Tomczak Feeling At Home As Steelers’ Newest Leader

Neil O’Donnell has a $25 million contract with the New York Jets. Mike Tomczak makes about one-25th of that with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Guess which quarterback wouldn’t trade teams or towns for anything?

O’Donnell left the Steelers for the big bucks, so now it is Tomczak who prospers in a Pittsburgh offense that, since Terry Bradshaw, has gone through quarterbacks faster than George Steinbrenner goes through managers.

And, so far, Tomczak is playing more like Joe Montana than a journeyman who couldn’t win a starting job with four teams in 12 NFL seasons.

Could this possibly be the same nondescript player who was only No. 3 among the Steelers’ three quarterbacks when the season started? Who once was accorded no more respect by Bears coach Mike Ditka than a sideline ballboy? Who has spent 12 undistinguished and mostly forgettable seasons in the NFL?

Yes - and no. He’s Mike Tomczak, all right, but this isn’t the Tomczak that anybody in the NFL remembered.

“I’ve never been a quarterback blessed with a lot of talent,” said Tomczak, who is 4-0 as a starter this season and 8-2 since 1994. “Maybe this is the year I get to display my ability.”

Maybe this also is the season he gets to start from nearly beginning to end. Until now, he has played only irregularly, except for less than two seasons with the Bears and a half-season as the Browns’ starter when Bernie Kosar was injured. For example, he started the Steelers’ 1993 season opener, then didn’t make his next start until 14 months later.

Now, in an efficient, run-first offense that does not need a star quarterback to be successful but does require more than a mere stopgap, Tomczak is playing better than anybody expected.

Perhaps even Tomczak himself.

“I don’t think Mike ever questioned himself,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. “Mike is a guy who thought he should have had the (starting) job from Day One. The great thing about Mike is he’s a team guy. He’ll put the team before himself.”

But the NFL’s No. 6-ranked offense unexpectedly finds itself taking its lead from a guy who never has been perceived as a leader. He has completed 69 of 109 passes for 919 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions in four-plus games.