Rave reviews from Cowher unjustified

CLEVELAND - Bill Cowher was selling again on Sunday, to anyone and everyone within earshot.

Cowher was selling his team's inconsistent, incomplete, 23-20 victory as a significant triumph achieved against a tough opponent in a hostile environment amid dire circumstances. And he was selling his kicker, Todd Peterson, as a clutch veteran, one that inspires confidence because of his steady demeanor and strong mind-set.

Cowher's enthusiasm was understandable. He had, after all, sold the Steelers on there being plenty of time to redeem themselves and plenty of positives to build upon even at 0-2 and 1-3. Not just any coach would have been able to accomplish that well enough to reach 5-3 by the season's midpoint.

The Steelers win over the Browns was a big one only because it allowed them to achieve some separation from the rest of the NFL's Delta Pledge Class, the AFC North Division. That aside, this was not a game from which the Steelers should emerge beating their chests. They dominated the Browns, physically and statistically, and still they found themselves having to sweat it out at the end. Had they really been playing "a good football team," as Cowher twice mislabeled the mentally challenged and woefully undermanned Browns, they'd have been beaten.

"This game should have been out of hand," strong safety Lee Flowers said. "We should have easily put up 40 points."

That they didn't had a lot to do with Peterson, the very same kicker Cowher professed so much respect for and confidence in, because either Peterson wasn't able to connect or Cowher was unwilling to allow Petersen an opportunity to do so.

On three occasions, the Steelers went for it on fourth down — fourth-and-3 from the Cleveland 27-yard line late in the second quarter, fourth-and-4 from the Cleveland 30 early in the third, and again on fourth-and-9 from the Browns' 33 midway through the fourth quarter. The first two such gambles occurred after Peterson had connected from 43 yards away, the last after Peterson had misfired on a 41-yard try, and then hit from 28 and 42 yards.

Such an approach reeked of more than merely the coach being aggressive, particularly in the second half.

A lot of points potentially slipped away in those instances (Tommy Maddox' interception at the goal line following the Steelers' lone successful fourth-down conversion was a factor in that, as well), points that could have put Cleveland away much sooner. And no matter how emphatically Cowher denied as much afterward, his actions suggested in no uncertain terms that he has little faith in the little kicker.

"I think Todd's going to be fine," Cowher said with apparent sincerity. "He has a good mind-set. His kickoffs were fine. He came through for us today.

"He's been persevering, that's what I like about Todd Peterson, he has a strong mind and he's persevered through this and we're going to need him down the stretch. We're going to need him to make a game-winning field goal. He's already done it once this season (on Sept. 29 against Cleveland) and we're going to need him again."

Perhaps that's why Cowher felt the need to pile on, offering everything but a free set of steak knives in his Peterson sales pitch.

"It was big for him," Cowher said of Peterson's 3-for-4 performance. "It was big for him with our players. Our players embraced him after the game and certainly, when you looked at it, that was the difference."

Peterson insisted he didn't need such stroking.

"I don't really look at it that way," he said. "I don't really think I think as much about stuff as people probably think a kicker thinks about stuff. After eight or nine years of doing this, I just go out and do my job. What happens sometimes is tough to deal with. You're going to miss kicks, it's that simple."

So is this: A playoff game may well come down to a 44-, 47- or 50-yard attempt such as the ones Cowher passed on at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

If it does, that'll get the Steelers beat.

In the meantime, the "false sense of security" Flowers identified in the Steelers' effort against the Browns should be perceived as equally disturbing.

That can get the Steelers beat, too.

Perhaps as quickly as this Sunday against Atlanta.