The heat is on Kordell & Co.

Steelers fans ready to give QB, team one more shot

This is the 13th in a series of postcards Sports Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL training camp tour.

Friday, Aug. 16

Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

In my favorite camp site of all: St. Vincent College in the rolling Laurel Highlands of west-central Pennsylvania. Rolling Rock is a couple of miles away, and -- I swear -- some year I'm going to take the tour of the brewery with the glass-lined vats. There is no prettier sight in all of summer football -- and I include the Chargers' practice site at the University of California-San Diego, where the Pacific Ocean is visible in slivers from different parts of campus -- than the morning fog lifting off the hills all around this place.

1. I think it has to be a pretty rude awakening for Charlie Batch that Tommy Maddox is beating him out for the back-up job. Matt Millen is not a petty man, but he must be smiling at that one.

2. I think Bill Cowher does a smart thing in preserving his veterans. This afternoon he gave his 10 guys with at least eight years of NFL experience the practice off, after last night's scrimmage at a local high school.

3. I think this is the deepest offensive line in the NFL. When the Steelers went looking for offensive linemen to fill out their camp roster, agents told them it was fruitless to send marginal prospects there because they'd never make it.

4. I think the fields here look like my front lawn, and like most front lawns in the Northeast these days. Dogeared. Burned. Beat up. Hard as a rock. Amazing that the caretakers didn't think to add enough water early in camp to take care of them. The players are more sore than they'd normally be, and the other day safety Lee Flowers popped off about practicing on such hard and inconsistent fields. The school plans to install a sprinkler and drainage system next year, and the Steelers have always been good friends to St. Vincent, so they’ll not make a big deal of it right now. But make no mistake, these are lousy fields right now.

5. I think this is the kind of pressure on the Steelers locally right now: Driving away from camp this evening, an incendiary local talk-show host named Mark Madden said on the air that if this team does not reach the Super Bowl, he would "feel comfortable picking scapegoats and crucifying them. And I will try to ride them out of a town on a rail." Yow. Attaway to keep this thing in perspective, Mark.

Antwaan Randle El. He's small -- 5-foot-9 and 186 pounds -- and I can't believe he saw over the mooses on the line at Indiana. And I can't believe he didn’t get broken in two. Everyone thought the Steelers reached on Randle El, who they plan to convert to receiver, with their low second-round pick, but he’s been so hot in camp that they'll likely dump former first-round pick Troy Edwards, have Hines Ward and Plaxico (rhymes with Mexico for some strange reason) Burress start at wideout and make Randle El the No. 3. Excellent hands, good instincts, terrific feet.

On special teams. It's what haunted them in the AFC Championship Game, when the Patriots returned a punt and a blocked field goal for touchdowns. The new special-teams coach, Kevin Spencer, will be the whipping boy of the rabid 'Burgh talk-show circuit if he doesn’t turn this group around.

There are monks here. Real monks. When you park your car in the media lot, you are handed a parking pass for your dashboard that says you are entering the St. Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary.

Today’s belchworthy fare: ENTREE: Steak Diane, in a thick brown sauce, atop brown rice. I was full after seven bites. Good meat. They might want to reconsider the heavy sauce, especially for players about to practice in this oven right now, and for the writers about to watch them. C-plus. VEGETABLES: Very nice salad bar. Romaine, iceburg, broccoli, shredded carrots, cukes, topped by classic Italian. B. DESSERT: Banana Froz-Fruit bar. It's hard to mess up these classic treats. Every camp should be stocked with them. B-plus. DRINK: Spring water. P (on the pass-fail system). OVERALL GRADE: C-plus. I'm never one to look a gift meal in the mouth, but that steak sauce was still, shall we say, with me six hours after entry.

I had a nice chat with Kordell Stewart in the cafeteria today. He's happy, content with his lot in life, and convinced that the Steelers only started playing at a very high level on offense when they made him an integral part of the offense last year. "This town loves grunge football, because it’s a working-class town," he said. "They'd rather see us run the ball. They'd rather see me run the ball than throw it. But I think we became a complete team on offense last year."

Funny. No one tells me this, no one even intimates that it might happen. But if Stewart has a lousy first month (at New England, Oakland, Cleveland, at New Orleans), I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Cowher pulled him. This organization was shaken by how Stewart played late in the season. He imploded in the AFC Championship Game, with three picks and no TDs. Though he was a 60 percent passer for the season, he was the old Kordell in his last four games, including playoffs: four touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 54-percent completion rate.

Not to stat you to death, but Stewart threw twice as many picks in his last four games (10) as he did in his first 14 (five).

I think the Steelers made a mistake in signing Batch in the offseason. There's no bigger Steelers fan in America than my father-in-law, who lives here, and when Batch got signed, he was thrilled because he thought finally the Steelers might have a quarterback. And I thought how interesting a signing that was. The Steelers had to know that at the first sign of Kordell shakiness, the fans would be calling for Batch. Maybe the Steelers thought that was good, that Stewart needs a challenge, that he needs to be taken out of his comfort zone. For some guys, yes. For Stewart, I'm not sure.

Phil Simms or Doug Flutie getting challenged, fine. Kordell Stewart or Kerry Collins getting challenged, I think it plays with their heads. People wonder why the Giants signed Collins to his chintzy contract extension a few weeks ago. I don't. Collins needed the contract. He needed the Giants to say: You're our man.

And I get the feeling here that the Steelers are tired of that with Stewart. Just go out and play. If you win the job and keep the job, great. If not, we've got other guys. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't think so.

I also think Stewart will play very well this year, and hold off Maddox and Batch. Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey showed how smart he was last year in choreographing Stewart into a brilliant talent for three months. He'll figure out how to do it again.

Baltimore Ravens, Westminster, Md.

Check back soon for more of Peter King's Postcards from Camp. Or visit the archive to catch up.