the boos that are certain to greet him back into cheers by the end of the game.

December 20, 2009

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December 19, 2009

Green Bay Packers' Dom Capers produces another defensive rebirth

Coach's attention to detail has made believers of No. 2-ranked unit By Tom Pelissero [email protected]

Charley Casserly never thought Dom Capers got a fair shake with the Houston Texans.

It was Capers’ second head coaching job — both with expansion franchises, which force a coach to make castoff veterans and untested rookies buy into a program despite long odds of winning many games immediately. And just as had happened to the Carolina Panthers in 1998, the Texans’ seeming ascent crashed in 2005 as they battled injuries, couldn’t escape a losing spiral and crumbled to a last-place finish in Capers’ fourth season. A day after the Texans finished 2-14, owner Bob McNair went over the head of Casserly, who resigned as Texans general manager less than five months later, and fired Capers. “You can’t let somebody go after four years,” Casserly said in a phone interview this past week. “For an expansion team, two things can happen. Carolina had a lot more (to work with) than we had in Houston because of free agency, the advantages they had that we didn’t. But then you’d go through a transition and then you have a second bump — you go down a little bit and you come back. Well, (Capers) never got the opportunity to come back, which was unfair to him. “I think the guy’s a good football coach.” Make no mistake: there is a part of Capers, and not a small one, that would like another opportunity. His precise answer is “never say never,” but it’s clear he believes his record as an NFL head coach — 48-80, one playoff trip in eight seasons — would be far better had he entered situations more conducive to immediate success. Months away from his 60th birthday, Capers has no interest in spearheading another building (or major rebuilding) operation. Yet rebuilding is precisely what he’s become known for doing — taking bad defenses, like the Green Bay Packers unit that finished 20th in total defense last season, and turning them into exceptional ones. So, when Capers says he’d be “fine” with not getting a third chance to run his own show, it is not so much a statement of true feeling as an acknowledgment the right opportunity might not come soon enough. “You just realize,” Capers said, “it doesn’t make any difference whether you’re going in and you’re starting with a team that’s been doing it for 40, 50 years or starting with an expansion team — it’s

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going to be probably four years if you don’t get it done. “I wouldn’t take a job just to take a job. It would have to be a job where I felt you had an opportunity to go in and win.”

Details, details

Ask anyone who’s worked with or played under Capers about him, and one of the first things mentioned is attention to detail. Extreme, almost compulsive attention to detail. “Oh my God, let me tell you,” longtime NFL coach Jim Mora said. “You ask him someday what he did on February 10th, 1986, and he’ll pull out his calendar from 1986 and he’ll look in the little square there for February 10th and he’ll tell you what he did, because he’ll write it down. He is so organized in that regard. It’s unbelievable.” That started in 1982, when Capers took his fifth and final job coaching college defensive backs at Ohio State. He’d spent the previous two years at the University of Tennessee and felt his spring recruiting schedule there had worked out well, but he had to call the school to remember the details. “I felt like I was getting closer to being a head coach, and I said, ‘You better monitor all these things and chart them,’” Capers said. “It just so happens for Christmas that year my dad got me a very nice calendar book.” He’s gotten a new calendar every year since and still has all of them — as well as binders with the schemes he’s run at each of his six previous stops as an NFL coach and coordinator — in his Lambeau Field office. He’s also known for systematically highlighting his notes and game plans, using different colors to differentiate between topics. Part of Capers’ presentation when he interviewed for the job with Packers coach Mike McCarthy in January was pulling out game plans from his first coordinator job with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992 to illustrate the origins of his fire-zone 3-4 scheme. “He's not the guy that is going to sit on the computer and punch out a bunch of printouts for you,” McCarthy said. “He still writes everything out by hand. He has a method that he has done for so long and can jump up and pull the book off the shelf from 1995, and I appreciate that.”

Steady presence

Capers’ personality mirrors that calculated approach — businesslike, levelheaded, rarely raises his voice — but he’s also a man of conviction. Packers safeties coach Darren Perry, a Steelers rookie in 1992, vividly recalls Capers fighting to keep a package first-year Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher wanted to chuck after it allowed a couple of long gains in training camp. Cowher relented, the Steelers intercepted future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon five times in the opener and “2-Buster” became a staple of Capers’ system. Mora — who brought him into pro football as defensive backs coach with the USFL’s Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (1984 and ’85) and then the New Orleans Saints (1986 to ’91) — remembers a player getting reinjured in practice one day while Capers was running the drill. “I remember screaming and yelling that he shouldn’t have done what he did with the guy,” Mora said. “It was bad — it was bad on my part, I’ll admit it. But Dom, he just kind of took it and didn’t say much, and he’s that way. A very even-keeled guy — but intense.”



That’s one of the common adjectives used in the Packers locker room to describe Capers, who roundly is complimented for hearing out players’ thoughts or complaints and making adjustments as he sees fit. “He’s a laid-back guy, knows how to explain things to you,” cornerback Tramon Williams said. “You may have some coaches come in who just, ‘All right, you this and that, this and that.’ Dom, he’ll just bring it to you smooth: ‘OK, you’ll do this on this play, this one here.’ Easy to understand. Just a fun guy to be around.” Said end Cullen Jenkins, “When he turns the business mode on, he’s in it. He’s consistent.”

Turnaround artist

When Capers addressed his Packers defense at the outset of training camp, his message was clear. “He said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be the No. 1 defense in the NFL, and it’s going to start because we’re going to stop the run,’” nose tackle Ryan Pickett said. “He said, ‘We’re going to be the best running team in the NFL.’ That’s the first speech, the first thing he ever said to us. “We was like, ‘OK, this sounds like the speech you get every year.’ But he was serious.” Capers no doubt believed himself, too. He’d coordinated one No. 4-ranked defense in Jacksonville in 1999, a year after the Jaguars finished 25th, and another in Miami in 2006, a year after the Dolphins were No. 18. Along the way, his scheme evolved and expanded. The original system in Pittsburgh was heavy on Cover-3 before teams began working the sidelines and throwing underneath. In Miami, Capers didn’t have the personnel to play a pure 3-4, so he went to a hybrid. In New England, where he was a special assistant/secondary last season, he worked in a modified Bullough/Fairbanks 3-4 that is significantly different in look and philosophy. All of which has given Capers a multitude of experiences to draw from, even though it was cut-ups of the relatively pure 3-4 in Pittsburgh — the Packers’ opponent in Sunday’s game at Heinz Field, about 110 miles from where he grew up in Buffalo, Ohio — Capers showed players as they began the transition in March. “We’ve got our identity together,” Perry said, “and hopefully, we’ll be the model in the next coming year.” In addition to his base 3-4 and standard nickel and dime defenses, Capers has matched personnel to opponents and injury situations with a variety of subpackages, most recently the five-linebacker “psycho” package he unveiled in last week’s win over Chicago. After taking its lumps the first half of the season, the Packers defense is No. 2 in total defense (272 yards per game) and against the run (85), No. 3 against the pass (187) and tied for eighth in scoring (18.7) — rankings Pickett admits he was skeptical about achieving at the start of camp. “I was like, ‘Man, OK, I hear him …’” Pickett said, rolling his eyes. “But he was truthful. He’s serious, and the more we listen to him, the more you just trust him. He says stuff, it comes true.”

Going forward

That ability to engender belief is one more reason those who know Capers well think he could be highly successful if he does get another shot as a head coach. “He’s proven his coaching ability,” Mora said. “He was in some tough situations at Carolina and Houston. I don’t think that the fact that he was fired at both of those spots is any reflection at all on his



ability as a head coach. “Dom could be a quality head coach, there’s no question in my mind. You’ve just got to be in the right place at the right time to be successful. You’ve got to have the players, that’s what it boils down to.” Capers speaks with pride about taking the Panthers to the best two-year start for any expansion team — seven wins in 1995, then a 12-4 record and a trip to the NFC championship game in ’96 — and says he “would match our first three years at Houston with anyplace else with an expansion team.” The Texans did move from four wins in 2002 to five in ’03 and seven in ’04 — a climb Casserly attributes in part to Capers’ vision and flexibility when it came to personnel moves. “He’s a high-character person,” Casserly said. “Straight shooter. What you see is what you get, which is a compliment. Man of his word. He’s totally honest with people.” That’s far from a guarantee Capers will get one more chance, but it doesn’t hurt his chances when his defenses keep playing as the Packers have the past five weeks. Capers interviewed for several jobs before going to Houston and has expressed at least passing regret about not ending up in one of those spots. He also interviewed for the head coaching job in Buffalo in 2006 before heading to Miami, becoming the NFL’s highest-paid assistant coach in 2007 and getting fired along with the rest of Cam Cameron’s staff after the season. Given the Packers’ success this season, McCarthy probably would keep Capers as long as he’s willing to stay — and that probably would be fine with players as well. “You have no choice but to respect him,” Pickett said. “All the players respect him. When he says something, everybody listens. He is like a general, man. He demands respect.”

Additional Facts History at the helm

Both of Dom Capers’ NFL head-coaching stops were with expansion franchises. In both Carolina and Houston, a downturn in Year 4 spelled the end of Capers’ tenure. Year Team W-L Place 1995 CAR 7-9 4th, NFC West 1996 CAR 12-4 1st, NFC West* 1997 CAR 7-9 2nd, NFC West 1998 CAR 4-12 4th, NFC West 2002 HOU 4-12 4th, AFC South 2003 HOU 5-11 4th, AFC South 2004 HOU 7-9 3rd, AFC South 2005 HOU 2-14 4th, AFC South *Advanced to NFC championship game



December 21, 2009

Cowboys Expose Weaknesses in Saints’ Offense

By JUDY BATTISTA

NEW ORLEANS — The final play was supposed to be a 42-yard desperation heave into the end zone, the kind

of dynamic pass that the New Orleans Saints had made routine in their undefeated season. But like almost

every other deep pass drawn up for Drew Brees Saturday night, this one didn’t work either. With the Dallas

Cowboys bent on preventing the big play that has defined the Saints offense — they even used the dreaded

prevent defense late in the first and second halves — Brees was instead sacked and he fumbled. Game and

perfection over, Wade Phillips and the Cowboys were resurrected with the 24-17 victory.

With the victory, Dallas ended the Saints’ run at a perfect season and bolstered its own playoff hopes. If they

win their final two games, against the Redskins and Eagles, the Cowboys (9-5) will win the East in the

National Conference. And they made December very difficult for the Giants, who must win Monday night

against the Redskins to keep pace.

The loss by the Saints (13-1) means that the Vikings, who entered Sunday just one game behind them in

conference standings, will likely still have home-field advantage on the line when they play the Giants in the

season finale in two weeks. With games against the Bucs and the Panthers, the Saints still have the easiest

path to home-field advantage in the N.F.C.

Phillips, the Cowboys’ coach, has become the punching bag for the team’s December dramas.

But in crafting the biggest win of his Cowboys tenure on the strength of his defense, he exposed he

shortcomings that have been building in New Orleans for a least a month and could make the Saints

vulnerable in the playoffs. The Saints have scored 40 0r more points four times this season, but they have

turned into slow starters — they went three-and-out on their first two drives, were down by 14-0 to the

Cowboys after less than 10 minutes and managed just a field goal in the first half — which means their

offense becomes one-handed. “When they throw that many times, they’ll get yards,” Phillips said. “You’ve got

to keep them out of the end zone.”

The Cowboys then able to do what they wanted: play deep, rush the passer, allow Brees to cherry-pick the

short and medium pass patterns. It was nothing new — surely Bill Belichick would have liked to get that kind

of pressure on Brees, too. But with DeMarcus Ware, who was taken off the field on a back board last week

and playing only on passing down to preserve his energy, the Cowboys put more pressure on Brees than he

had faced all season. With Jeremy Shockey injured, the Saints couldn’t use a two tight-end set to protect

Brees, who was sacked four times, fumbled twice and was sent running for his life throughout the night.

The Saints’ offensive line looked like a liability with left tackle Jermon Bushrod leaving Brees’ blind side so

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exposed on one sack that the entire Superdome gasped as it saw Anthony Spencer closing in on a clueless

Brees. The end result: the Saints had just three plays of more than 20 yards — the 35-yard pass play Brees is

credited for was actually a short pass and long run by Marques Colston — a remarkable stat considering that

against the Patriots less than a month ago, Brees averaged 20 yards per pass play. Against the Cowboys, it

was just half that. According to an unofficial tally, Brees did not complete one of the six deep passes he

attempted Saturday night. And if one play foretold disaster it was Brees’s deep attempt down the left sideline

intended for Devery Henderson. On a normal night, that would have been a 41-yard touchdown pass.

Instead, it was a red-zone interception at the 4-yard-line.

“It was one of those nights we weren’t quite clicking,” Brees said. “When you’re throwing the ball every play,

they can pin their ears back and rush. They did a good job of staying back and not allowing big plays. We

didn’t do a good job of taking the underneath stuff.”

It didn’t help that Brees was without one of his security blankets, Shockey (turf toe) all night and without

another, running back Reggie Bush (pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury) for the second

half. Their absence was especially glaring because the Saints could not sustain drives, going 1 of 7 on third

down. That certainly doesn’t give a quarterback time to establish a rhythm, and it doesn’t give a break to an

injury-depleted defense that was getting shredded by the Cowboys. The Saints held the ball for 13 fewer

minutes than the Cowboys, an eternity when the offense has the Saints’ big-play ability.

“We need to get back to scoring fast,” Brees said.

All of that is correctable — the Saints will get plenty of players back from injury for the playoffs, if not sooner

— and their defense should harken back to the aggressive unit it was in the first half of the season. Late on

Saturday night, Brees was disappointed that the quest for perfection had ended because he wondered how

many times a team can get that close to history. But in the locker room, the page had already turned.

“It became a short-term goal,” said linebacker Scott Shanle. “We have the long term goal out there. Maybe

the whole focus can shift to getting home field advantage.”

On a night when their big play game disappeared, the Saints were finally able to take the long view.

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The Huddle: The latest word on NFL news, notes and buzz

Tony Romo: Tony Dungy's 'no chance' comment motivated Cowboys for win vs. Saints

Dec 20, 2009

Bengals' Chad Ochocinco says he won't wear Chris Henry's jersey vs. Chargers 01:11 PM

Comment

Recommend

Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco said Sunday that he has decided not to wear the jersey of late teammate Chris Henry against the Chargers.

Ochocinco told ESPN he didn't want such a homage to his fallen teammate to take away from the Bengals' game or Henry's memory.

Said Ochocinco in a text message to ESPN:

"It's becoming more of a distraction for myself and my team. Chris wouldn't want it to go the way it is

"It can turn into a big negative if we don't perform the way we should. I'll have his jersey in hand throughout the entire game. His jersey

is also 4 times bigger than my normal one."

Henry died Thursday after coming out of a moving vehicle driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga. Police said the two had been involved in a domestic

dispute.

NFL rules forbid Ochocinco from wearing another player's jersey. And the NFLPA had said it would cover a fine for the violation if Ochocinco chose to wear

Henry's jersey.

The Bengals are wearing a decal with Henry's No. 15 to memorialize the late receiver. -- Sean Leahy

Tags:NFL Cincinnati Bengals Chad Johnson Chris Henry Chad Ochocinco PreviousTony Romo: Tony Dungy's 'no chance' comment motivated Cowboys for win vs. Saints

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A perfect record would have been lagniappe, as they say in Louisiana— a little something extra.

The history-making achievement the Saints and their fans really covet is a first Super Bowl appearance, which is all that's left to accomplish now that Tony Romo (FSY) and Dallas ended their December doldrums at New Orleans' expense.

Drew Brees (FSY) and the Saints are marching toward an unbeaten season no more after their frenzied rally fell short in a 24-17 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday night.

THE HUDDLE: Romo says Dungy's 'no chance' comment motivated Cowboys

"This is going to sting for a while but we've got to be able to put this behind us," Brees said, noting that the Saints remain in control to finish the No. 1 playoff seeding in the NFC. "It's all about the next game."

BOX SCORE: Cowboys 24, Saints 17

Romo threw for 312 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown to Miles Austin (FSY), and DeMarcus Ware (FSY) punctuated his comeback from a neck injury with a game-sealing strip of Brees.

The loss by the Saints (13-1) left the Indianapolis Colts (14-0) as the NFL's only unbeaten team this season.

"We'll digest this," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "Nonetheless, it is what it is and we've got to get back to work next week. We have two important games in front of us and we'll take that approach."

The Saints' start had New Orleans hoping its team could go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl after so many years of losing and heartbreak. It was seen by some as a symbol of New Orleans' ability to come back better than before from the epic disaster that was Hurricane Katrina a little more than four years ago.

Brees had sensed all of that, and made no secret that he wanted the Saints to go for it.

"We feel like we deserved it and the whole city deserved it and we wanted to make it happen," Brees said. "That's probably the most disappointing thing about it."

Instead, the Cowboys (9-5) overcame failures of a more recent nature, ending a two-game skid and proving they were good enough to beat the top team in the NFC in front of a charged-up, hostile crowd. They came to New Orleans 3-8 in December games in their last three seasons under coach Wade Phillips, who was finding himself increasingly on the defensive about his club's ability to play well down the stretch.

Dallas dominated early, scoring on its first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead and went up 24-3 on Marion Barber's (FSY) second short TD run of the game in the third quarter. Then the Cowboys held on despite Nick Folk's (FSY) surprising missed 24-yard field goal shortly before the 2-minute warning.

"I said all along this team has a lot of heart, a lot of character and a lot of leaders," Phillips said. "I didn't think this team could get beat three times in a row."

The high-powered Saints nearly pulled off what would have been the latest of several improbable comebacks.

Mike Bell's (FSY) 1-yard run made it 24-10 with 12:35 to go. Brees followed that by capping a seven-play, 70-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lance Moore (FSY) with 8 minutes left, cutting New Orleans' deficit to 24-17.

That left it up to the Saints' defense to hold once more. Dallas faced a third-and-7 on its own 23 and the crowd was going so wild Romo had to call timeout a moment before the play clock expired.

The noise was still deafening when Romo returned to the line of scrimmage, but that didn't stop him from finding Austin on a short crossing route for a 32-yard gain.

"We did what we knew we had to do on that drive," Romo said. "We all know how good their offense is so we had to move the ball on them."

On the next play, Romo spun away from the rush and hit tight end John Phillips (FSY) for a 23-yard gain to New Orleans' 22. From there, Dallas went conservative and set up what looked to be a game-sealing field goal from nearly the same distance as Shaun Suisham's (FSY) miss two weeks ago, which allowed the Saints to come back and beat Washington in overtime.

When Folk's kick bounced off the upright, the crowd erupted, sensing the Saints were simply destined not to lose. And it looked that way after Brees converted a frantic fourth down

Fall from grace: Cowboys hand Saints first loss of season

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on a pass over the middle to Marques Colston (FSY), who made a one-handed catch.

The Saints marched to midfield in the final minute, but the Cowboys held firm. Ware stripped Brees for the second time in the game and lineman Jay Ratliff (FSY) recovered, silencing the packed Superdome while the Cowboys leapt in the air and embraced one another.

"That was a fun one," Romo said. "These are the ones you love to play."

Ware had to be taken to the hospital only a week earlier after what looked like a serious neck injury in Dallas' loss to San Diego. He didn't practice fully all week, but said he was feeling better and was cleared to play. He certainly looked rested and healed.

He sacked Brees twice, forcing fumbles that the Saints' lost both times. The first one set up a field goal that gave Dallas a 17-3 lead at halftime. Linebacker Anthony Spencer (FSY) also had two sacks.

Very little went right for Brees, who was intercepted once, sacked four times and pressured all night. Even what looked like a certain 36-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter slipped through Devery Henderson's (FSY) hands in the end zone. Brees was sacked by Spencer soon after and that drive ended with a punt.

NOTES: The Cowboys outgained the Saints, 439 yards to 336, holding the Saints 90 yards and nearly 19 points below their averages in those categories. The Saints, who came in converting nearly 48% of third downs this season, converted only one of seven. ... Miles caught seven passes for 139 yards, going over 1,000 yards for the first time in his four-year career. ... Reggie Bush (FSY) pulled up lame in the second quarter, favoring his right leg, and did not return. The Saints did not provide an update on his condition.

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

NFL partnering with BU study

Associated Press The NFL is partnering with Boston University brain researchers who have been critical of the league's stance on concussions, The Associated Press learned Sunday.

The league now plans to encourage current and former NFL players to agree to donate their brains to the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which has said it found links between repeated head trauma and brain damage in boxers, football players and, most recently, a former NHL player.

"It's huge that the NFL actively gets behind this research," said Robert Cantu, a doctor who is a co-director of the BU center and has spoken negatively about the league in the past. "It forwards the research. It allows players to realize the NFL is concerned about the possibility that they could have this problem, and that the NFL is doing everything it can to find out about the risks and the preventive strategies that can be implemented."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the AP on Sunday that the league also is committed to giving $1 million or more to the center. Aiello said the league already has held discussions with the NFL Alumni Association about suggesting that retired players look into participating in BU's work by offering their brains for study after they die.

The league also will contact the nearly 100 retired football players who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia and are receiving benefits from the league to ask their families to consider donating those players' brains to the BU study.

"The people affiliated with the center have identified the donation of brains, both from healthy people and those that have had multiple concussions, as their most critical need right now to further the research into this disease," Aiello said. "We ... will discuss with the center its research needs as we go forward in this partnership."

Cantu said he and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell met in October to discuss concussions and the BU project.

Sunday's news represents the latest in a series of moves the NFL has made in recent weeks to step up its attention to concussions in the aftermath of a congressional hearing on the topic.

That included stricter return-to-play guidelines detailing what symptoms preclude someone from participating in games or practices; a mandate that each team select a league- and union-approved independent neurologist to be consulted when players get concussions; and the departure of the two co-chairmen of the NFL's committee on brain trauma.

"They have done a bit of an about-face. Pressure probably has played a role in that," Cantu said in a telephone interview. "But I honestly think that Goodell does believe in player safety and the product is just better with your best players on the field, not your best players injured."

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Aiello said Sunday that a concussion study the league has been conducting since 2007 is on hold until the former committee co-chairmen -- Ira Casson and David Viano -- are replaced. They resigned last month. He said the league is interviewing candidates, none of whom is currently affiliated with the league or any team.

"Now that we're changing the committee, we want to make some revisions in how the study proceeds," Aiello said in a telephone interview.

The New York Times first reported that the study is on hold.

Casson is slated to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 4 about football head injuries. He did not attend the panel's hearing Oct. 28, when BU's Cantu said there is "growing and convincing evidence" that repetitive concussive and subconcussive hits to the head in NFL players leads to a degenerative brain disease.

Another co-director of the BU center, Ann McKee, showed the committee images of brains of dead football players with the disease and told lawmakers, "We need to take radical steps" to change the way football is played.

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Posted: Sunday December 20, 2009 12:03AM; Updated: Sunday December 20, 2009 12:04AM

CEO: Holmgren declines Seahawks' executive offer

RENTON, Wash. (AP) -- The Seattle Seahawks have said that Mike Holmgren will not rejoin the team.

The Seahawks talked with Holmgren over the weekend about a senior leadership position.

"After a series of respectful discussions, Mike has declined our offer to rejoin the team given the structure we proposed," Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke said in a statement. "We hold Mike in high regard and wish the Holmgren family the very best with their new horizons."

The 61-year-old Holmgren won a Super Bowl with the Packers and led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl appearance as a head coach.

"I sincerely thank Paul Allen and Tod for all their support over the years," Holmgren said in a statement. "I thank them for reaching out to me and we conclude these discussions as friends."

Holmgren has also been interested in joining the Cleveland Browns. He spent two days meeting with Browns owner Randy Lerner earlier this week.

Holmgren said on his radio show in Seattle on Friday that he planned to give Lerner an answer "sooner than later" but added there was no definite timetable. It may have accelerated after he declined an offer to rejoin the Seahawks.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for anybody," Holmgren said of his visit to Cleveland. "It's about as good a job situation as you could ask for in this business."

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