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Cowher Hands Ball To Zereoue And Passing Attack
By Jerry DiPaola

When Bill Cowher anointed Amos Zereoue as the Steelers' starting running back, many people were surprised.

Newspaper reporters and editors rightly made it the biggest sports story of the day. Fans talked about it over dinner with their familes and over beers with their colleagues. Many cheered it; others wondered whether Zereoue will be able to carry a larger load.

Bettis, himself, was surprised; although disappointment certainly was chief among the many emotions he experienced that day.

Zereoue said he was excited, but he later said he believes he was placed on a short leash by Cowher.

It wasn't easy for Coach Bill to bench a future Hall of Fame running back for one who never has rushed for 800 yards in any of his four previous seasons. But it was, and is, the only right move he could have made with his offense, considering what the Steelers have become.

Bettis is one of the most popular, recognizable and productive athletes ever to perform in Pittsburgh: in any sport: but the Steelers have advanced beyond what he can do best.

The offensive line isn't good enough for the team to lean as heavily as it has on its running game. The defense (Have you seen those cornerbacks lately?) looks like it may give up too many points for the Steelers to counter with an offense that takes 15, rather than five, plays to score touchdowns.

Cowher's thought process in naming Zereoue the starter appears similar to how he decided to bench Stewart last year after three games. Stewart was on shaky ground with Cowher for most of his time in Pittsburgh, and the situation was worsened by his scheduled $6.3 million salary this year. The Steelers couldn't afford to pay that kind of money to a quarterback who couldn't be expected to keep his starting job.

Keeping Bettis into the 2004 season, when his salary accelerates to more than $3.6 million, also looks like shaky ecomonics, if he's still the backup.

Zereoue is a relative bargain at $1.462 million this year and $2.2 million in '04, so why not make the transition now and get on with the inevitable?

New Look Offense

Nonetheless, there remains room for Bettis on this team for one more year, but it's now the Steelers of Tommy Maddox, Hines Ward, Plaxico Burress, Antwaan Randle El and Zereoue. Kordell Stewart's conservative ways at quarterback don't work anymore. Bettis' small, but reliable, chunks of yardage aren't good enough.

"It's definitely a different type of offense than it was in the past couple years with Jerome," Zereoue said. "We have a lot more talented receivers now to get the ball to. We can go one-back sets. We can go two-back sets. We can do a lot of different things. For a guy like me, I can go out and catch the ball. It definitely works in my favor."

The Steelers need big plays on offense because it may be giving up big plays on defense. Of the 53 offensive plays last year that went 25 yards or more in the air or 15 or more on the ground, Bettis was involved in three. Zereoue took part in 10, including eight of the 26 runs. On the other side of the ball, the opponent scored 30 or more points in eight of 18 games last year.

Plus, Zereoue is more effective than Bettis at catching screen passes and turning them into big gains. Amos had 42 catches last year, including a 54-yarder against the New Orleans Saints; Jerome had only seven receptions for 57 yards.

Questions Remain

The Steelers still need a strong runner in their backfield. Although Zereoue appears to be the best bet for the team this season, he never has been asked to be the feature performer for an entire season. Thus, he goes into the season under a cloud of questions.

He must become a more decisive runner, evolving from the Barry Sanders type, who dances in the backfield until a hole develops, to a back who sticks his body into the tiniest of cracks and sheds defenders on his way to a 5-yard gain.

With this in mind, he came to camp 5 pounds heavier and, more importantly, knowing he had to change his running style, which goes back to his scholastic days in Hempstead, NY and his record-setting career at WVU.

"It was me sitting back and saying, 'What can I do to develop my game?' Making people miss, I can do that. I have no problem. But what else can I do to upgrade my game? I realized that maybe, just sometimes, you try to find a crease and hit it as hard as you can. That's what I put in my mind and set myself to do and that's exactly what I did in camp."

With Zereoue, Bettis and third-down back Verron Haynes, the Steelers have depth at running back that should be the envy of many teams in the NFL. Under the best-case scenario, Zereoue and Haynes can help build the lead in the first half; Bettis can secure it in the fourth quarter. With that kind of depth, Zereoue knows there are no guarantees.

"I'm trying not to look back, and go out there and do what I have to do," he said, "because I don't know how short my leash is."

Interesting Season Ahead

Luckily for Zereoue: and for the Steelers: there are other areas of the team that make it the favorite to repeat as champion of the AFC North.

The run defense remains, perhaps, the best in the NFL. The pass rush figures to be improved, if linebacker Kendrell Bell remains healthy. The secondary has more speed and athleticism, thanks to the insertion of Mike Logan at strong safety and No. 1 draft choice Troy Polamalu in the dime and nickel packages. Whether this means the pass defense will be better is another question. It didn't look bad in the preseason, but Cowher still didn't see enough turnovers to satisfy him.

No matter how the rest of the team develops, the Steelers will live or die with their passing game. If Maddox can recapture the relationship he forged with his receivers last year, the Steelers may have the best air attack since Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.

If Maddox, however, starts taking too many chances and gets too reckless with the football, the Steelers will be crushed under the weight of their turnovers. For all of his heroics last season, Maddox remains a quarterback who has thrown more interceptions (31) than touchdown passes (27) in his career.

It's a pivotal season for players such as Maddox, Zereoue, Bettis and Logan, who is hoping to remain in Pittsburgh, even though his contract expires at the end of the year.

It's a pivotal season for Cowher, too. His 1-3 record in AFC Championship games and repeated failures to steward talented teams into the Super Bowl doesn't sit well with impatient fans.

The Rooneys have given Cowher lots of talent on his team, lots of money for his bank account and lots of job security for his family. It may be time for him to return some of those favors.

Jerry DiPaola covers the Steelers and NFL for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.