Looking Back On Bill Cowher's Tenure

He never had that elite QB until BB. O'Donnell, Kordell Stewart, Maddox. Obviously it takes some luck too. That said, 4 AFCCG losses at home? Granted Denver & 04 Patriots were better, but the 94 and 01 games were simply inexcusable. His 15-1 04 team needed a meltdown from the Jets kicker to win that one. Then there was the 95 title game where an inferior Colts team were inches away from winning.


He should get credit for the 05 run and motivating his team to win four road games. After the Colts loss during the season, I gave up hope.

I haven't touched on the drafting & free agent selections under his watch. Don't know enough about that stuff.

Overall, do you think he was a good, not great coach? Was he top five during his tenure?

 

I thought he was a really good coach. People forget that he was called Schottenheimer light. Very heavy run first offense.

 

He was a very good coach, but as with all of them had flaws. I always felt he was far too conservative offensivley. If we could keep it close or get a lead we had a very good chance of winning. However, if it was a race or neeeded to play from behind we were in trouble.
I think part of that stemmed from his focus on drafting great fronts lines on both sides of the ball. That pretty much made the skill positions an after thought. Obviously there were exceptions. He/they drafted Troy Edwards(wr) and Burress in the first. Edwards of course was a complete bust and plax split town just as he was reaching his full potential.
It also didn't help changing offensive coordinators on a yearly basis. At least that's what happened while Kordell was here. He basically had a new coordinator with a new philosohophy every season. It's a shame really because the guy was electric with the ball in his hands. However, a couple of those coordinators didn't play to his strengths and tried to make him into something he wasn't.

 

I think he was a good coach, but I don't blame people when they say we were a boring to watch. He was waaaayyy to conservative at times with points and wished he would have gone for the TD and win instead of FG's a lot more and gone on 4th down instead of punting.

And at the time I always said that he never used Stewart properly and tried to make him something he obviously wasn't. He would have been a young Mick Vic but better if they created an office towards his athletic skill sets. He could have had more post season success.

Then there was the Patriots stealing signals in the AFCC game the year before it was exposed. Looking back now it seems obvious they knew exactly what were going to do and just rolled us when I think we were the better team.

 

So many great memories!

I loved when the Steelers would sack the QB on 3rd down and he would run out on the filed and yell, "LET'S Go!."

I would love the moment when the power run game finally cracked the opposing defense in the second half and they started ripping off big runs for the rest of the game.

I loved putting away inferior opponents by halftime.

I loved when they went down to Tampa Bay right around Christmas time and beat up on Warren Sapp and the bullies of the block.

I loved when the snow was swirling in 3 Rivers and Lloyd, and Greene and the rest of Blitzburgh, were chasing down QB's!

 

Cowher dispelled the Marty Ball thing for me when he had the 5 wide set in 1995. If Cowher had a franchise QB from the beginning like Belichick has, I would be very comfortable in saying he would have won at least 3 titles in 15 years.

 

I thought Cowher was a good to very good coach. I'd put him a notch above Tomlin but they are somewhat similar in that both coaches are emotionally rather than intellectually driven coaches and they are both player's coaches. Noll is still at the top of the Steelers coaching list from my perspective and I consider him a GREAT coach. He was a very heady coach who knew how to get the most out of complicated personalities like Bradshaw, MJG, Jack Lambert and others. He's also THE COACH who presided over the Steelers transition from perennial losers to the greatest franchise in the NFL. Bottom line is that we've been extremely fortunate to have the coaches we've had given the constant state of disarray some organizations are in.

 

Thought I read Dan Rooney told Cowher they were drafting Ben?? No?

 

Did you also love losing four AFC Championship games at home? Barely scrapping by the Jets & Colts too?

 

Yes because you take the good with the bad.

 

Kordell could have matured into a pretty decent QB if he'd have had a QB coach just working with him on his reads. They never had one until Ben and that's inexcusable!

You have a QB that can really only read half the field and has the physical skills to get you to the playoffs, but you don't put someone on staff to help him improve or see things he's missing?

Say what you want, but he was a beast at times and he had an arm. Rarely was he hurt and he ran over many defenders on his scrambles.

 

I thought he beat off defenders? No?

 

I will contend that Cowher's success meant we never sniffed at the chance of a top QB in the draft. I mean we made the playoffs with Mike Tomzack, Tommy Maddox, Neil O donnell, and Kordell Stewart!

Also his teams bled free agents pretty regularly until Heinz Field was built. He always had players ready waiting in the wings. Never missed a beat.

 

I loved Cowher. By far my favorite Steelers coach. I was 8 when I became a Steelers fan ( Super Bowl 13) I like Noll, but was really to young to appreciate what he meant to those teams of the 70's. Living in the St Louis area I didn't get to see the Steelers games televised as much. Late 80's my good buddy's family got a satellite dish and I was able to watch the games almost every Sunday.
When Cowher was hired I was at the point I was old enough to go to the bar so I watched every week. He had so much energy and passion and I related to that type of coaching as that was the types of Coaches I had in Football, Basketball and Baseball growing up and through High school.

I like Tomlin ok, but just not a big fan of his coaching style ( at least what is shown on television). With that said he's a very good coach and it's hard to argue with his results.

 

Maddox couldn't move off the spot so once everyone figured that out....

 

Tomzack still owes me a TV over one of his horrible INTs. Had to listen to the rest of the game with no picture.

 

I still believe that Kordell could have been a top flite receiver had he completely focused on that position. He was an exceptional athlete.

 

You did. Can't remember who cowher wanted instead of Ben, but glad Rooney intervened.

/edit Cowher wanted g/t Shawn Andrews from Arkansas.

 

Yep, he was essentially overruled by Rooney. Can you imagine what a stain that would have placed on Cowher's legacy had he won that debate? What was Cowher even thinking there?

 

It's pretty simple, cowher didn't value the qb position.

 

http://thesportsdaily.com/the-sport...nced-bill-cowher-to-draft-ben-roethlisberger/

 

http://thesportsdaily.com/the-sport...nced-bill-cowher-to-draft-ben-roethlisberger/

 

Umm thanks

I guess?