Category: Pittsburgh Steelers

   In major sports these days, there is only one guarantee, and that is that there are no guarantees. So why is everybody running their mouths?

If there’s anything American sports teams are good at, it’s spending money. With the rising salary cap, the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys – as well as many others like the 49ers and Seahawks – have all been pretty good at forking out the riches. Hey, even the Lions tried to better themselves in the off-season via free agency.

One of the biggest teams in the NFL has not made a move in the off-season, and that is Pittsburgh Steelers.

No great civilization that followed it its footsteps could ever amount to the greatness that the Roman Empire achieved. Nothing after the original of anything, such as movies, books, and products, can ever live up to the legacy and impact that the first one had on society. In the NFL, no defense can ever live up to the original smash mouth, all business, and take no names defense. One defense ruled football in the 1970’s; they were known by one name, "The Steel Curtain."

The Pittsburgh Steelers are for real. Yes, I am saying it right now for everyone else to hear.

They are the first sixth seeded team to reach the Super Bowl, and may the force be with them. Of course you would think, this team is probably the most relaxed team going into the big game, after all they are carrying the most eloquent quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger on their shoulders.

Well, then of course you’d be wrong.

If you had asked me Sunday morning who we would be seeing in the AFC Championship Game, I would have told you that it would be the Denver Broncos at the Indianapolis Colts.

To back myself up, I would have pointed out the dominating performance the Colts put forth against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12, a 26-7 victory at home.  It was a game in which Peyton Manning threw for 245 yards and Edgerrin James ran for 124.  The Colts scored on their first offensive play of the game, giving them the momentum they would have for the entire game.  The Steelers were shut down in that game.  Period.  So, the Colts would logically run away with the game in Indianapolis on Sunday.  Right?  Oh, how wrong I was.

Three yards and a cloud of dust.  That has been the dominating theme for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense over the years.  This was personified last season when the Steelers ran the ball over 600 times accumulating nearly 2500 yards.  While Pittsburgh may open things up in the passing game a little more this upcoming season, do not expect the ground game to disappear.  Instead, the Steelers rushing attack may have a different look than what we are all accustomed to.

Ben Roethlisberger lit up the league last year.  While completing over 66 percent of his passes, Roethlisberger threw for 2621 yards and 17 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions, which lead to a 98.1 passer rating.  These numbers, along with his 13 regular season wins in a row and one playoff victory, Roethlisberger was the runaway rookie of the year and the steal of the draft at number 11.

It’s April 24, 2004 the opening bell to the NFL draft has rung and everyone waits in awe to see who the first quarterback taken will be.  Eli or Phillip?  How lucky is Pittsburgh that the experts, scouts, and draft day crawls were mistaken on the quarterback hierarchy?  Ben Roethlisberger is a shoe-in for rookie of the year honors and because of what he has done to make his team better there isn’t a close second.