KORDELL STEWART
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
The Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Kansas City to compete in; oops, I meant to “complete,” a wild card playoff game this past Sunday, Jan. 16. To say anything other than that about their 42-21 wild card defeat by the Chiefs other than the putrid performance of the Steelers offense featuring QB Ben Roethlisberger would be a total misrepresentation of the game; well, except for the valiant effort by the Steelers defense.
Even though the team put forth a maximum effort, their energy was again depleted and their effort was thwarted by an inept and incompetent “starting” quarterback. The usual “wait until the offense gets untracked” approach finally took its toll.
Roethlisberger could only muster up 19 yards passing in the first half, the time of the game that has proven to be of the utmost importance in an NFL game, any NFL game, period. The magic excuse again in the 2021 season was the Steelers offense being “slow starters.” Let’s be real. It wasn’t the offense, but the Pittsburgh starting QB was generally proven to be the source of the “molasses” type of beginnings for the team this season. Although there were a couple of untimely “drops” by Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson, there were also a minimum of 7 to 9 errant passes by Roethlisberger.
Outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward didn’t have slow starts in the game against the Chiefs because if they did, a chill runs down my spine just contemplating the “scalping and massacre” that would have occurred.
The Chiefs’ head coach, Andy Reid, has a preference for mobile quarterbacks. Reid showed that when he drafted Donavan McNabb out of Syracuse in the first round in 1999 when he was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2013, when Reid was hired by the Chiefs his first starting QB B.M. (Before Mahomes) was San Francisco 49ers standout Alex Smith. Reid seems to gravitate towards mobile African American quarterbacks. In 2017, Reid drafted phenomenon Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech, signaling the beginning of the end for Alex Smith. Reid and his talent evaluating personnel understand that if your quarterback can read defenses and is able to run or pass to keep the chains moving all the way to the end zone, you’ll win games more often.
I cannot read the mind of Andy Reid but it seems to me that he embraces change. Ex-Steelers head coach Bill Cowher was hired by the Black and Gold in January 1992. He had far more time to get ahead of the head coaching curve and talent evaluating process than Andy Reid who was hired by the Philadelphia several years later.
Who did the Steelers choose in the 1999 draft? Wide receiver Troy Edwards, that’s who. I surmise that Edwards was drafted to complement the Steelers starting QB in 1999, Kordell Stewart. Edwards went on to play seven less-than “hall-of-fame” career years for the Steelers, accumulating 203 receptions, which averaged out to be 29 receptions per season and 2,404 yards, which amounted to an average of 343 yards per season. At the beginning of his career, Stewart was viewed as the ultimate hybrid quarterback/running back. In today’s NFL Stewart would be viewed as just another QB that can run and pass, a Lamar Jackson type. It is possible that Stewart was the Lamar Jackson prototype before Jackson (the Baltimore Ravens’ QB) could even pick up a football. Stewart was viewed as more of a football improviser as opposed to football intellectual. Was he the excuse for the Steelers fan base to become anti-African American QB as far as future Black starting QBs are concerned?
Also, aside from his so-called lack of understanding the finer nuances of being a starter in the NFL, Kordell Stewart was eventually run out of town for other reasons, such as tall tales of his homosexuality as well as being accused of other deeds too stupid and graphic for me to expose to your “eyes of innocence.”
No one knows who is destined to be the starting quarterback to step under center for the Steelers in 2022; but maybe, just maybe, they should consider going back to the future.
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