Bill Cowher took some of the blame for Saturday's debacle in Canton, Ohio, saying that he shouldn't have scheduled a Latrobe scrimmage with the Washington Redskins the previous Wednesday night.

"It was awfully close to the game and the response we got with the crowd, the intensity of that, may have led to making it a little hard to get back up," Cowher said.

This is a quote I read recently in the Tribune Review. The thing that worries me, is Coach Cowher has to teach them to remain at a high intensity no matter what the circumstance. I don't care how high they were on Wednesday, they have to be up for the next test whenever that may be.

The regular season does not allow for periods of complacency. This has to be instilled in all players in training camp. Coach Cowher should not have accepted one ounce of the blame. Instead, he should have been furious at the lackadaisical effort on both sides of the ball.

I can understand the veteran players not going full out. They have the team made already and should save their best play for when it counts. But if you are a rookie, or bench sitter, your best effort must be shown at all times. These guys are trying to win a spot on one of the elite teams in all of sports. If these guys can't get up for that, maybe this team is in trouble.

Apart from all of that, Bill Cowher is one of the best, if not the best motivator in football. I am certain that he wont allow this to happen again. A loss in pre season is meaningless, and I'm sure we will have more. But with each loss, or victory, a lesson must be learned. I hope the let-down lesson has been learned.

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