|
By Jim Slater
Detroit - All that prevents the Pittsburgh Steelers from completing the most unlikely championship run in American football history is a Seattle squad that has waited 30 years to make its Super Bowl debut.
Sunday's National Football League (NFL) showdown at domed Ford Field will reward the Seahawks for their greatest season or bring the Steelers their first title in 26 years after an amazing trio of playoff upsets away from home.
"It has been a heck of a ride," Steelers receiver Hines Ward said. "We get the opportunity to go down in history among some of the greatest players. This is what the Super Bowl is all about."
 
| 'We still have to go out and seize the moment' |
Pittsburgh, the first sixth seed to reach a Super Bowl, could complete the most unexpected championship run in NFL playoff history, having already knocked off top seeds Indianapolis, Denver and Cincinnati on the road to get here.
"Traveling the path we travelled, having to go on the road to beat the three top seeds, it is more gratifying now that we're here," Ward said. "But we still have to go out and seize the moment."
The Seahawks won 11 games in a row during the season and led the NFL in scoring, averaging better than four touchdowns a game. The club, formed in 1976, has a sense that this is the moment to grab ultimate glory.
"There was a time when we talked about how good a team we were but I'm not sure we believed it," Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "Now we don't talk about it so much but I know we believe it."
The Steelers would match Dallas and San Francisco with a record five Super Bowl titles, having captured four crowns in six years from 1975 to 1980. It will be Pittsburgh's first Super Bowl appearance since a 1996 loss to Dallas.
| 'You have to be mature doing what I do' |
A victory would bring coach Bill Cowher, the longest tenured active coach of any NFL team after 14 seasons with Pittsburgh, his first Super Bowl crown after five semifinal playoff defeats and the title-game defeat a decade ago.
"It would be very gratifying," Cowher said. "In a lot of people's eyes it is the defining part of a career. To me it's more about the journey than the destination. It's what you do along the way, the people you are able to touch."
After years of admiring the view of a Super Bowl trophies, Cowher finally wants to touch one.
"We have the four trophies in our building. I pass them every day," Cowher said. "There is a lot of tradition with Pittsburgh and to be part of that would be really special."
Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, 23, could become the youngest winning quarterback in Super Bowl history. "Big Ben", 26-4 as a starter, has matured into a seasoned leader in his second NFL season, one who can handle pressure.
"You have to be mature doing what I do," Roethlisberger said. "These guys want to see a leader, not someone immature doing what I'm doing. I rely on my brain a little more than last year. It's a patience thing."
Adding inspiration to the Steelers is 13-year rusher Jerome Bettis, who is playing what could be his final game in a hometown bid for his first NFL crown. His distraction has helped take pressure off the Steelers this week.
"We really want to get it done for him," Roethlisberger said.
A late practice injury on Thursday to Troy Polamalu could hinder Pittsburgh if the Samoan-heritage safety is forced to sit out even temporarily.
The "Blitzburgh" pressure defense employed by the Steelers is sparked by Joey Porter, whose 10 1/2 sacks led NFL linebackers. And the Steelers had the best rushing defense in the NFL, allowing foes only 3.4 yards a carry.
Testing that unit will be NFL rushing leader Shaun Alexander, who scored a one-season NFL record 28 touchdowns to capture league Most Valuable Player honour.
"I've seen this team go from a team you would laugh at to one that you have to respect," Alexander said. "Now we're here to play the greatest game of our lives, which we will have to do to win, and try to build a dynasty."
Seattle's Mike Holmgren has also spent 14 seasons as an NFL coach, seven each in Green Bay and Seattle. His Packers won the 1997 Super Bowl but lost to Denver in the 1998 Super Bowl.
The Seahawk offence is the same one Holmgren used with success behind such talented passers as Brett Favre and Steve Young during his days as an assistant in San Francisco. Hasselbeck has spent years mastering its complexities.
"He is much more confident. He sees things much better," Holmgren said. "I can put much more on his plate now and be confident in his handling it. He is ready to play a fine football game."
|
