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Question: Why does Bill Cowher insist on "sitting on the ball," when we have timeouts and under two minutes remaining in the first half? I understand he's protecting the team from a potential momentum-changing play, but he's also not utilizing what could be valuable time.

Basel Badawi, Montclair, Calif.

BOUCHETTE: If you're talking specifically about the latest end of a first half, last Sunday in Atlanta, the Steelers trailed 21-17 when their offense got the ball on its 20 following Atlanta's kickoff into the end zone. There was 2:04 left in the half. Ben Roethlisberger threw incomplete on first down. On four of the next five plays, he completed passes, the last one for a 10-yard TD to Nate Washington with 58 seconds left in the half. The Falcons' Allen Rossum then returned the kickoff 51 yards to the Steelers' 28. On Atlanta's first play, linebacker James Farrior intercepted Michael Vick and the Steelers had the ball on their 23 with 47 seconds left. Roethlisberger took a knee on two snaps to run out the clock. Under the circumstances, that was precisely the thing to do. Holding a lead, having just stopped the Falcons, don't try to cover 50 yards in 47 seconds in order to try a field goal. Too much bad can happen. I've also found Bill Cowher rarely to be conservative near the end of a half. At times, he pulled out all stops to try to score when I thought he should have run out the clock -- such as the AFC championship game against Denver after the 1997 season.