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Sweed sticking with it: Big drop didn't shake rookie receiver
Updated 1h 19m ago |
[url="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/steelers/2009-01-22-limas-sweed_N.htm"]http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football ... weed_N.htm[/url]
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
PITTSBURGH — On his list of most egregious gaffes on a football field, Limas Sweed insists there is a moment worse than his blunder in the AFC title game.
Sweed, the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie receiver, dropped a perfect pass that would have resulted in a 50-yard touchdown late in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday when he suddenly took his eyes off the floating football.
Call it the Immaculate Incompletion.
"It's not the worst drop I've had," said Sweed, tapping his memory bank.
Playing for his first football team in seventh grade, the Brenham (Texas) Cubs, Sweed caught a pass near his 5-yard line and raced in the direction of 90-plus pay dirt.
"Before I got to the end zone, boom — the ball just popped out," Sweed remembers. "The other team recovered. That was the worst."
The stakes were just a bit higher last weekend. Add more than 40 million viewers, and it's conceivable that Sweed was floored more by embarrassment after his muff than by having his wind escape him. He lay on the turf until trainers arrived.
In any event, Sweed — who didn't hit the oxygen tank after returning to the bench — cost the Steelers their final timeout when he was treated on the field. Then poor time-management cost the Steelers a chance for a short field goal in a tight game, as the clock expired with the ball on 12-yard line as the half ended.
Here's to rookie lessons. The instant Sweed returned to the sideline, he received an earful from his heated coach, Mike Tomlin.
"He basically said, 'Try to get up and save the team a timeout when you fall down,' " Sweed said. "I guess I knew that was coming."
Sweed, a second-round pick from Texas who played extensively Sunday after go-to veteran Hines Ward was sidelined by a sprained knee, bounced back from his mistake with two attention-grabbing plays in the second half. He floored Corey Ivy with a punishing block at the end of a 30-yard catch by Heath Miller. Then he moved the chains with a 14-yard catch on a third-and-8 to dig out of a field-position hole.
"Obviously, I would've liked to have caught that pass," Sweed, still seeking his first NFL touchdown, said of the drop. "I'm coming in for Hines. AFC Championship Game. Rookie. Jacked-up. Things happen. People drop balls. It's not always what happened, but how you respond. If I had my head in the tank and stayed down on myself, maybe I don't get that block or make that catch. It's just growing pains."
Asked if he was impressed that Sweed responded well after the drop, Tomlin said, "I wish he would just catch the ball so that he doesn't have to respond … Hats off to the guys for sticking with him and allowing him to be a part of this."
Although Ward has pledged to be ready for Super Bowl XLIII, Sweed realizes that circumstances could put him on the spot again against the Arizona Cardinals — on the biggest stage in football. It is a long way from Brenham.
"You can look at it two ways," said Sweed, who played sparingly and caught just six passes during the regular season. "I'm out there running by dudes, getting open. I've just got to finish the plays. I'm glad I'm on a team like the Steelers, a great team, that can roll with my growing pains. Because I'll definitely be worth it … My time is coming."
Updated 1h 19m ago |
[url="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/steelers/2009-01-22-limas-sweed_N.htm"]http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football ... weed_N.htm[/url]
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
PITTSBURGH — On his list of most egregious gaffes on a football field, Limas Sweed insists there is a moment worse than his blunder in the AFC title game.
Sweed, the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie receiver, dropped a perfect pass that would have resulted in a 50-yard touchdown late in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday when he suddenly took his eyes off the floating football.
Call it the Immaculate Incompletion.
"It's not the worst drop I've had," said Sweed, tapping his memory bank.
Playing for his first football team in seventh grade, the Brenham (Texas) Cubs, Sweed caught a pass near his 5-yard line and raced in the direction of 90-plus pay dirt.
"Before I got to the end zone, boom — the ball just popped out," Sweed remembers. "The other team recovered. That was the worst."
The stakes were just a bit higher last weekend. Add more than 40 million viewers, and it's conceivable that Sweed was floored more by embarrassment after his muff than by having his wind escape him. He lay on the turf until trainers arrived.
In any event, Sweed — who didn't hit the oxygen tank after returning to the bench — cost the Steelers their final timeout when he was treated on the field. Then poor time-management cost the Steelers a chance for a short field goal in a tight game, as the clock expired with the ball on 12-yard line as the half ended.
Here's to rookie lessons. The instant Sweed returned to the sideline, he received an earful from his heated coach, Mike Tomlin.
"He basically said, 'Try to get up and save the team a timeout when you fall down,' " Sweed said. "I guess I knew that was coming."
Sweed, a second-round pick from Texas who played extensively Sunday after go-to veteran Hines Ward was sidelined by a sprained knee, bounced back from his mistake with two attention-grabbing plays in the second half. He floored Corey Ivy with a punishing block at the end of a 30-yard catch by Heath Miller. Then he moved the chains with a 14-yard catch on a third-and-8 to dig out of a field-position hole.
"Obviously, I would've liked to have caught that pass," Sweed, still seeking his first NFL touchdown, said of the drop. "I'm coming in for Hines. AFC Championship Game. Rookie. Jacked-up. Things happen. People drop balls. It's not always what happened, but how you respond. If I had my head in the tank and stayed down on myself, maybe I don't get that block or make that catch. It's just growing pains."
Asked if he was impressed that Sweed responded well after the drop, Tomlin said, "I wish he would just catch the ball so that he doesn't have to respond … Hats off to the guys for sticking with him and allowing him to be a part of this."
Although Ward has pledged to be ready for Super Bowl XLIII, Sweed realizes that circumstances could put him on the spot again against the Arizona Cardinals — on the biggest stage in football. It is a long way from Brenham.
"You can look at it two ways," said Sweed, who played sparingly and caught just six passes during the regular season. "I'm out there running by dudes, getting open. I've just got to finish the plays. I'm glad I'm on a team like the Steelers, a great team, that can roll with my growing pains. Because I'll definitely be worth it … My time is coming."
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