SPORTSPGH
.COM
| STEELERS | PIRATES | FORUM | PENGUINS | POLLS |
| Big Play Team By The Wise Guy At the beginning of this season, I picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to go 9-7. I thought their playoff failure last year to New England in the AFC championship game had exposed some fundamental problems with the team—a mediocre secondary and a creaky old running game. Then they lost the right half of their offensive line and their second-best receiver to free agency. When they hit their low water mark at 7-5, after yet another humbling home field loss, this time to the Cincinnati Bengals, I thought, damn, maybe for once in my life I called it right. But a funny thing happened on the way to mediocrity. This team ate its spinach and started mopping the floor with whoever happened to show up that Sunday. Chicago Bears, mauled. Minnesota Vikings, pillaged. Cleveland Browns, burned. Detroit Lions, de-fanged. Cincinnati Bengals, de-clawed. Indianapolis Colts, horse-whipped. Denver Broncos, busted. And, finally, Seahawks, plucked. Superbowl, earned. Yes, earned. No, the Steelers didn’t dominate Seattle like they had everyone else on their improbable run to the Lombardi Trophy. They won by making big plays. There were, at least by my count, six of them: Ben Roethlisberger’s scramble and pass to Hines Ward to set up the first touchdown; Willie Parker’s mad 75-yard touchdowns dash to start the second half; Ike Taylor’s interception near our goal line to snuff out a Seahawk’s drive; Antwaan Randle-El’s perfect razzle-dazzle touchdown pass to Hines Ward; Casey Hampton’s sack; and Deshea Townsend’s sack. Every one of those plays was a momentum shifter. See if you can name more than two big plays that the Seahawks made that changed the course of the game. I can name one, when Seahawk’s defensive back Kelly Herndon stepped in front of a pass intended for Cedric Wilson and returned it 77 yards. Forget about the bad calls. There are bad calls every game. We had the all time worst call go against us a few weeks ago, when the refs overruled Troy Polamalu’s interception against the Colts. Great teams take matters into their own hands. They overcome bad calls with big plays. Seattle had their chances. They did not capitalize. And that’s life in the National Football League. If you’ve seen enough games, you know that the stats are only part of the story. Yes, Seattle had more total yardage, more passing yardage, and more time of possession. Yes, Big Ben had the lowest winning quarterback rating number in Superbowl history. Yes, we had more turnovers than they did. Those are the numbers. But there’s only one number that really counts. The number on the scoreboard. The last time I looked up, it was still Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10. |