STEELERS Weather stymies practice

It's been a frustrating training camp for Bill Cowher and his team.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Injuries and rain have so disrupted training camp that Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher strongly hinted Thursday that he's worried about being ready for the start of the season.
"Without a doubt, we are definitely not where we need to be at this point," Cowher said. "As I told them this morning, we are behind. So, with that, there's got be to a sense of urgency."
Cowher normally wouldn't be so concerned with the season still three weeks away, but this has been anything but a normal camp.
Change of venue
Cowher finally gave up following a week of persistent rain and moved practice Wednesday from St. Vincent College's waterlogged fields to a high school stadium with artificial turf. The trip required a 50-minute bus ride each way that forced the Steelers to rearrange their day's schedule.
It's not just where they're practicing that concerns Cowher, but who is practicing. The starting offensive line still hasn't practiced together because of center Jeff Hartings' knee injury and right guard Kendall Simmons' diabetes, which caused him to miss 2 1/2 weeks of camp.
Simmons practiced for only the fourth time Thursday and, Cowher said, "He's where everybody else was two weeks ago."
And he didn't mean in his dorm room, waiting for it to stop raining.
Last week, drenching rains forced the Steelers to move their final two practices before their exhibition opener against Detroit into St. Vincent's gym. Cowher subsequently pinned part of the blame for his team's sluggish performance in the 26-13 loss on not getting the usual amount of preparation.
The rain and soggy practice fields also shortened workouts Monday and Tuesday, yet Cowher has ruled out relocating to a much drier locale -- like, maybe, Pittsburgh.
St. Vincent College is about 40 miles from the Steelers' regular season practice complex, but recent storm patterns have dumped much more rain on Latrobe than on downtown Pittsburgh.
"I think it's put us back, I think it's set us back a little bit," Cowher said. "But you can't twitch your nose and go back in time; this is where we're at. ... We have a ways to go and a period of time to get there and we have to understand that."
True to his word
The weather setbacks also haven't caused Cowher to rethink his opposition to the growing trend of holding training camp at NFL teams' regular practice sites.
Before camp started last month, Cowher rebuked those in the league who would alter tradition just for the sake of change, saying there are "too many trendsetters" in the NFL.
"It does not change my belief in where training camp should be held," he said. "I still believe there are so many plusses in going away and eliminating as many distractions as possible. ... I don't want to change my feelings just because of this one summer."
Cowher also will stay with his usual plan for the second preseason game, which means the starters will play about a half Saturday against the Philadelphia Eagles at Heinz Field.
Quarterback Tommy Maddox will be followed by Charlie Batch, with rookie Brian St. Pierre finishing up. Simmons is expected to play 18 or 20 downs in his first game action of the preseason.