STEELERS Cowher focused on taking next step

The Pittsburgh coach has been treating the off-season like midseason.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Don't tell Bill Cowher it's only May.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are barely halfway through their off-season, but Cowher is displaying a midseason-like look of determination -- and, yes, that scary-as-ever scowl -- during their three-day minicamp this weekend.
He delivered a start-of-camp talk Friday that was so motivating, wide receiver Cedrick Wilson wished there was a game that day. Cowher also unexpectedly tossed a pack of rookie offensive linemen into a blitz-heavy drill minutes into their first workout, and even admonished quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for recklessly tooling around on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle without a helmet.
If Cowher seems overly impatient for his 14th season as a head coach to arrive, it's probably understandable. Cowher, who turns 48 today, is the league's most tenured coach with a single team, although his mostly successful stay (a 130-77 regular season record, eight division titles) does not include a Super Bowl championship.
He was close again as the Steelers turned a Cowher-worst 6-10 season in 2003 into a franchise-best 15-1 in 2004, and with a rookie quarterback running the show. But a season that was successful beyond all expectations had a familiar ending, with a 41-27 loss to New England in the AFC championship game.
Coming close
It was the Steelers' fourth loss in five AFC title game appearances under Cowher, all of them on their home field, yet this latest loss appears to be driving Cowher even more than defeats after the 1994, 1997 and 2001 seasons.
"We need to take the next step," Cowher said. "What you did last year means nothing."
No wonder some Steelers rookies already are wondering when they'll see the first public eruption of Mount Cowher.
"As we talked about with the team, there are no guarantees, there are no shortcuts, and it's going to be demanding," Cowher said. "That's how we're going to approach this year."
It certainly is a different, sterner Cowher, and for a reason.
After the Steelers followed six consecutive playoff seasons by going 22-26 from 1998-2000, Cowher second-guessed his own methods. He wondered if he allowed his veteran players too much leeway in determining their practice schedules and off-season routines, and questioned if they came back hungry enough following previous title-game losses.
Now, Cowher isn't about to let it happen again, not with a mostly veteran team that appears to have several more Super Bowl runs left in them.
"We did a lot of good things last year, but we did not end it the way we needed it to end," Cowher said. "We're starting over and not assuming anything with any player. The guys who had good years last year need to have better years, and some of the guys who did not play up to expectations need to do that."
Focused on failings
That's one reason why, for all of Roethlisberger's successes in winning his first 14 NFL starts, Cowher is focusing more on the quarterback's postseason failings -- the five interceptions thrown and the number of poor decisions made in a close win against the Jets and the New England loss.
Cowher's show-me-more attitude helped motivate Roethlisberger to return to Pittsburgh to start his off-season workout program barely a month after the Jan. 23 AFC title game.
"We did not play our best game, we did not coach our best game and that's the reality of it," Cowher said. "Around here you've got to have thick skin, and we're going to have high expectations of everybody, myself included. Ben is no exception -- he set a high standard for himself he expects to live up to, and everybody else to live up to."
Losing to the same team in the AFC championship game twice in four seasons appears to be additional incentive to Cowher. New England is coming off three Super Bowl championships in four years but, privately, the Steelers think the Patriots' coaching staff defections (Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis), health issues (Tedy Bruschi) and personnel losses (Ty Law, Troy Brown) translate into a beatable opponent.
Now, the challenge is for the Steelers to become the team that can beat them.
"I'm just excited about this year, and everyone is," Roethlisberger said. "There's like a buzz going around you feel coming off last year. Coach said it best: If we went 5-11 last year we'd be pretty disappointed. We had a great season, but we're disappointed about the way it ended."