Bill Cowher...and The Grandstander Power Rankings

I have just finished reading this 2021 autobiography of former Steelers coach and current CBS Talking Head Bill Cowher.  It is your basic sports bio, nothing totally new or earthshaking revealed in it, but Steelers fans will eat it up, and it brought back lots of good memories of the Coach's playoff years with the Steelers, and those two trips to the Super Bowl.

It takes us from little Billy Cowher's days on the pee wee fields of Crafton, PA to Carlynton High School, North Carolina State, his special teams career with the Browns and Eagles and his rise as an NFL coach under the mentorship of Marty Schottenheimer.

Bill pitches mostly softballs in this one.  He has wonderful things to say about folks like Hines Ward, Jerome Bettis, Dermonti Dawson, Ben Rothlisberger and other Steelers heroes.  When he talks about players that had issues or whom he had to sit down and have serious heart-to-heart talks with, those guys go unnamed.  If I had a criticism of the book, that would be it.

The hardest part of the book to read was also the best part, and that was his detailed telling of his wife Kaye's battles with cancer and early onset Alzheimer's, which led to her death in 2010 at the age of 54.  Sadly, it was something to which I could closely relate.   The rich, powerful, and famous are not immune to what cancer and an early death can visit upon a family.

Cowher's story of finding love and a new chapter in life with his current wife was also an uplifting story.  How he had to introduce this new person into the lives of his three daughters was also an interesting tale.  It wasn't without some bumps in the road, but they are now one big happy family today, a family that now includes four grandchildren.

The book ends with Cowher's election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

The Grandstander Power Rankings

There was no change at the top of the GPR, but in a week where seven of then teams lost, there was plenty of change two through ten.

1. 49ers 10-3 (Last week: 1)
2. Cowboys 10-3 (7)
3. Ravens 10-3 (3)
4. Eagles 10-3 (2)
5. Dolphins 9-4 (4)
6. Lions 9-4 (5)
7. Chiefs 8-5 (6)
8. Browns 8-5 (unranked)
9. Jaguars 8-5 (8)
10. Bengals 7-6 (unranked)

Knocking on the door....Bills, Broncos, Colts, Packers, Texans, Titans

As for the Steelers, what can you say about a team that has lost twice in a row to teams with 2-10 records?  Amazingly, they still sit in playoff position, but they have placed themselves in a position where there is little, if any, margin for error, and if this team has shown us anything in 2023, it is a large capacity for error.