STEELERS: Fred Taylor isn’t worried as much about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home-field advantage as he is their bad field.
Taylor, the Jaguars’ star running back, chided the Steelers on Tuesday for their substandard grass field. He and suggested they spend $1 million on artificial turf to improve one of the NFL’s worst playing surfaces.
The Jaguars play an AFC wild-card game in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, their second visit there in less than a month.
“That field is terrible,” Taylor said in a conference call with Pittsburgh reporters. “That’s a lawsuit pending. That’s ridiculous.”
Taylor’s comments were unexpected only because he ran for 147 yards and the winning touchdown on that snow-covered, mushy field during Jacksonville’s 29-22 victory in Pittsburgh on Dec. 16.
Also, the Jaguars pride themselves on being a Pittsburgh-like team that wins with the run and a strong defense. Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker calls them “the Steelers of the South.”
Taylor, a 10,000-yard career rusher, has 381 yards rushing in his last two games in Pittsburgh, although his 234 yards there in 2000 came on Three Rivers Stadium’s artificial turf.
Despite frequent complaints from visiting players about the slippery and often grass-bare field since Heinz Field opened in 2001, the Steelers have stayed with grass mostly because their players often plead with owner Dan Rooney to keep it.
The Steelers put down a new layer of sod after four high school games and a Pitt game were played at the stadium in a span of 30 hours Nov. 23-24. However, monsoon-like rains created ankle-deep water and muck for the Steelers’ 3-0 win over Miami on Nov. 26.
An NFL operations official stayed in Pittsburgh the following week to monitor the conditions, and the field held up for the Steelers’ 24-10 victory over Cincinnati on Dec. 2 despite more rain.
Snow fell and strong winds blew throughout the Jacksonville game two weeks later, yet the Jaguars outgained the Steelers 421-217 and outrushed them 224-115. The Jaguars were the only visiting team to beat the Steelers in Heinz Field this season.
No matter, Taylor wants to see artificial turf the next time he travels to Pittsburgh.
“I prefer grass, but these cold-weather teams, late in the season, they allow high schools to play on their field and they allow colleges to play on their field,” said Taylor, ninth in the league with 1,202 yards rushing. “It just goes completely bad. So I think a million-dollar investment won’t hurt their pockets.”
The weather may not be the factor for this game it was in the Steelers’ last three home games. The early forecast calls for an unseasonably mild daytime high of 49, cloudy skies and no precipitation.
Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio doesn’t share Taylor’s dislike of Heinz Field, perhaps because the Jaguars have won their last two games there. They won 23-17 in 2005, when the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl.
“It’s a better field now than it has been,” Del Rio said. “Usually at this time of the year, with all the play it gets, it’s really worn. All in all, it’s a good, solid field.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seemed pleased to hear of Taylor’s comments, if only because they suggest the field might prove a distraction to the Jaguars.
“Sure it is (an advantage), if he feels that way,” Tomlin said. “I don’t know anybody on our team that hates our field.”
CHARGERS: After building the San Diego Chargers into a consistent playoff contender — if not yet a postseason success — general manager A.J. Smith received a five-year contract extension Tuesday that will keep him with the team through 2014.
Details weren’t announced, but various reports said the extension was worth $11 million.
Smith didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.
Team president Dean Spanos was traveling and unavailable for comment, his secretary said.
Smith’s previous contract was due to expire following the 2009 season. He was promoted in April 2003 after John Butler died of cancer.
The Chargers have won the AFC West for the third time in four seasons under Smith. They’ll try to break a four-game postseason losing streak dating to January 1995 when they host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in the wild-card round. Two of those playoff losses have come on Smith’s watch.
Although it was Butler who drafted star running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Smith has proven to be a strong talent evaluator by drafting star players such as outside linebacker Shawne Merriman, quarterback Philip Rivers and cornerback Antonio Cromartie.
He’s also signed undrafted players who developed into Pro Bowlers, most notably tight end Antonio Gates, a three-time All-Pro. Two other free agent pickups, guard Kris Dielman and special teams player Kassim Osgood, have developed into Pro Bowlers.
Smith is probably best known for holding his ground when Eli Manning’s representatives told the Chargers just before the 2004 draft that the quarterback wouldn’t play for San Diego if it took him with the first overall pick.
Smith drafted Manning anyway, then swapped his rights to the New York Giants for the rights to Rivers, as well as picks he used to take kicker Nate Kaeding later in that draft and Merriman the following year.
Smith also obtained wide receiver Chris Chambers from Miami at this year’s trade deadline. The acquisition of Chambers has helped open up the running game.
The Chargers are 50-30 under Smith, but 0-2 in the postseason.
Smith became involved in a front-office soap opera when his relationship with coach Marty Schottenheimer soured to the point that the two men didn’t talk to each other.
Schottenheimer was fired by Spanos in February, a month after the top-seeded Chargers fell apart in their playoff opener, a shocking 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Chargers also lost to the New York Jets in overtime in the 2004 wild-card round, also under Schottenheimer.
Smith hired Norv Turner to replace Schottenheimer. After a stunning 1-3 start, the Chargers head into the playoffs having won six straight and 10 of 12.
STEELERS: The start of the Penguins’ home game Saturday against Florida has been moved to 3:08 p.m. so it doesn’t conflict with the Steelers’ home playoff game that night.
The Panthers-Penguins game was to have started at 7:30 p.m., or a half-hour before the Jaguars-Steelers AFC wild card game — Pittsburgh’s first home playoff game in three years.
The Penguins made the switch after the NHL approved the move. Neither the Penguins nor the Panthers play on Friday night, so neither team will be playing a day game following a night game.
Associated Press
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