Inside the NFL with THE WAR ROOM

Sporting News, The, Dec 13, 1999

The trouble with Kordell

Coach Bill Cowher's decision to bench Kordell Stewart as quarterback, using him as a wide receiver instead, has monumental implications for Pittsburgh. Unless they solve their glaring problem at quarterback, the aging Steelers figure to continue their two-year slide. Film study of Stewart shows little hope for the future.

To understand why Stewart has struggled, let's start by analyzing his play this season.

* Arm strength. For an NFL quarterback, Stewart's velocity is average. He throws a tight deep ball, but his biggest problem is accuracy. He has good zip on the ball but struggles throwing the deep out. His arm limits the offense because teams are able to take away more of the middle of the field, knowing he has trouble making the throws outside.

* Accuracy. Stewart throws a catchable ball, but he has become extremely errant. He is a bit undersized (6-1, 211) and has some trouble seeing over his line. He is better off making throws outside the pocket because of his lack of size. He forces the ball into coverage. His deep ball tends to sail, and too many of his short passes are behind or over the head of his receivers. Stewart has trouble leading his receivers, and he shows little feel for the timing of his routes.

* Field vision. Stewart sees the field poorly. Safeties bait him into throwing into coverage, and his inability to negotiate the safety in zone coverage results in a lot of interceptions and pass breakups. He can't pick up the blitz, so teams are able to surprise him with a lot of zone-blitz schemes. Stewart is most effective against simple man-to-man coverage because it limits his reads and decision-making.

* Running ability. Stewart is one of the league's most athletic quarterbacks with great speed and quickness, but he limits himself by confining him self to the pocket too often. That's hard to fathom, considering that his biggest weapon is his ability to take off with the ball and force teams to defend against the run/pass option.

* Leadership. Earlier in his career, Stewart had a swagger about him, but in the past two seasons, it has become obvious that he questions his ability to run the offense. Stewart looks out of place, and his teammates have lost confidence in him.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride's scheme is best suited to a classic dropback passer. The Steelers run more of a downfield passing attack that works the middle of the field with crossing routes and skinny posts in order to stretch the defense vertically as well as horizontally. The system calls for a quarterback with great field vision and an arm to make the intermediate timing throws.

Stewart's ability, however, calls for more of a dynamic system that asks the quarterback to make plays on the move. Stewart needs to be in an offense that works almost primarily out of the pocket and allows him to force the corner as a runner, giving him the option to run or throw off the rollout. Gilbride's system and Stewart are a bad match, and something has to give.

Stewart's benching presents the Steelers organization with a serious problem. Current starter Mike Tomczak, 37, isn't the answer. The Steelers have no young prospects to groom; they didn't think they'd need any when they committed to Stewart by giving him a big contract extension before this season. So they have little choice but to return him to the starting role next fall, and Cowher already has said he expects Stewart to earn the job back. But the bottom line is that Stewart is not equipped to run Gilbride's offense.

The Steelers will have to make a critical decision about the position in the offseason, and changing the offense is not an appealing option. A more likely response is to trade for a veteran, strong-armed quarterback or to draft for the future.

Belly Right Toss Left

There is an interesting play being run by several NFL teams that in many offenses is called Belly Right Toss Left. The concept of the play is to fake an inside run with the fullback to freeze the linebackers and get the safeties to bite on the run. At the same time, the halfback releases outside to take a quick pitch from the quarterback. The goal is to get the running back outside the defensive end and isolate him on a safety so he has only one guy to beat in the open field.

This play is particularly effective when you have a quick back with good hands and good open-field moves such as Minnesota's Robert Smith, Oakland's Napoleon Kaufman, St. Louis' Marshall Faulk and Green Bay's Dorsey Levens, all of whom have enjoyed success with it.

One of the unique features of this play is that the offense does not block the defensive end. The end usually squeezes down inside on the run and will not be in position to go with the back on the pitch. About the only way to defend it is for the unblocked end to recognize the play and slide with the back, or for the safety to step up and make the tackle quickly.

Why don't teams run it all the time? First, it's set up by a good play fake, and the defense has to see the fullback dive inside a few times before it will work. Second, it's basically a gimmick play that will work only once or twice a game, after which defenses adjust. But in the meantime, it's good for a couple of long gains. The Rams were averaging more than 20 yards per attempt on it.