STEELERS Maddox gets nod; Stewart benched

Stewart said the job belongs to Maddox and he won't make a fuss.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Tommy Maddox is the Steelers' starting quarterback again, and that means Kordell Stewart is headed back to the bench.
What impresses coach Bill Cowher is how Stewart's going: quietly.
Despite playing two of the best games of his Steelers career, Stewart won't start Sunday against Houston as Maddox returns from a two-game injury layoff.
Rather than lobbying to keep his job, as more than a few NFL quarterbacks might have, Stewart said he understands that the job still belongs to Maddox and he won't make a fuss.
Mutual respect
"These are two unselfish football players," Cowher said Tuesday. "If you talk to both of them, they have put the team in front of themselves. You can't say enough about that. I think for that reason they have been able to perform the way they have when they stepped in for one another. They have a great respect for one another."
Maddox wanted to play Sunday in Jacksonville but went along with Cowher's decision to go with Stewart, who led the Steelers to a 25-23 victory.
Cowher, clearly determined not to let a quarterback debate divide a team that is 6-1-1 in its last eight games, said Maddox was playing too well before getting hurt Nov. 17 to lose his job to an injury.
The decision was difficult, mostly because Cowher will sit down a hot quarterback -- something NFL coaches rarely do. Stewart played virtually error-free in the two-plus games Maddox was out, completing 51 of 69 passes for 562 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and running for 135 yards.
But Cowher apparently is convinced that Maddox gives the Steelers (7-4-1) the best chance to go deep into the postseason, where they stumbled twice with Stewart. The Steelers are in excellent position to win the AFC North, with a 11/2-game lead over Cleveland and Baltimore and three of their final four games at home.
Bottom line
"I've talked with Tommy and talked with Kordell, and we certainly won't hesitate -- if we need a spark -- to go to Kordell," Cowher said. "The bottom line is, at the time of the injury, he was playing well and did not merit losing that job."
Cowher didn't name a starter last week because he wanted Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin to prepare for both quarterbacks. He decided that a similar mystery game this week would be counterproductive.
"The circumstances of last week lent themselves to not making a decision until game day," Cowher said. "But I thought it was important that it doesn't become an ongoing subject that is more distracting to our team than to any opponent."
The most compelling statistic for choosing Maddox is that he's produced 23 touchdowns to Stewart's 10, in almost equal playing time.
The unknown element is whether a scary head-and-neck injury that left Maddox paralyzed for more than a half-hour Nov. 17 in Tennessee will adversely affect him when he resumes playing.
Maddox doesn't expect that to be a problem, saying he has been hit much harder and not injured.
"If you're worried about that, you shouldn't be playing," he said.