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August 18, 2009

Steelers defense not happy with rookie's scoring

BY ALAN ROBINSON

LATROBE — The Pittsburgh Steelers fielded the NFL’s best defense the past two seasons, so they don’t like it when anyone scores against them. Even a teammate.

So when rookie free agent Isaac Redman spiked the ball after scoring five times in seven attempts during a goal-line drill, three times against a majority of the starters, players such as James Harrison, Troy Polamalu and LaMarr Woodley were watching. They weren’t necessarily cheering, either.

“It’s very premature,” safety Ryan Clark said Monday. “We run the same defense every play. I’m not saying the offense didn’t do well, they came out and had a push and he found the creases. But you’ve got to do a little bit more before you start spiking. It was kind of like the varsity was out there, but it wasn’t really the varsity.”

The Steelers’ defensive players want the player who’s already gained the nickname of Red Zone Redman to keep scoring. They just don’t want him doing it against them.

“My compliments go out to the guy. I think he’s doing well, but it’s personal,” Clark said.

Coach Mike Tomlin routinely splits the goal-line carries among several backs, but he kept Redman on the field for all seven plays because he kept scoring. Redman also may have gotten in a sixth time, but it was waved off.

“You saw what I saw, he got in the end zone a bunch,” Tomlin said.

Redman is the career rushing leader at Division II Bowie State, but he was the longest of long shots coming into camp to make it past the first roster cut. He initially gained attention by getting into the end zone twice during the goal-line drill on Aug. 9, when 2008 first-round draft pick Rashard Mendenhall couldn’t get in. Redman also scored the Steelers’ only two touchdowns during their 20-10 exhibition victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday.

The Steelers have auditioned numerous short-yardage backs since Jerome Bettis retired three years ago, but no one has kept the job. In April, they drafted former UNLV running back Frank “The Tank” Summers on the fifth round to try to fill the role but, so far, he has been upstaged by the 6-foot, 230-pound Redman.

The question, of course, is whether he can keep on doing it when he’s not going against second- and third-line defenders and players who won’t be in the NFL once the season starts.

“I think we’re looking for a back in that phase of the game and he’s shown a talent for it, he’s shown a nose for getting in from the 1- or 2-yard line,” Clark said.

“I think he definitely can help us in that aspect. Since losing Bussy, we haven’t had that guy, we’ve been plugging and plugging and searching for that guy.

If he can find a niche there, it will really help our team.”

For now, Redman has given himself a chance he didn’t realistically have when camp began.

“I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity I’ve got, whether it’s running the ball or going down on kickoffs and punts,” he said.

Notes: Former running backs coach Dick Hoak attended practice Monday. He retired in 2007 after a 45-year NFL career, 10 as a player and 35 as an assistant coach. ... K Jeff Reed’s offseason confrontation with a convenience store towel-dispensing machine was parodied during the team’s annual rookie show. Reed was charged with criminal mischief in mid-February for damaging the machine, which was empty when he attempted to use it. ... WR Limas Sweed jumped in fright during practice Monday when he began to put on his helmet and found a frog in it. Reed, aware of Sweed’s intense dislike of frogs, was the culprit.

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