Kordell Stewart talks about his time in Pittsburgh

https://triblive.com/sports/kordell...ead-down-about-id-do-it-exactly-the-same-way/

 

Ah Kordella. My main memory of him was on a very cold night in January 2002, New England. He came out of the tunnel and the look on his face said it all to me. We were going to lose. And we did with Kordella throwing 3-4 INT's. After that the Tommy boy era started and NE pretty much ate us for lunch

 

Wish we would have paired him with an OC that was a bit more creative and open minded. Instead they tried to make him a pocket passer. It’s a shame because he was electric with the ball in his hands.

 

Kordell accomplished more than Malone, Brister, Tomczak and Maddox. 2 AFC Championship appearances. I'd rank him #4 Steelers QB of all time behind O'Donnell, Roethlisberger and Bradshaw.

 

I don't disagree but it's hard to rank him top-5 anything when my dude had a negative TD/INT ratio.

 

Nothing wrong with a mobile quarterback. Unfortunately Kordell would abandon the pass play and try to run the instant he had any pressure. He was not a good quarterback.

 

I always liked Kordell

 

I liked Kordell but he could be frustrating to watch. He could heave a 75 yard Hail Mary but often miss on 10 yard outs.

 

True and we ran through a few OCs during his time with the Steelers.

 

I was and still am a Kordell guy. Had Chan Gailey stayed here for Kordell's entire career I think we would have won a Super Bowl with him at QB. Both 1997 and 2001 were fun years to watch. Had Gailey just run Bettis inside the 5 in 97 we would have beat the Broncos. Special teams were just as much to blame as Kordell was for the 2001 debacle. Very underrated Steeler. I agree with @HeinzMustard , #4 Steelers all time QB for sure.

 

I believe Kordell was the major reason Dallas hired CG as their Head coach

 

One of my favorite Kordell games.... December 3, 2000 vs. Raiders. Raiders were the favorite to win and Kordell owned them. Stewart/Bettis also owned the Ravens more often than not. Good times, but frustrating times. Steelers drafted Casey Hampton in the first round, 2001 and the rest is history.... 2 Lombardis earned later in the decade.

 

Frustrating for sure, but I'm still fond of the guy.

 

I’m pretty sure he had 3 in as many seasons. That doesn’t bode well for a young quarterback. To be honest part of the blame falls on Cowher(gasp).

 

That 2000 team finished the season on fire. Had they started the season better that team would have been dangerous in the playoffs.

 

I never thought Kordell was a good QB. He was exciting to watch when he would run and made him dangerous if defenses were keying on the passing game. However, his lack of accuracy caused them to protect the run and dare him to throw. He could not hit the broadside of a barn while standing inside of it. I will say the 2001 season was the first I watched him and thought he finally came into his own. However, the emergence of Hines Ward and the run game with Jerome Bettis greatly helped him. While many QBs are judged in the same manner,... if they throw a pass into traffic and it's intercepted they are viewed as should have known better. If they throw into traffic and the receiver comes down with it, they are viewed as having the "trust" in their receivers. That is basically what happened to Kordell in 2001. He had better receivers and was viewed as having the maturity to trust his receivers. Losing to the Patriots in the 2001 was not Kordell's fault, but not having Bettis that game hurt us greatly. That is the season of what could have been, because I truly believed our defense would have stopped the "Greatest Show on Turf". Then of course we all know what happened next,... the Kordell experiment came to and end beginning the Maddox reign until Ben. Which had we won the AFC championship and gone on to win the SuperBowl, where would Ben be? I know he came in the 2004 draft, but you wonder how it would have changed the following two years.

 

He was one hell of an athlete though.

 

I remember that game well. Kordell was injured in the first half and Kent Graham came in and promptly threw a pick six. Kordell returned for the 2nd half, threw a TD and ran for a TD. The Steelers got the job done after the Raiders were driving but they turned the ball over because they forgot what down it was.

 

Although I think Lamar looks better early than Kordell I wonder if his passing accuracy in the playoffs will haunt him like Stewart.

 

I too think Kordell gets a bad rap among most Steelers fans. The coaching staff had a serious threat on their hands and not only NEVER really knew how to use him but tried to make that square peg round. They blew it more than he did in my opinion.

And don’t get me started about YHE 2002 AFCC. We were all robbed by the Cheatriots. No doubt in my mind. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. The best team in the NFL that season was getting rag dolled by Tommy “Tuck Rule” Brady.

Eff that noise.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...n-faneca-kordell-stewart/stories/201701220095

 

Yea of all the games I felt cheated on that was certainly the one at the top of the list. That Pats team had no right beating us they literally had our playbook.

 

Absolutely

 

Some friends from Cleveland gave me a bottle of hot sauce with Kordell and a Browns player on the label. I still have it. Never used it. I was going to post a pic of the label but it would have gotten deleted and I would have gotten a warning. It’s not a very nice label.

 

I have to agree with you on that game. Later that season after 9/11 happened the Patriots were quietly creeping into the playoffs under the radar. I told my friends "So help me if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, I may start believing the NFL is fixed." I said all you are going to hear about is 9/11 and the year of the Patriot and how perfectly fitting for them to win. Sure enough they won and that was all you heard about. I still don't believe the NFL is fixed, because there are too many people that would never be able to stay quiet. But, it does make you wonder at times.

 

I sometimes wonder how much the fear of going back to "Slash" played into some of the struggles Kordell had. Being in a Cowher control the clock offense didn't allow him to really be a dominant QB but it did protect him somewhat too. Its kinda like with Ben, he is competitive as he'll but if he throws 4 picks in a game he knows he isn't getting the hook. The is no pressure to excel beyond what he places on himself, no one snapping at his heels to force him to be better every game. I think Kordell was scared that Cowher would move him to WR again if the right QB came along whether it was real or not.