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Pictures from Super Bowl and Parade

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Rooney Turns Family into Business

In all the excitement of Super Bowl week, I missed this article about Dan Rooney in the New York Times. It's a great look into the way our beloved owner operates his historic franchise.

Rooney walks to the Steelers’ home games, on a broken sidewalk, past an abandoned gas station and underneath the overpass for Route 65.

For away games, he travels with the players. “I wasn’t used to the owner flying on the plane,” said the backup quarterback Charlie Batch, recalling his surprise when he arrived to play for the Steelers after leaving the Detroit Lions. “And not only was he on the plane, he was sitting in the seat that doesn’t recline, in front of the bathroom.”

Steeler Football is 60 Minutes

"Steeler football is 60 minutes. It's never going to be pretty. Throw style points out the window, but these guys will fight to the end. We didn't blink." - Mike Tomlin

It seemed like every week Mike Tomlin made the same statement. The Steelers play for 60 minutes. The Steelers don't care about style points. Steeler players fight to the end. So it should come as no surprise that the youngest coach in Super Bowl history shared the same sentiment after Pittsburgh became Sixburgh. But of all Tomlin's cliches, this one was completely accurate. Week after week Pittsburgh played tight games and almost always came out on top.

I've been trying to figure out who should get the most credit in Pittsburgh's Super Bowl season. All year, I've focused on the flaws of the team that I thought would result in a playoff loss. And despite winning the Super Bowl, this team had some major flaws that few teams in history could overcome. Nearly all of them showed up in the Super Bowl and turned a rout into a historic game. (1) The offensive line was bad all year. It was bad in the Super Bowl. Darnell Dockett dominated. The running game was non-existent. Big Ben was running for his life nearly all game. The line had at least three holding penalties (one on a safety, one on the most important drive of the year) and a false start. NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes said that it was the worst offensive line to ever make the Super Bowl. (2) Due in large part to the O-line, the Steelers could not run the ball consistently and were a terrible short yardage running team. In the Super Bowl, the team couldn't score a touchdown when it had first and goal from the 1 (first quarter) and first and goal from the 3 (third quarter). It couldn't run out the clock in the 4th quarter to prevent Arizona from making a late game comeback. (3) Inability to score touchdowns. The Steelers ran 13 plays inside of Arizona's 10 yard line and came away with 13 points. (4) The poor play of special teams. When your game plan is based on time of possession and playing solid defense, special teams play is especially important. The Steelers were terrible kick and punt returners. Mitch Berger was consistently bad and nearly lost the AFC Championship with his poor performance. (5) Bruce Arians - For most of the year, the play calling and game planning on offense was terrible. Big Ben had more success calling his own plays and running two minute drills, than operating the regular offense. (Note: Arians called a good game against the Cardinals).

But while I was busy identifying weaknesses, the Steelers were busy solidifying their strengths. The team played one of the hardest schedules in the league and finished 15-4. To put that in perspective, of the teams that played one of the seven hardest schedules, only Pittsburgh had a winning record. Not only did it have a winning record, the team was 11 games above .500. The defense was incredible throughout the season. The offense struggled at times, but always came through when it was needed. By playing a difficult schedule and lots of close game, the 2008 Steelers developed the one trait that allowed them to become champions - mental toughness. After losing a couple close games against the Giants and the Colts, Pittsburgh learned how to win. Big Ben led late drives against San Diego and Baltimore. The offense came back from a 10 point deficit against Dallas and the defense closed it out with a pick six. Troy Polamalu killed the Ravens with a pick six in the AFC Championship game. And after the defense faltered against Arizona, Big Ben led a historic, game winning drive. Partially by design, and partially because they were in so many tough games, the Steelers always played the full 60 minutes.

If I were to pick three reasons the Steelers are Super Bowl Champions, they would be (in no particular order):

1) Mental Toughness / Team Unity - In several articles this year, NFL writers marveled at the chemistry of this team. Peter King opened his MMQB column writing about how much these players cared about each other. Caring about each other resulted in personal accountability. Personal accountability resulted in success. Success led to mental toughness. Mental toughness led to the Super Bowl. I give Mike Tomlin the credit for creating an atmosphere of team unity and personal accountability. The standard never changed after wins. It never changed after losses. It never changed after injuries. Tomlin set the tone and this team bought it hook, line, and sinker.

2.) Dominant Defense - This was a special defense. One of the best of all time. It had two dominating players in James Harrison and Troy Polamalu. A breakout star in LaMarr Woodley. A huge hitter in Ryan Clark. A defensive quarterback in James Farrior. An unsung hero in Aaron Smith. And a number of other stars. But, most importantly, the unit played as one. James Harrison's 100 yard interception return was a perfect example of how this defense merged individual and team accomplishments. Harrison had the instincts to jump Boldin's crossing route, but as soon as he made the interception, there were at least six Steelers defenders sprinting down field to make blocks. Harrison's int. and return were incredible individual efforts, but it never would have gone for a TD without the help of his teammates.

3.) Ben Roethlisberger - He is the only quarterback in the league that could have won the Super Bowl with this offensive line. He got hit hard every game. He separated his shoulder multiple times. He suffered rib injuries. He suffered a spinal cord concussion. He had a terrible offensive play caller. In spite of this, he led six 4th quarter comebacks this season. He has more wins in his first five seasons than any quarterback ever. He is 8-2 in the playoffs. He has two Super Bowls in five years. He just led one of the best drives of all time to win the Super Bowl. He is elite.

"Our defense gets a lot of recognition for what they're capable of, and rightfully so," coach Mike Tomlin said. "But what you saw from our quarterback and our offense at the end of the game is what they've provided for us all year. When we've needed it most, they've done it and done it big."

Super Bowl Pictures

Above are the Steezbros the night before the game. Below are some pics from the Superbowl weekend and the victory parade. What a season! It hasn't sunk in yet. I am just relieved. Enjoy the pics. Congrats to all of Steeler Nation. Being in the 'burgh for the past two weeks has been incredible. Congrats to all the Steelers' players and coaches.

Superbowl Baby!

WELCOME TO SIXBURGH

WORLD FUCKIN’ CHAMPIONS!!!!!!


Absolutely awesome game. I’m going to try to stay off the emotional high and my biased opinion and not say that this is the greatest Super Bowl ever. But wow. Hats off to the Cards. They put us onto the canvas and almost put us out for the count but Big Bungy and ‘Tone led an amazing Championship winning drive. Here are some more random thoughts.

- If there was a prop bet in Vegas on how many trick plays Arizona would run and the line was 1.5 or under I would have been willing to put my entire bank account (which is practically nothing except I did win $190 on the future bet of the Steez at 18 to 1) on the over and I would have lost everything. Correct me if I’m wrong but not one person has mentioned this in the aftermath. Everyone thought they would before the game and they didn’t take one shot at a trick play after they won Whiz a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh and got him to another with the hapless Cardinals. Interesting and I still feel I am the only person to talk about it.

- Which Super Bowl do you like more XL or XLIII?

- The chimp was finally wrong with his Super Bowl pick.

- Only three weeks until the DVD comes out and then I will have a decision to make on a down day of which DVD to put in to turn my day around.

- Did Willie Parker or any of the Steez runningbacks play in this game? Or for that matter did any Arizona runningbacks play either?

- Larry Fitzgerald is more of a beast than Dave Megget (after breaking in and raping a 21 year old) I loved him at Pitt for the same reason as what he did in the playoffs this year. He killed people and us included. But don’t discredit Ike. He played an awesome game against him. If you take away the one big play which was more Troy and Ry Clark’s fault than his. He holds him to about 50 yards and an unbelievable TD grab in which Ike had pretty good coverage. Fitz’s first TD is not getting the credit it deserves mainly because people have just come to accept Fitz making unreal catches. Going back to Ike he held Fitz to 12 yards and one catch in over 3 quarters.

- Let’s hope we sign McFeezy and Nate. We take them both for granted and hopefully the league hasn’t really noticed them. XLIII doesn’t happen without them.

- Woody and Silverback. Enough said. Woody continues his postseason streak of multiple sacks to four games. He has played in four postseason games. Silverback was cut by the Steez twice and the Nevermores once and now has two Super Bowl Rings, a Defensive Player of the year, and the greatest play in Super Bowl History. What a kick in the balls for the Cards who had at least the game tied and probably the lead until Silverback’s 100 yard Pick Six, the longest play in Super Bowl history. I still think he might deserve MVP. If the three holding penalties he drew counted as sacks as which they should, he would be the MVP. Ben and ‘Tone deserved it as well but Silverback killed people all year and it was about time finally a Ref recognized he gets held on every play. Great execution by the Steez D on the pre-snap of the pick six. Warner had no idea who was going to come and who was going to drop into coverage. He hurriedly threw the slant to Boldin where Silverback was right in the lane in his drop into his zone coverage. Without the perfect deception by the D and the immediate pressure, Warner doesn’t force the throw or might see Siverback and throw it away. Great run back too. I thought he was for sure going to get pushed out of bounds or run down from behind. Great job by the troops to lead the convoy down the field. Great blocks by DeShea, Timmons, and Antrelle Rolle. I hear people complaining about that he got in his way but if he doesn’t would the refs have thrown the flag on the illegal contact? A player cannot run out of bounds and be the first player to touch the ball or the ball carrier. A ref watched Fitz run out and be in on the tackle at the goal line and for some reason didn’t throw the flag.

- I almost cried when Fitz scored. I apologize to Ben for not trusting in him.

- I don’t remember a single commercial.

- Where does our D go down in history?

- Foote wants to play for Detroit?

- Harrison needs a new deal.

- Screaming and high fiving everyone in the street before the game was awesomely fun and really helped the time and anxiety pass.

- Riots in Oakland were unbelievable. DeJuan Blair lit a dumpster on fire on Forbes Ave. Elliot burnt my ex’s neck with his cigar. I inhaled 7/8 of my cigar. I lived even though there were many gigantic horses everywhere. No EpiPen was used either. I was by myself for almost the entire thing somehow. The crowd loved the WWF Belt but not the one Pitt football player or several police officers. A couple officers did touch it though and one pushed me with his nightstick not once, not twice, but three times and I was going the direction where he wanted to go. My friends flipped a car and lit another one on fire. Unfortunately I did not participate. Over 100 people were arrested, The O, Bruegger’s, Boomerang’s and the library had windows smashed, a bus stop was completely demolished and a great time was had by all especially girls making out above the O and except for the one dude I saw get wrecked by a cop and the other kid who got suplexed by a cop and his nightstick.

- ‘Tone was unbelievable. What an amazing drive and TD catch. Kids I hope you learned your lesson—It pays off to smoke weed.

- I can’t stop listening to the PopRocks and the Yinzer Anthem or get them out of my head.

- The parade was so sweet. Tomlin looked as if he couldn’t get enough of it and was loving every second. James Harrison is scary but looked really happy. Rev. Sea Bass (formerly Big Snack but I recently found out he doesn’t like being called that) is gigantic
and looks like Biggie. Troy is nuts. Him and Ry Clark jumped into the fans and crowdsurfed. Clark had some pretty gnarly boots on. There was definitely more people on Grant and Stanwix than at the Inauguration a couple weeks ago. By far. The people at the parade were much more happy than those in DC as well. Big Play Willie gay was sweet on the mike and warned Barack that the team was coming. An awesome by rendition of Renegade by the players on stage although they don't seem to know all the words and I think every player was hammered. DeJuan Blair also made an appearance in the parade. Elliot should have a link with a bunch of pictures soon.

- I’m so excited for the DVD

- I’m still not sure if I like the Super Bowl hats but I will inevitably buy one along with a shirt, the DVD, towel and probably a shitload of other stuff that I don’t have the money for.

- Is there anything better than winning the Super Bowl? Especially with your family and friends in the city that you love? What an amazing weekend from getting my White coat (be prepared to call me Doc G in a couple years) with everyone there to see it to drinking all weekend to capping it off with another World Championship to rioting.

- Does Mitch Berger have to get a ring? I guess I’ll give him one because he actually did play well on the world’s biggest stage. Bruce Arians too, I guess… sigh.

- Heath Miller is sweet and so is Ry Clark.

- Quotes of the day today, Ry – “All we did all year was smash faces” Rev. Sea Bass (Casey Hampton or RSB)- “It’s goin’ down baby all off season we gon’ party and tear the city up.”

- RSB took his shirt off at the parade. He is so great and a beast.

- Where does Bungy rank all time? Does he have Hall of Fame numbers yet? Unbelievable poise and drive by still a young kid. He proved he deserved the cool $102 million.

- Farrior and Nate played most of the game pretty hurt but refused to come out of the game.

- There is a Troy Polamalu FatHead with my name on it.

- Don’t remember the half time show either

- Were the 3-D commercials cool?

- I feel like Dan Marino gets pissed every time any quarterback wins the Super Bowl.

- Thank you to everyone who reads and gave us support in our virgin season. Hopefully you all enjoyed it as much as we did. It paid off don’t you say?

Expert Predictions and Enjoy the Big Game

Happy Super Sunday everyone! It's been two weeks of non-stop talk, analysis and opinion regarding our team, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. Today is what it's all about. It's why we watch every game, buy jerseys and read endless articles, blogs etc. I keep telling myself to try to enjoy this experience and enjoy the game. However, I have been a nervous wreck all week and as we get closer and closer to the game, the level of anxiety increases exponentially. I am to the point where I am fearful of making any predictions so I will just link to all the so called expert picks. Cheer hard Steeler Nation and enjoy it the best you can. HERE WE GO! STEELERS, HERE WE GO!

STEEZ

ESPN expert picks. Complete with video of current and former player picks.

Gene Wojciechowski's prediction

CNNSI expert picks.

Why the Steelers will win.

Why the Cardinals will win.

Another Bill Simmons epic chat. His picks are at the end.