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What about me? Edwards not going to give Burress all of the limelight
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated LATROBE, Pa. -- Amidst the buzz created by Pittsburgh rookie receiver Plaxico Burress' impressive NFL debut Sunday night against Dallas, there was one lone dissenting voice going out of its way to throw cold water on the hot story Tuesday at Steelers training camp. The shocker? That voice belonged to Pittsburgh receiver Troy Edwards, who last year at this time was in Burress' high-profile shoes as the team's first-round pick. Sending a message that roughly amounted to "Don't forget about me," Edwards stoked the fires of an evolving friendly competition between him and Burress, and promised big things to come from both first-round receivers.
"Everybody's trying to count me out right now because Plaxico's 6-foot-5 and I'm 5-9," said the talkative Edwards, just getting warmed up. "But I've seen a lot of 6-5 players on the bench. It doesn't matter if you're 5-9 as long as you get the job done. "I know I'm going to get the job done this year, so it really doesn't matter what Plaxico does. I'm not trying to be the complement to Plaxico. He can be the complement to me. He had one good game. C'mon, it was a preseason game." As harsh as that might sound, Edwards clearly intended no disrespect to his friend and fellow receiver. His manner was playful and his meaning was two-fold: One, his comments sought to lower the level of expectations on Burress after his four-catch, 60-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Cowboys; and secondly, he wants to challenge Burress and himself to greatness. "Both of us are 23 years old," Edwards said before the Steelers' afternoon practice at St. Vincent College. "But I've been in the NFL for a year more than he has, and I think we're going to be great players together. You need a different change of pace at receiver. Plaxico's a big, physical receiver and I'm more of the quick, finesse receiver. So that's like the best duo you can have. "We're going to be heard from. I know we're going to be heard from. That's definite. We'll be one of the best duos in the NFL. If he studies his playbook, we can be the best duo in the NFL." In the 38-10 victory at Dallas, Burress flashed some of the big-play promise of his eighth overall selection, snaring a 2-yard touchdown pass from Steelers backup quarterback Kent Graham in the fourth quarter, and going high in the air over a defender to grab a 29-yard completion from starter Kordell Stewart on the first play of Pittsburgh's second drive. Two plays later, Burress and Stewart hooked up on a 25-yard gain. Long and lean with a pterodactyl's reach and build, Burress looked like an incarnation of Randy Moss against the Cowboys, such was his tendency to out-jump and out-position his defender. "That's when my instincts take over," Burress said. "When I'm running and the ball's in the air, it just kind of seems like I've got a lock on it. It's like in 'Robocop.' You're looking and then you've got that lock on it. "I just go get it. When the ball's in the air and I'm running, it seems like I know I'm going to catch it before it even gets to me. I have that confidence to go up and get the football." Edwards, the 12th overall pick out of Louisiana Tech last season, had no catches against the Cowboys and had just two plays called in which he was the primary receiver. Last year Edwards set a Steelers rookie record for catches with 61, tying teammate Hines Ward for the team lead, and led a struggling Pittsburgh receiving corps with 714 yards. But despite that success, and his aforementioned reminder to the media that they not discount his abilities, Edwards said he was all too happy to cede the pressurized spotlight to Burress this year. "Everybody's going to want to come and try to knock Plaxico off his little pedestal that he's on right now," Edwards said. "Everybody wants Plaxico. I was happy to get the pressure off me. The media was on me last year and thought I was going to be the savior and this and that. "I'm glad the media's off my back. They can go to Plaxico and mess with him now. I'm back to being just plain old Troy. I can go to my locker and lean back." Thrown a bit off guard at first by Edwards' comments, Burress on Tuesday afternoon warmed to the challenge being handed down by his teammate. "Me and Troy kind of get on each other every day," Burress said. "I say 'I'm going to outplay you today,' and he kind of says, 'Yeah, right.' We have fun with it. That's only going to make me and him better in the long run. "There's no jealousy. Both of us want to accomplish the same things. We want to play hard and make an impact. Both of us kind of share the same dreams. Having a guy coming in here saying he's better than me, that kind of lifts me up at practice and makes me want to play better." Edwards has drawn the plaudits of Steelers coaches for taking Burress under his wing and helping teach him his rookie-season lessons. Burress said there is no one in the Steelers camp he confides in more than Edwards. "He went through some of the same things I'm going through, but they tell me I'm a lot further ahead than he was at this time last year,'' Burress said, firing a bit of a shot himself. "When I have trouble, there's no better person to ask than Troy." With one game down and 20 remaining in his rookie season, Burress has plenty left to learn. "If he keeps having games like that, that means the better for us and I'll go the playoffs and get more money," Edwards said. "Everything will be just fine. But I'm going to have my catches too. It's not a 40-yard dash. This is a marathon. We've got a long ways to go."
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