 
|
|||||||||||||
              
|
Sunday, September 05, 1999 By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- If this were his final audition, it was not a rousing performance.
Today, it will be decided if it was a determining one.
If Coach Bill Cowher is deciding whether to keep four quarterbacks on his 53-man roster for the regular season -- a thought he says he's entertaining -- then Pete Gonzalez did little in last night's 16-14 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills to make the decision a difficult one.
Playing with most of the first-team offense, the former Pitt quarterback relieved Kordell Stewart in the second quarter and completed 5 of 10 passes for 44 yards and led the team to one score -- a 43-yard field goal by Kris Brown.
Of course, on a night when the Steelers' first-team offense failed to produce a touchdown for the second week in a row, there wasn't much to distinguish between Gonzalez or Stewart or even Mike Tomczak, who played the fourth quarter and did produce the team's only touchdown -- a 10-yard pass to Will Blackwell with 12 seconds remaining.
When asked if last night's proceedings did anything to clear up the quarterback picture, Cowher said, "I don't think so."
Then he added, "We'll have to sit down and make a decision."
The decision he and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride will make today is whether to keep Gonzalez and undrafted rookie Anthony Wright, or just Wright, behind Stewart and Tomczak.
Tomczak appeared to cement his roster spot as the No. 2 quarterback last week when he led the team to their only two touchdowns in a loss to the Washington Redskins. He didn't hurt his cause by completing 8 of 17 passes for 100 yards against the Bills.
Cowher is not a strong advocate of keeping four quarterbacks on the roster. He did it in 1995, but it was because of extenuating circumstances: His fourth quarterback, Kordell Stewart, was principally a wide receiver, back in the days of Slash.
The Steelers do not want to keep a fourth quarterback around during the regular season because they do not believe they can find enough work to keep him sharp. It's difficult enough getting reps for the third-team quarterback.
So, with the Steelers prepared to trim the final 15 players from their training-camp roster by 4 p.m. today, the most pressing question is whether Gonzalez, the second-year quarterback from Pitt, will survive the cut.
"He did some good things," Cowher said. "We wanted to put him in there with the first-team guys to see what he could do."
Wright, an undrafted rookie from South Carolina, does not appear to have any such worries. The fact that he did not play last night against the Bills was more likely an indication that the coaching staff needs no further convincing of his ability.
Standing in a corner of the locker room after the game, Gonzalez was asked to assess what was his most lengthy appearance of the preseason.
"You got to look at it objectively," Gonzalez said. "The decision-making, I think I did a sufficient job. I didn't make any dumb decisions, I kept the team out of bad situations. I feel good because I didn't make any mistakes. A couple times I didn't have the time I would like ... but the decision-making was fine."
Last year, Gonzalez was the preseason sensation who made the team after being signed as a free agent from Pitt. He played so well that the Steelers had no qualms releasing Mike Quinn, their No. 3 quarterback in 1997.
This year, the surprise of camp has been Wright, who has a powerful throwing arm and the mobility that fits well with what Gilbride is trying to do with the passing game.
Gonzalez entered last night's game with 14:07 remaining in the second quarter and promptly went three plays and out -- throwing an incomplete pass to Troy Edwards on second down and getting sacked for a 3-yard loss on third down.
Gonzalez appeared to get something going on his next possession when he completed a 17-yard pass -- his longest of the night -- to Hines Ward and an 11-yarder to Will Blackwell. But, on first down at the Bills' 32, Edwards fumbled running a reverse, and Bills defensive tackle Sean Moran recovered at the Bills' 47.
Two weeks ago, Gonzalez ran into similar bad luck against the Carolina Panthers when rookie tight end Jerame Tuman fumbled at the14-yard line while the Steelers were trying to tie the score in the fourth quarter. Gonzalez said he can't worry about such mistakes.
"The coaches look at it and realize what happened," Gonzalez said. "For me, as a player, it hurts the drive, it hurts our opportunities to get points."
|
||||||||||||
