The impressive play of the Pittsburgh Steelers' first-round pick Kenny Pickett through two preseason games, has led to increasing speculation on who Mike Tomlin will start week one at quarterback. As an unexpected quarterback controversy begins to brew in Steeler Nation, it brings back memories of the last time the Steelers went into the season with uncertainty under center in 2000, when Bill Cowher unexpectedly named Kent Graham as the Steelers' starter over Kordell Stewart.
Steelers' Kent Graham / NFLThe Steelers' Kordell Stewart was only 18 months into a $27 million contract extension and was benched after 11 games in 1999. The Steelers signed Graham as a free agent, but Stewart was number one on the depth chart throughout OTAs, training camp and practice. However, as the preseason progressed, Stewart’s struggles continued, completing on 1 of 13 passes for 8 yards over two games. All the while, Graham impressed the coaches by performing better in practice and executing the complex “run and shoot” scheme of offensive coordinator, Kevin Gilbride.
Only three days after saying he planned to use both quarterbacks, perhaps in the same game, Cowher seemed to back off that sentiment with an assurance to Graham that "He won't have a quick hook."
The decision caught both quarterbacks by surprise, as the Steelers' Kordell Stewart entered the preseason with the quarterback's job to lose and did not even realize he was competing for the starting job.
Bill Cowher gives instruction to Kordell Stewart (Photo: The Denver Post)
Kordell Stewart, per Truth: The Kordell Stewart Story:
"As the preseason ensued, I didn’t even know that Kent and I were competing for the starting job," Stewart said. "That’s why I was surprised when Coach Gilbride told me the morning before our final preseason game that they were going to name Kent Graham the starting quarterback to kick off the regular season. The decision came out of left field to me."
Stewart was uncomfortable in Gilbride’s offense which demanded the quarterback and receivers synchronize their adjustments even after a play started. Stewart was a guy who wanted to simply play football and lean into his natural abilities to make plays, which was never going to be a good fit in Gilbride’s scheme. While Gilbride was capable of designing a successful offense, evidenced by serving as the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants twice defeating the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, he required players that specifically fit his system. Gilbride was not particularly effective at adapting to the players he had and optimizing an offense around their strengths. This frustration even boiled over to coaches as Buddy Ryan famously punched Gilbride on the sideline and told the media that “Kevin Gilbride will be selling insurance in two years.”
Pittsburgh Steelers' Jerome Bettis Weighs In
Stewart began to see the writing on the wall and recognized that his days with the Steelers were numbered. With the emergence of Hines Ward and the selection of Plaxico Burress, he wasn’t going to practice with the wide receivers again. Cowher was buying more into the performance of Graham in practice, and even Stewart conceded that Graham was “the best practice quarterback he had ever seen." However, while Graham may have won over the coaches, Jerome Bettis noted that he did not win over the locker room as the players wanted Stewart.
Jerome Bettis talks with Kordell Stewart. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Jerome Bettis, per The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet:
"Coach Cowher and Kordell had kind of a love-hate relationship. For some reason, coach would never really commit fully to Kordell," Bettis said. "He committed to giving him a chance, a shot at the job, but he never gave him his full 100 percent, You’re-the-guy, let’s go, endorsement. And because of that we had no consistent leadership from the quarterback position.""I think if you would have taken a poll of the players, we would have voted for Kordell," Bettis continued. "Kordell was a friend, but I also thought he gave us the best chance to win ballgames. Graham was a guy who had lost starting jobs in Arizona and New York."
"Coach Cowher disagreed. Kordell became Coach Cowher’s Plan B, which wasn’t fair to Kordell or to the team," Bettis finished. "Kordell had split time with Tomczak in 1999 and now he had to watch as Graham took the job in 2000."
Graham started the first three games of 2000 and the Steelers started 0-3 for the first time since 1986. The players were not buying into the philosophy that Gilbride was trying to enforce with Graham helming it. It was becoming clear that the Gilbride run-and-shoot offense was not going to work in Pittsburgh and the rest of the league was not holding the Steelers in high regard.
Heading into week 4 vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, Graham was set to start again until he hurt the bursa sac in his hip two days before the game. The Steelers' Kordell Stewart, after a week of playing scout team quarterback, was thrust into the starting lineup. This time, against the AFC Super Bowl favorite, right when he thought his time in Pittsburgh was over.
Kordell Stewart, per Truth: The Kordell Stewart Story:
"Truth is, if Kent hadn’t busted his bursa sac that Friday, I’m confident I wouldn’t have started a single game that season," Stewart said. "The coaching staff was pretty set on Kent. Considering I’d been excluded from the quarterback meetings the year before, I was pretty convinced I either had one foot out the door or had already been kicked to the curb."
The Steelers entered the game as an afterthought and came out to win one of the most dominant and significant wins in team history. The Steelers had never won in Jacksonville before, and it saw breakout performances from Joey Porter, Aaron Smith and Deshea Townsend. This was the first win on an impressive turnaround on the season and ultimately exposed Gilbride for having his own agenda.
Behind the legs of Bettis and Stewart, the Steelers' offense accumulated 209 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. But it did not happen the way Gilbride wanted to and he was irrationally irate after Stewart ran for 34 yards on route to a FG that gave the Steelers a 10-3 lead. Upon reaching the sideline, Stewart was told by a teammate that Gilbride wanted to talk to him.
Kordell Stewart talks with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Kordell Stewart, per Truth: The Kordell Stewart Story:
"I picked up the phone to talk to Coach Gilbride, still high-fiving my teammates as they came up," Stewart said.“'Why the f&%$ are you running', his voice blared through the phone. Apparently, he was angry at me for running for a first down instead of throwing the ball downfield to Plaxico.
'I couldn’t see Plaxico', I said. 'I couldn’t see nothin.'
I was shocked he was yelling at me, but at the same time I wasn’t really shocked at all.
'Why the f&%$ are you running?' he asked me again.
'But we got a first down,' I said. Because I had a game to focus on, I didn’t have time for confrontation, so I said I had to go and hung up the phone."
After that interaction, Stewart questioned if Gilbride wanted the Steelers to excel or did he just want his system to work. He adopted an “I don’t give a dang” mentality when it came to Coach Gilbride from that point and decided he was going to be who he was and let the chips fall where they may.
The Steelers rebounded from the 0-3 start to finish 9-7 and only missed the playoffs by one game, with the NFL admitting to three losses coming as a result of referees mistakes and three official apologies from the league. The missed opportunity of a post season run was also self-inflicted, as they won 7 of Stewart’s 11 starts, but the coaches kept playing musical chairs with the quarterbacks trying to find a solution and the team was not able to find a cohesive rhythm until it was too late in the season.
Jerome Bettis, per The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet:
Had we made the playoffs—the Colts got the last spot in the AFC—I dare say we would have reached the AFC Championship. We had that good of a football team by the end of December. Kordell had earned our confidence.
At the end of the season, Gilbride was fired and thankfully he took his run-and-shoot with him as neither he nor it was ever a fit in Steeler Nation. In 2001, the Steelers restructured their offense around the core strengths of the team, resulting in the most prolific offense of the Cowher era and Stewart finishing 4th in the MVP vote. Do you agree with Jerome Bettis and think the 2000 Steelers had a chance to do something special if they stuck with Kordell Stewart under center all season? Leave a comment below.
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