| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
LATROBE, Pa. -- As they rested for a few minutes from their Friday morning conditioning drills, Kordell Stewart and Troy Edwards let their minds wander to last season. They remembered the horror.
Edwards said he left his quarterback vulnerable to criticism. "I'd either break my route off and start going the wrong way," Edwards said. "Then, he'd throw where I was supposed to be."
|  | | Kordell Stewart thinks he can correct his mistakes from last season. |
For Stewart, criticism is as common as taking a snap from center. He's been sentenced to two seasons of emotional hell.
"This season is going to be done with purpose and resolve," said Stewart, who spent three months working with Edwards at Pittsburgh's team headquarters this offseason. "This upcoming season I really want to get it done. It's like when you get hit upside the head and you get knocked down.
"You either stay down or you get up and shake it off."
Stewart pretty much knows he better "get it done" this year or the Steelers might shake him off. He's not alone. Two losing seasons is making Three Rivers Stadium the NFL's version of "Big Brother." No one knows who's going to be voted out of the organization for the repeated bad performances.
"Kordell knows it's put up or shut up because there is no patience anywhere," running back Jerome Bettis said. "From the head coach on down, the organization is looking at everyone with the beady eye."
Instead of standing pat and bringing back Mike Tomczak as Stewart's backup, the Steelers signed Kent Graham to challenge him. No, there isn't a training camp controversy except for those who don't like Stewart at quarterback. Stewart is the starter, and coach Bill Cowher will be patient as the season starts.
But if Cowher is forced to bench Stewart like he did for the final five games of the '99 season, that's it for Kordell in Pittsburgh. If Graham's presence isn't enough, there is promising Anthony Wright and fifth-rounder Tee Martin around to be groomed.
Stewart has responded this offseason with renewed vigor. He's been in the Steelers' offices four and five days a week. He's met for countless hours with his coaches. Conversations were frank. Stewart learned that some of the criticism was justified.
"We sat down and methodically broke down some things," Stewart said. "We tried to understand why things happened. It's one thing for people to talk at you as opposed to talk to you. We were being talked to this offseason."
As Stewart learned, he needed to dedicate himself more in game preparation. Though he brushed off the criticism of the fans, it was hard to brush off the thoughts of the coaches and players who were his friends.
"I think Kordell finally understands that this is a business and that you have to come with a business mentality of getting the job done regardless of what people think," Bettis said. "For a young guy, that's the hardest thing to learn that this is a business and not everybody is going to like you. Kordell is a likeable guy. That was kind of his shield.
"Because he was such a good guy, everybody liked him. When people started getting down on him, it was rough. You have to perform. That's the bottom line in this business. If you don't perform, being a nice guy doesn't mean anything."
Edwards learned he couldn't mope about not starting and that he had to be responsible to his quarterback, too. "I never got a clear understanding of the offense last year because I never picked up the offense," Edwards said. "They would look at my mistakes and think it was Kordell's fault. Kordell and I have been working together for three or four months."
Steelers coaches moved Edwards out of the split end position that didn't fit his talents and will move him around. First-round choice Plaxico Burress, all 6-foot-5 and 229 pounds of him, is the margin of error for passing inaccuracies that Stewart hasn't had since Yancey Thigpen went to the Titans in 1998.
"It's good for him to have some receivers if he's off a little bit," Bettis said. "Yancey used to give him a lot of leeway."
Stewart knows, though, that the leeway can't be too much. He must produce and produce immediately. He has to get his young receivers -- Burress, Hines Ward and Edwards -- through a September where they might still be rusty on running routes correctly.
Stewart knows he has to get his mind right to have success.
"Unknowns, that's the scary thing," Stewart said. "You have to study hard and work hard and get focused so that nothing on the outside is going to get you distracted. The chemistry came together this offseason. I had a wonderful time working with my teammates, so that I have a chance to get back to being Kordell again."
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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