Steelers football blog

Big Ben looks to atone for his XL mistakes

Big Ben Roethlisberger was an anxiety-wracked kid the night he became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl, so overwhelmed by Super Bowl jitters that he showed up smaller than Little Ben.

It is three years later, and this time it is Kurt Warner, the fearless old gunslinger, whose itchy trigger finger is ready to accommodate anyone crazy enough to engage him in a shootout, waiting for Big Ben Roethlisberger when High Noon arrives tomorrow night a little after 6 o'clock. Continue

Arians welcomes the pressure of the big game

What's up with the Steelers coaches? They come to the Super Bowl and turn into scholarly men? One day, Mike Tomlin is quoting Robert Frost. The next day, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is talking about some poet who shares his outlook on football and life.

" 'If you haven't gotten into the arena and tried because you're afraid, what's the sense of living?' " Arians quoted the man. Continue

Big Ben apologizes to the Whisenhunt

Away from the spectacle of Super Bowl media day earlier this week, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger talked face-to-face with Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt.

And he apologized to the former Steelers offensive coordinator.

Roethlisberger lashed out after comments Whisenhunt made two years ago, shortly after the latter had taken the head coaching job in Arizona. Whisenhunt said he thought the trauma Roethlisberger had experienced before the 2006 season affected his play. Continue

Holmes a former entrepreneur

Santonio Holmes is using the stage that the Super Bowl offers as a platform, too.

The message the Steelers' wide receiver wants to spread is that selling drugs, something he admittedly did in his youth, is not the only option for kids who grow up without much money or hope.

"If I continued down that path, I wouldn't be here," Holmes said Wednesday. "I've only told three or four people maybe throughout my lifetime about that, and at the moment I felt like it was time to share things."

The week leading up to Super Bowl XLIII has been relatively free of distractions for the Steelers, and Holmes said he does not think he created one with the admission he made Tuesday to a Miami newspaper. Continue

LeBeau vs Whisenhunt

Wednesdays used to be almost as memorable on the South Side as Sundays on the North Side.

Wednesday was the day the Steelers practiced third downs, the first-team offense against the first-team defense, in a best-of-five showdown for platoon supremacy.

And when coordinator Dick LeBeau's defense engaged coordinator Ken Whisenhunt's offense, it got competitive.

"It was like playing in a game," Steelers guard Kendall Simmons said. "It was so competitive we actually got (upset) if we lost.

"It turned into a game sometimes, especially when we had pads on." Continue

It was that intense, that heated, that meaningful, even if it was just another practice.

Tomlin's homecoming

Apparently, in the case of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, you can go home again.

In leading the Steelers to Super Bowl XLIII against the Arizona Cardinals at Raymond James Stadium, Tomlin returns to the location of his first NFL job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tomlin spent five seasons as Tampa Bay's secondary coach before leaving in 2006 to become the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator for one season. During his tenure in Tampa, the Buccaneers boasted one of the league's top secondaries. Continue

For Clark, the hits will keep on coming

There just are too darn many from which to choose.

"The one on McGahee the other day would be up there," Ryan Clark said of his knockout hit on Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee in the AFC championship game Jan. 18.

"The one on Welker this season ..." Clark knocked New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker into the next week Nov. 30 after a pass across the middle."I had one on [Detroit's] Az-Zahir Hakim [in 2004] when I played for Washington. I remember that one because that's the first time I made the 'Jacked Up' segment on ESPN ... Continue

Steelers take low-key approach to big game

From the moment Fred "The Hammer" Williamson opened his mouth to yap about what he planned to do to the Green Bay Packers receivers in the first Super Bowl, there has been trash talk leading up to the big game.

The last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl, linebacker Joey Porter and Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens did the honors.

Stevens planted the seed, talking about how it was too bad Jerome Bettis was going to leave Detroit and retire without the Lombardi Trophy. Never one to back down from a challenge, Porter gave it water and watched it bloom into an exchange that forced everyone into talking. Continue

Harrison tackles extra attention

Three years ago, James Harrison was a special-teams standout and backup linebacker in Super Bowl XL. Now he comes into Super Bowl XLIII as the NFL's defensive player of the year and two-time Pro Bowl selection.

All the attention, though, comes with a price: Harrison finds it tougher to get to the quarterback, even though he finished the regular season with a club-record 16 sacks, fourth best in the NFL."I kind of liked when they didn't focus on me; I could get through there easier," Harrison said. "Now the [offensive] line slides toward me every time. If it's not both lineman at once, then I'll get chipped. It's something you get used to. Continue

Offense must produce for Steelers to become Super

By now, it's something of a laughing matter on the South Side, and one the Steelers have good-naturedly broached at wide receiver Limas Sweed's expense.

"Little, friendly jokes," Sweed said, "something about 'Stickum.'

"You gotta expect that, especially in the NFL."

Sweed appeared to be in dire need of the long-since outlawed substance made famous by the likes of Fred Biletnikoff and Lester Hayes after dropping a Ben Roethlisberger pass that should have gone for a 50-yard touchdown in the second quarter of last Sunday's AFC Championship Game.

It was a memorable gaffe, and it helped the Ravens hang around long enough to a point where they had the ball and were still within a field goal of winning the game with less than five minutes remaining. Continue