Mendenhall gets fresh start from Tomlin

[GBMelBlount]

Mendenhall gets fresh start from Tomlin

NFL Week 1: Steelers vs. Texans

The Vikings' Kevin Williams knocks the ball loose from the grasp of Steelers

Rashard Mendenhall in the first half of the preseason game in Minneapolis.
The beauty of the NFL preseason is that coaches use it is as barometer to make decisions, but only when it's convenient. Veteran mistakes are dismissed and ignored as gaffes that don't count. Rookie accomplishments are hailed and triumphed as steps in the right direction.

And so it is with rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall. He is no veteran, to be sure, not at age 21 and the youngest player on the team. But he is no ordinary rookie, either, not after being the 23rd overall selection in the draft.

Mendenhall was the Steelers' leading rusher in the preseason, gaining 222 yards on 54 carries and averaging 4.1 yards per attempt. But he also had this annoying little problem of not holding onto the ball, fumbling three times in the past two games and causing his coach, Mike Tomlin, to express some reluctance about using Mendenhall when the games start to count.

Not to worry.

The regular season begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow against the Houston Texans at Heinz Field, and Mendenhall's mistakes are being given the same dismissive treatment as presidential campaign rhetoric: They are being swept under the carpet and forgotten ... at least until he fumbles again.

"I've coached running backs too long," said offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. "I don't worry about that. Just play football. Run it when you're handed it and just hold on to it."

In other words, the Steelers are no more concerned about Mendenhall's recent rash of fumbles than they might be a missed Ben Roethlisberger pass. They are wiping the slate clean and planning to use him in the same manner they had planned all along -- getting him in for as many as 10 to 15 plays a game as a backup to Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker.

Mendenhall also will be the primary kick-returner against the Texans.

"You never know, it could be 20," Arians said. "It depends on the flow of the game. If Willie has a normal game, it should be in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 plays."

"You don't want to fill their plate too much, especially early in season. You like them to have success. Preseason, to me, doesn't count. You don't want them to fail in the regular season. You want them to have success. There might be a chance he's our starter next week. We want to make sure he comes out of this game confident."

Even Tomlin, who said last week he would be reluctant to use Mendenhall in the regular season ("Wouldn't you?" he asked), has backed off that comment and appears ready to give his No. 1 pick a fresh start.

"I reserve judgment till we see how he performs in the regular season," Tomlin said. "Of course, he's going to have the opportunity to do that. He's preparing to play. We're not going to know until we play."

And Mendenhall said he is excited to do that, not dwelling on the fumbles and not altering the style that made him the third running back selected in the draft. He said "nothing has changed, for the most part."

After all, he added, he never had a problem with fumbles in high school or at Illinois. The last thing he wants to do is start cradling the football like a modern-day Earl Gros.

"I think it's the same thing as going from high school to college, from college to the NFL," Mendenhall said. "It's just learning how to play the game as a whole. The more comfortable you are, the better you get at it. The best thing is being comfortable and playing the game.

"How I carried the ball has always been the same. You just learn how to play the game."

The arrival of Mendenhall, who started for just one season at Illinois before leaving after his junior year, is the biggest change in what amounts to an overhauled backfield for the Steelers. Parker returns after a Pro Bowl season that was cut short with a fractured fibula in Week 15, but fullback Dan Kreider is gone, as is Najeh Davenport, the No. 2 back the past two years.

Mendenhall will be joined by Mewelde Moore, who was signed in free agency from the Minnesota Viking and will be the team's third-down back.

"When you're on a new team everybody wants to see how you work, what you're capable of doing and, most of all, how you interact with everyone from a professional standpoint," Moore said.

"When you're with another team and you have new guys come in who are supposed to help your team out, you know from how you were in those other shoes, how you were looking at the new guys coming in. So, now that you're the new guy, I kind of know what's in their mind."

The same curiosity might exist with Mendenhall, but for a different reason.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08250/910002-66.stm

Saturday, September 06, 2008
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466.

[Galax Steeler]

It's good to see them wipe the slate clean for Mendenhall maybe he will put them fumbles behind him and get into the game mode and do well for us.

[CanadianSteel]

Yep we will need him worrying about getting yards not fumbling.... clean slate is the way to go... but..... if he fumbles allot during regular season could be in Tomlins doghouse...

[GBMelBlount]

Originally Posted by galax steeler

It's good to see them wipe the slate clean for Mendenhall maybe he will put them fumbles behind him and get into the game mode and do well for us.

I agree! If his fumbles are behind him, we are more likely to recover them imo.

[BIGBENFASTWILLIE]

i just hope he runs with a nasty attitude.. I would love him to run through guys like Jacobs did last night on landry

[PisnNapalm]

Bring Bussy back for a session on how to hold the ball. He was one of the best.

[klick81]

Maaan. I just hope Coach is not blinded by the big name.

If Mendenhall starts fumbling, he needs to make some changes. Special team turnovers worry me the most.

[LVSteelersfan]

It's all a setup. Mendenhall fumbled ON PURPOSE to fool the other teams into a false sense of security. Yeah. That's the ticket. He will be fine. He will be fine. Say that mantra enough and it will be so.

[wootawnee]

Everybody fumbles...........Franco fumbed just about double digit times every year......
He had the D to get it back though.......

[stillers4me]

Originally Posted by LVSteelersfan

It's all a setup. Mendenhall fumbled ON PURPOSE to fool the other teams into a false sense of security. Yeah. That's the ticket. He will be fine. He will be fine. Say that mantra enough and it will be so.

I believe!