NASHVILLE, Tenn. Concentrating on the Pittsburgh Steelers for a few hours Sunday won’t be that tough for Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair and safety Tank Williams, not after a trip back home to Mississippi to see the damage from Hurricane Katrina.
“There’s a time when your comfort zone may be playing the game of football, get your mind off of it and to relax and ease your mind,” McNair said. “There won’t be any problem going into this game. Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh week.”
McNair spent the weekend in Mississippi and returned Tuesday to help with a 12-hour relief drive that filled up to 25 tractor-trailers with supplies for the three states hit by the hurricane.
Williams also visited his hometown of Bay St. Louis and he said he’s thinking about what happened there all the time.
“But just being able to go down there, see my family, assess the damage and also just see what the people are going through down there, it gives me a better feel for what’s going on down there and what I can try to do to help all of those people down there,” Williams said.
Sunday will mark the return for both McNair and Williams from season- ending injuries in 2004. McNair missed the final five games after hurting his sternum for the final time Nov. 28 in a loss at Houston, and Williams tore his left anterior cruciate ligament on Nov. 14 and missed the last seven games.
“It will be very satisfying after going through a long offseason that started in November, being here every day, trying to work hard just to have the opportunity to be back in training camp ... Now it’s just exciting to finally get back out there in the regular season,” Williams said.
RETURNING TO
PITTSBURGH:
New receiver Troy Edwards knows he’ll likely get booed when the Titans visit the Steelers on Sunday even though he spent his first three seasons in Pittsburgh.
“I enjoyed my time there even though I was young and I made a lot of mistakes when I was there. I miss the team. I miss a lot of my teammates. I miss the city, but I’m happy here now because with this team here, Nashville gets behind this team just like the Steelers fans do,” Edwards said.
The Steelers drafted Edwards 13th in 1999 and he set a team record with 61 catches as a rookie. But he was gone after three seasons before spending 2002 in St. Louis and the last two seasons in Jacksonville.
“Sometimes, I think he has been labeled just because of how high we picked him,” Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher said Wednesday.
“He is a good football player. Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time.”
The Titans signed Edwards on Aug. 30 after the Jaguars released him, and Edwards earned a spot with his experience at receiver mixed with his ability to handle punt returns when rookie Adam “Pacman” Jones struggled in the preseason.
“You have to go through certain things to be a better man in life, and i think it helped me become a better person,” Edwards said.
SECRET GOAL:
Defensive end Antwan Odom tied with Kyle Vanden Bosch for the team lead with three sacks each in the preseason. The second-year player from Alabama couldn’t have looked faster and stronger after surgery to repair sleep apnea in June.
He said he believes the defensive line will be real good this season, and he has set his own personal goal for sacks. But he isn’t sharing that number with the public.
“Y’all would think I’m crazy,” he said.
