Ed: Pittsburgh Native Gradkowski Follows Marino's Path

Wednesday, 30 January 2013 09:07

Written by Ed Bouchette

Good morning,

    NEW ORLEANS -- Bill Cowher has only been to Super Bowls when he’s had to work at them – Super Bowl XXX in Arizona and Super Bowl XL in Detroit with the Steelers, Super Bowl XLIV in Miami and this one here.
  “I’m here because I have to be,’’ Cowher told me Tuesday before a CBS press conference to promote their game’s broadcast.
 Cowher, of course, is part of that broadcast. He’s been on the job since CBS hired him after he resigned as Steelers coach following the 2006 season. He told me years ago while coaching the Steelers that he would never attend a Super Bowl unless his team was in it. This year, his CBS team is in it.
   Not all coaches feel that way. Many do attend, although you won’t see Mike Tomlin here this week because he follows the Cowher philosophy. However, for example, Bruce Arians will be here tomorrow or Friday.
     “I’m going to practices and  I miss that,’’ Cowher said of the old coach in him. “Then you watch the game on the sidelines. It’s the only time I’ve been to a game. I wouldn’t be here unless I was working but I embrace it.”
  He referred to being on the sideline for the game in Miami, the only other time he’s been to a Super Bowl without his team.
     Onto some stuff:
 --- Gino Gradkowski is a 6-3, 300-pound rookie guard for the Baltimore Ravens, drafted in the fourth round last April.  Like his quarterback, he played at Delaware after transferring from West Virginia. Like his older brother, Bruce, he was born in Pittsburgh and played and graduated at Seton-LaSalle High School in Mt. Lebanon. Bruce, a quarterback with a victory over the Steelers on his resume, has played for a handful of NFL teams and is now with the Cincinnati Bengals.
 Gino also has another distinction. His father, Bruce, works at the Post-Gazette. That makes Gino the first son of a paper’s employee to play in a Super Bowl since Dan Marino.
--- Among the former Steelers here with radio shows are Chad Brown, Kordell Stewart and Mark Malone. Jim Miller also works for Sirius and is probably here somewhere but I haven’t seen him yet.
-- A couple of your questions:
 --- YOU: In thinking about our draft pick at #17 in Round 1 I noticed how much WVU's QB Geno Smith is being downplayed by the draftniks on TV and online. That made me wonder what you think would happen if Smith was still on the board when our pick came: would the Steelers draft the potential franchise-quality QB and then trade him? Or trade down? Or draft him and sit on him like an Aaron Rodgers situation for a few years?
It's hard for me to guess what would happen in that case.
Do you have any thoughts on this scenario?
ME: I doubt that would happen. Have you looked at the Steelers roster lately? The last thing they need to do is use a first-round draft pick on a quarterback. However, from everything I’ve seen is that Geno Smith should be the first quarterback picked and on the first round.
--- YOU: Lost in all of the Revis discussion is that who is going to want to pay him the $$ he wants until they know he's healthy. The guy is coming off major knee surgery. Granted today's knee surgeries tend to have happy endings but what if the combination of age (28) and surgery causes him to lose a step? Suddenly he's not worth that sort of $$. Peyton Manning's deal guaranteed him 1 year but then after that he had to prove he was healthy. I would think that anybody signing Revis right now would want something like that as well.
ME: It’s the same for those who wanted the Steelers to trade for Maurice Jones-Drew. The reason he was unhappy in Jacksonville was the money. It’s also just not the way the Steelers operate.