PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher was scanning the NFL waiver wire Monday when a name jumped out at him. Excited, he immediately called in assistant coach Kevin Spencer.

What name could have possibly so intrigued Cowher?

Manning? Moss? Arrington?

Try Sean Morey.

"Coach said to me, `What do you know about Sean?' " Spencer said. "I said, 'He's a bleep.' I can't say it, I don't want to cuss."

Morey's name might not be familiar to many NFL fans, but it is to special teams coaches such as Spencer. One of the NFL's best special teams players, Morey was waived by the Eagles because linebacker Jason Short can fill the same special teams role that Morey did and play on defense.

To sign Morey, Pittsburgh created a roster spot by waiving No. 3 quarterback Brian St. Pierre, then re-signing St. Pierre to their practice squad.

"When coach asked me if I'd like to have this kind of guy on the team, I said, 'Absolutely,'" said Spencer, whose units had gone against Morey just two weeks before in an exhibition game. "He accepted my decision and made a tough decision, but I'm very pleased to have a guy like that."

At first glance, Morey doesn't look as imposing as his listed 5-feet-11 and 200 pounds. He looks more like 185 pounds and he didn't go to a big name college (Brown). But Cowher himself made his NFL career by excelling on special teams, and Morey has, too.

An informal survey based on special teams production rated the Eagles, Panthers and Steelers as having the NFL's best special teams last season, and Spencer was chosen by other assistants as the top special teams coach. So Cowher naturally was happy to grab the player chosen as the Eagles' special teams MVP - 20 years after Cowher won the same award.

Morey and Chidi Iwuoma will be the gunners - the players assigned to fly down the field and prevent long returns - on the Steelers' punt return and kickoff return defense units Sunday against Oakland. They also will be used to try to create space on returns for Antwaan Randle El, who had two punt return touchdowns last season and was a Pro Bowl alternate on special teams.

Morey was credited with 28 special teams tackles last season and recovered a fumble. He is listed as a wide receiver but has never caught a pass in five NFL seasons.

"I know the special teams here are really physical," said Morey, who spent two years with the Patriots and three years in Philadelphia. "They play a good game here. We studied them in Philadelphia and you knew they were going to play hard. Hopefully, I'll just try to continue to do that and play as hard as these guys do."

Just as quarterbacks and kickers talk to other players in their field and get tips and exchange information, Morey does the same with other special teams players.

"I've talked to (former Bills player) Steve Tasker on the phone," he said. "I've watched a lot of tape on Michael Bates. I was with Larry Whigham in New England. There's been a lot of good players along the way, Troy Brown."

The Steelers well remember Brown; his punt return touchdown was largely responsible for the Patriots' AFC championship game upset of the Steelers three seasons ago.

"But when we played the Steelers in the preseason, we knew the mentality of this team is they're going to hit you in the mouth," Morey said. "I'm pretty excited to be part of that. I think it's going to be a good year."