Champions again

Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
February 2, 2009

It looked like the Steelers were about to win another dull Super Bowl, just like they did three years ago.

I would have been fine with that. The Steelers had pulled out their share of heart-stopping victories during this great 2008 season. I didn't think I could handle another one.

With the Steelers leading 20-7 after three quarters, I was looking forward to them winning a record sixth Super Bowl in a nice and tidy fashion.

Then, as Steelers coach Mike Tomlin would say, the wheels came off.

Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes put the wheels back on when the Steelers drove 78 yards in eight plays to set up Holmes' game-winning, 6-yard touchdown catch with 35 seconds left.

It was Roethlisberger's 19th career fourth-quarter comeback. But to just call it a fourth-quarter comeback doesn't begin to describe the way Roethlisberger turned a tide that was swallowing up the Steelers.

Falling apart

Not only were the Steelers down 23-20 in the game's final minutes. On defense, they were gassed and desperate. On offense, it looked like their inability to run the ball and protect Roethlisberger was finally going to catch up with them.

It all started when the Cardinals went no-huddle with 11:30 left in the game, using less than four minutes to move 87 yards. Kurt Warner finally exploited Larry Fitzgerald's height advantage over Ike Taylor by hitting him on a fade route from the 1, narrowing the Steelers' lead to 20-14.

Then the Steelers went three-and-out. One of those plays was a Darnell Dockett sack of Roethlisberger for a 10-yard loss. In fairness, the offensive line yielded just two sacks, both of them by Dockett. Roethlisberger avoided more by doing his impersonation of a pinball on several occasions.

On their ensuing drive, the Cardinals got a boost on the first play when Taylor was flagged for unnecessary roughness. The Steelers committed five of their seven penalties in the final quarter.

Meanwhile, some of their defensive players appeared to be breathing heavily. I didn't like the looks of things.

The Cardinals punted, but downed the ball on the Steelers' 2. Another unnecessary roughness call, this one on James Harrison, put the ball on the 1. The next Steelers' penalty cost them two points. Center Justin Hartwig held in the end zone to give the Cardinals a safety, narrowing the Steelers' lead to 20-16 with three minutes left.

At the time, I didn't think a safety was the worst thing in the world for the Steelers. They could kick the ball away from the 20 instead of punting it from the shadow of their own goal post. Down four points, the Cardinals still needed a touchdown.

The Cardinals got a touchdown, and they got it quickly.

With the game in Tampa, Fla., and the Steelers' safeties lining up in Clearwater, Warner threw to Fitzgerald, who ran straight down the middle of the field for a 64-yard touchdown and a 23-20 Cardinals lead. That play made it look like the Steelers' defense had nothing left. They were well on their way to being pasted for more than 400 yards.

Yo, Holmes!

Roethlisberger had 2 minutes, 37 seconds to work with. Before he could reattach the wheels, however, a tail light went out. Chris Kemoeatu was caught holding, backing the Steelers to their own 12.

Then Santonio Holmes started etching his name in Super Bowl lore.

Perhaps it was fitting that Super Bowl III MVP Joe Namath brought out the Lombardi Trophy after the game. Namath is famous for his bold prediction that the Jets would beat the heavily favored Colts.

Holmes' lips were just as loose during Super Bowl week. But unlike Namath, he'd probably like to have his words back. He admitted that he sold drugs as a teen-ager.

So while infamy beckoned for both Holmes and the Steelers, who were about to set the record for the biggest blown lead by a Super Bowl loser, Holmes caught a 14-yard pass to turn a first-and-20 into a second-and-6 at the Steelers' 26.

The Steelers came out of the two-minute warning facing a third-and-6, and Holmes hauled in a 13-yard reception to put the ball at the Steelers' 39.

The game changer came three plays later, with 62 seconds remaining. A 40-yard Holmes reception, including about 30 after the catch, put the ball on the Cardinals' 6, and the Steelers used their last timeout with 49 seconds left.

The clock stopped again when a Roethlisberger pass went through Holmes' fingers in the left corner of the end zone. Then they tried the same play in the right corner of the end zone. Roethlisberger, either ballsy or color blind, threw the ball over three red shirts into the hands of Holmes, who barely got a toe from each foot down in the end zone for the winning touchdown, sealing the Super Bowl MVP award with nine catches for 131 yards, and putting his checkered past in the background.

LaMarr Woodley's strip sack of Warner and Brett Keisel's recovery locked up the Lombardi Trophy. It turned out the defense had a little something left, after all.

Deja vu

Holmes not only responded on that final drive. With Hines Ward limited, he filled the void the entire game.

Despite nursing a sprained knee, however, Ward was a factor.

He sort of made like Willis Reed by catching a 38-yard pass on the game's second play, helping to set up a field goal.

The Steelers made it 10-0 on their second possession with Gary Russell's 1-yard touchdown run.

But this wouldn't be one of those vintage 1980s Super Bowl blowouts. Suddenly I thought we'd have a halftime score reminiscent of the last time the Steelers played a 9-7 team in the Super Bowl. The Cardinals pulled to within 10-7 and had a first-and-goal at the 1 with 18 seconds left in the half.

I was getting ready to accept a 14-10 halftime lead for the Cards, which would have been eerily similar to the 13-10 halftime lead the Rams had over the Steelers 29 years ago in Super Bowl XIV. That had me worried, considering the Cardinals had Kurt Warner and those Rams had Vince Ferragamo.

But Harrison eased my worries, intercepting a Warner pass at the goal line and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 halftime lead for the Steelers. What a night for Harrison. He ran for the longest play in Super Bowl history and the refs actually called holding a couple of times on guys trying to block him.

Deja vu, Part II

Before Super Bowl XLIII became one for the ages in the fourth quarter, I had one more Steelers Super Bowl flashback.

The Steelers put together a 16-play drive, aided by a facemask penalty and two personal fouls on the Cardinals. Up 10, they were deep in Arizona territory late in the third quarter.

When did we see this before?

I'll tell you where. In Super Bowl XL, the Steelers led the Seahawks 14-3 in the third quarter and got to the Seahawks' 7. But instead of making it a three-possession game, Roethlisberger threw an interception that was returned 76 yards, and the Seahawks eventually pulled to within 14-10.

In that situation on Sunday, the Steelers settled for a field goal to make it 20-7. They didn't get the touchdown, which kept it a two-possession game. But I felt that by getting points and not turning the ball over, Roethlisberger got the job done.

Little did I know that Roethlisberger's work was far from done, that the events of the fourth quarter would make Super Bowl XLIII a memorable one.

Stock this, Warner!

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 31, 2009

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he didn't have a motivational speech prepared for Super Bowl Eve. He said he'd "wing it."

Here's some help, Mike: Losing to Arizona would be a Cardinal sin.

That doesn't mean the Cardinals aren't worthy opponents. They earned their way to Tampa.

That said, the Steelers didn't go 12-4 against the toughest schedule in the NFL, then survive a bloodbath with the Ravens so that they could lose to the Arizona Freaking Cardinals in the Super Bowl.

The Steelers' biggest deficit of the season was 17 points. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have trailed 34-0 to the Jets (a 56-35 loss), 31-7 to the Eagles (a 48-20 loss), 28-0 to the Vikings (a 35-14 loss at home) and 44-0 to the Patriots (a 47-7 loss).

If the Cardinals beat the Steelers, the New England Film Crew would use that 47-7 win over the Cardinals to make a BCS-type claim to the world championship.

The Steelers cannot lose to this team.

How Big Ben ticks

One reason people go to Arizona is for witness protection, because they possess valuable information.

As their former offensive coordinator, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt possesses valuable information about the Steelers, and in the Super Bowl he will take the stand.

When he was hired as the Cardinals' coach, Whisenhunt took with him from Pittsburgh offensive line coach Russ Grimm and probably a shitload of notepads and pens from the supply closet. Grimm, by the way, might have raided the snack drawer before he left.

Whisenhunt has since acquired former Steelers Sean Morey (special teams ace), Brian St. Pierre (backup quarterback), Clark Haggans (linebacker on injured reserve) and Jerame Tuman (tight end). Speaking of tight ends, isn't it funny that a guy named Leonard Pope is on the Cardinals?

Those former Steelers might be able to supply some intelligence, but the real mother lode for the Cardinals is Whisenhunt's knowledge of Ben Roethlisberger's tendencies, how his mind works. That's going to get the Cardinals at least an interception, and hopefully not much more than that.

When it comes to coaches against their old team in the Super Bowl, history doesn't bode well for the Steelers. In Super Bowl XXXVII, Jon Gruden led the Buccaneers to a 48-21 whipping of the Raiders, who he coached the year before.

Steelers fans can take solace in the fact that there's been an extra year since Whisenhunt's departure from the Steelers. That's given Roethlisberger two years to mature since he's been under Whisenhunt's tutelage.

Don't think that Whisenhunt doesn't want to show Dan Rooney that he made a mistake by letting him go to Arizona and hiring Tomlin over him. Tomlin has to prove the Steelers made the right call.

One thing Tomlin doesn't have to prove is that he's cooler than Whisenhunt. He's Shaft to Whisenhunt's Taggert on "Beverly Hills Cop."

I wonder how much red meat Whisenhunt eats.

The Book of Kurt

The Cardinals are supposed to be a feel-good story.

I don't feel so good about them.

If that chip on Whisenhunt's shoulder (and now Grimm's because he didn't get into the Hall of Fame) isn't enough to work up a hatred for the Cardinals, then how about Bible Boy Kurt Warner?

What's that you say? How can we hate someone as inspirational as Warner, who went from stocking grocery shelves to winning the Super Bowl?

Easy.

Warner leading the 1999 St. Louis Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV was wrong on so many levels.

The Rams were the first indoor team to win a Super Bowl, and they didn't have to play any road games in the playoffs. That gives Warner automatic hate points.

I think every indoor and warm-weather team should be required to win at least one game in the elements to be considered a legitimate Super Bowl champion. How'd that snowstorm in New England work out for the Cardinals? And they didn't exactly absolve themselves with that road playoff win at Carolina. It was 45 degrees. Not cold enough.

Another reason I didn't like seeing Warner's Rams win the Super Bowl was because it was like watching video-game football with all the points they scored. Great champions should be known for their defense, not their offense.

And the Rams don't belong in St. Louis. They belong in Los Angeles. Just like the Cardinals don't belong in Arizona. They belong in St. Louis.

In 2001, when Warner and the Rams could have made themselves useful by beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, they choked.

The 2008 Cardinals are a poor man's version of Warner's Rams. On Slate.com, Charles P. Pierce referred to the Cardinals as "a glorified Arena Football League team." I can't think of a better way to say it.

And another thing, the Cardinals' offensive line has played together for all 19 games this season, and in the Super Bowl they'll be allowed to hold James Harrison.

Let's see how Warner does behind the Steelers' offensive line. He'd better be holding a Bible.

Cactus pricks

Here's more fuel for Cardinal hatred: For a team that's not a rival, they have a history of being a pain in the Steelers' ass.

The Steelers and Cardinals have only played eight times since the merger, with the Steelers going 5-3. But the Steelers are only 2-3 against the Cardinals since they moved to Arizona.

Mike Tomlin's first career loss as Steelers coach came last season at Arizona. Steve Breaston returned a punt for a touchdown to break a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter (I know Breaston's from Pittsburgh, but let's face it, he's named for a female body part). The Cardinals went on to win 21-14 at their spaceship of a stadium.

By the way, Heinz Field is way cooler than University of Phoenix Stadium. People from the University of Phoenix call me all the time asking if I want to take classes. People from Heinz never call and ask me to use their ketchup.

The Steelers and Cardinals met twice in the 1990s, both overtime games at Sun Devil Stadium. In 1997, the Steelers won 26-20 on a Jerome Bettis touchdown in OT. In 1994, they lost 20-17.

In both of those seasons, the Steelers would lose the AFC championship game at home. Coincidence? I think not. I swear an ancient desert tribe put a curse on the Steelers that kept them out of the Super Bowl those years.

In 1988, their first year in Arizona, the Cardinals were vultures. At Sun Devil Stadium, they beat the Steelers 31-14, picking at their carcass during the rock-bottom lowest point of the forgettable 1980s. The Steelers went 5-11 that season. The Steel Curtain days were a distant memory and Bill Cowher was still the Browns secondary coach.

The Steelers beat the Cardinals 24-21 at St. Louis on the way to winning their fourth Super Bowl. But they had to come back from a 21-7 deficit in the fourth quarter. That victory improved the Steelers to 3-0. It was two weeks before I watched the Steelers for the first time. Figures it was their first loss of the season that I saw, a 17-14 loss at Philadelphia.

If the Cardinals didn't suck so much, maybe that game would have been on national TV and my introduction to the Steelers would have been that resounding comeback.

Damn Cardinals!

Thou shalt not lose

I wrote in an earlier column that the Steelers would avoid being one-hit wonders by winning Super Bowl XLIII. They would have multiple championships in their era. They'd need another one to match what the Patriots did in the first half of the decade. But if Tomlin hands Rooney the Vince Lombardi Trophy, it will give the Steelers two championships in four years. In the last five years, no other team has won two.

That would make the Steelers not just the only team with six Super Bowl titles, but the best thing going in the NFL right now.

That's a much loftier status than their Flavor of the Month opponents could achieve with a win.

That's why losing to this team of Cardinals, with a Pope and a Bible Boy, would be a sin.

More visuals

By Mike Batista
January 30, 2009
Steelahs.com

Tuesday was Media Day at the Super Bowl. Today is Picture Day on Steelahs.com.

Sean's Ramblings asked members of the Steelers blogging community what their attire will be for Super Bowl XLIII, as well as a prediction. I sent him this photo:

Plain old Steelers T-shirt on the left. Reebok Steelers hoodie on the right. Steelers cap on top of T-shirt.

It's important to not wear anything indicating past Steelers championships. Bad luck. The only thing in the photo I won't be wearing is the cap on the right. I had been wearing it for a few years and retired it after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL. It was the official good-luck cap of 2005. The cap on the left would earn the same status if the Steelers win Sunday.

Not pictured is the Rolling Rock I will drink. I'll be enjoying the taste of Old Latrobe in New York or Massachusetts. Not sure yet where I'll be watching the game.

Prediction: Steelers 33, Cardinals 31
MVP: Santonio Holmes
Other stuff that will happen: Troy Polamalu will get an interception. Limas Sweed will make a key third-down catch.

OK, let me explain that wacky score. No, I didn't drink a six-pack of Rolling Rock before typing it. Rather, it is a tribute to the intoxication of youth.

Sometime in the early 80s (see first photo below under "Growing up Steelers"), when Terry Bradshaw was still with the Steelers and the Cardinals were still in St. Louis, I wrote some predictions on a sheet of three-ring binder paper. I picked the playoff teams and the results for each game. My Super Bowl pick was Steelers-Cardinals, with the Steelers winning 33-31. It wasn't based on research. The Steelers were getting old and the Cardinals sucked (although not as bad as they did six weeks ago). I was just playing around.

Now I'm serious. I'll even break down the score by quarters. Cardinals will lead 21-7 after the first quarter. They'll increase the lead to 24-7 before the Steelers go no-huddle and pull to within 24-21 at halftime. Two Jeff Reed field goals will make it 27-24 Steelers after three quarters. Two more Reed field goals will make it a two-possession game, 33-24. The Cardinals will get a late touchdown and try an onsides kick. But the Steelers will recover and secure a record sixth Lombardi Trophy.

There you go, pick your squares now.

The Steelers' comeback from a 17-point deficit will be a Super Bowl record. Santonio Holmes will earn the MVP by becoming the first player to return a punt for a touchdown in a Super Bowl, catching a pass for a touchdown and hauling in another long reception to set up one of the field goals.

Honest, officer, I've had nothing to drink.

Growing up Steelers

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 30, 2009

As I count down the hours until I watch the Steelers in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in my life, here's a pictoral history of my years as a Steelers fan. 

Age 9: Sold on the black and gold

This was taken within a year after the Steelers beat the Rams in Super Bowl XIV, which is the first Super Bowl I watched. I began following football in 1979, just in time for the last year of the Steel Curtain dynasty. If only this fresh-faced young lad knew the mediocrity he would have to endure for the next decade.

Age 20: Here comes the sun

As you can see, all those years of crappy Steelers football left me loopy. Or it could have been the 20-mile Walk for Hunger I had just completed when this photo was taken. This was May of 1992. Chuck Noll retired four months earlier, and the Steelers hired a coach who I had never heard of named Bill Cowher. After 14 years, Cowher led them to that long-awaited fifth Super Bowl title. A year later, he retired, and the Steelers hired a coach I had never heard of named Mike Tomlin ...

Yes, that is a Boston Celtics shirt I'm wearing. Remember, I'm a Boston sports fan in every sport except the NFL, hence the "ahs" in Steelahs.com. Besides, this Walk for Hunger was in Boston.

Curious Mike

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 29, 2009

I was wrong about Mike Tomlin.

No, I'm not talking about my feelings when he was hired as Steelers coach. Except for the initial shock, I had no problem with his hiring.

I'm talking about Tomlin's demeanor during Super Bowl week. I thought he was so due for a meltdown. Both before and after Ben Roethlisberger got the concussion in the final regular-season game against the Browns, Tomlin started to get a little testy toward reporters. His relationship with Ed Bouchette, the dean of Steelers scribes, was a bit strained.

I figured he would explode after the first stupid question during Media Day.

Instead, Tomlin seems to be winning over the media. He's already won over the fans, who voted him Motorola Coach of the Year.

There was a story in the New York Times earlier this week that said Tomlin was a reluctant intellectual in his younger years. Tomlin would throw away the "My Child is an Honor Roll Student" bumper stickers that came in the mail before his mother could get a hold of them. He made fun of a classmate in school by calling him "Poem Boy." Then he goes and quotes Robert Frost after the Steelers win the AFC championship.

A childhood literary favorite of Tomlin's was "Curious George," which he affably revealed to a young reporter during Super Bowl Media Day, perhaps providing a glimpse of Tomlin the Dad.

I've been curious about Tomlin since he was hired as Steelers coach. He's always had a mystique about him. With the Steelers in the Super Bowl, we're finally learning more about him.

If the Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII, I hope someone does a book on Tomlin. I'd love to write it, but he probably could write it himself.

Taking the fifth (and sixth?)

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 28, 2009

The Steelers are in Super Bowl XLIII, and I've been writing about nature, fashion and music.

I can understand if you're tired of reading about cardinals (the bird, not the team or the Pope wannabes), jersey colors and one-hit wonders. And you might be tired of what I'm about to bring up. But it might make you feel better about a certain subject.

Did the Steelers win Super Bowl XL because of the officials?

Well, the Steelers won their fifth Super Bowl ring that day, and I'm taking the fifth on that question.

The officiating in that game, which I'll admit was poor, is still being talked about three years later. But the Steelers don't get enough credit for the resourcefulness of that 21-10 victory.

I think the week off before the Super Bowl hurt the Steelers more than the Seahawks. To get to the Super Bowl, the Steelers not only had to win three playoff games on the road, they also had to win seven games in seven weeks. The week off ebbed their wave of momentum (by the way, I think the week off will hurt the Cardinals Sunday for the same reason). The Steelers weren't at their best on the day of the Super Bowl.

On top of all that, the Seahawks came out throwing screen pass after screen pass to negate the Steelers' pass rush. They had the upper hand.

The Steelers didn't get a first down until 19 minutes into the game, and even then Antwan Randle-El bobbled the pass from Ben Roethlisberger before catching it.

If people think the Steelers got help from the refs during Super Bowl XL, they certainly didn't get much help from their quarterback, and Roethlisberger has admitted as much this week.

But if you look at his performance another way, Roethlisberger was the MacGyver of quarterbacks. He threw a shovel pass to Hines Ward on third-and-6 during their first scoring drive. Then on third-and-28 from the Seattle 40, Roethlisberger provided the first glimpses of his now famous ability to keep plays alive.

On a broken play that seemed to last 45 seconds, Roethlisberger found Ward near the goal line to set up first-and-goal and an eventual touchdown. You can't complain about the officiating if you can't get off the field on third-and-28.

Roethlisberger completed just nine of 21 passes in the game, and two of his completions were the shovel pass to Randle-El and a pass that Ward had to bend over to grab just inches off the ground. That's what you call winning ugly.

The performance of both teams, not just the Steelers, made this one of the least exciting Super Bowls in recent memory to fans outside of Seattle and Pittsburgh.

For general audiences, perhaps the only moment in the game more entertaining than the commercials was Willie Parker's Super Bowl-record, 75-yard touchdown run, which gave the Steelers a 14-3 lead early in the third quarter.

After the Seahawks narrowed the gap to 14-10, the Steelers put the game away when Randle-El took the ball on a reverse and threw a touchdown pass to Hines Ward. A trick play, with Roethlisberger throwing a key block. That's what I call resourceful.

The Steelers won Super Bowl XL because they made the big plays and found a way to keep drives going by turning junk into gold.

But if you're Catholic like me (and the Rooneys) and you still can't flush out that Catholic guilt about how the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, the Steelers can absolve that guilt by doing unto the Cardinals what the Jets (56-35), Eagles (48-20), Vikings (35-14 at Arizona) and Patriots (47-7) did unto them. If they can do that, they certainly won't need any Hail Marys.

This much
is true

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 26, 2009

What do the Steelers have in common with Debby Boone, Kajagoogoo, Nena, Soft Cell and Spandau Ballet?

They're all one-hit wonders.

But the Steelers have an opportunity to change that in Super Bowl XLIII.

In football terms, the Steelers are in the same boat as the Buccaneers, Ravens, Rams, Packers and Bears. All of those teams won just one Super Bowl during their era.

The Packers won the first two Super Bowls, but their Super Bowl XXXI title is set apart from those because it came three decades later. By the same principle, the Steelers' One for the Thumb is on a stage separate from their first four.

With a victory over the Cardinals on Sunday, the Steelers would not only win an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl, they would also win their second in four years.

Dynasty?

Two championships in four years would put the Steelers a notch above the one-hit wonders, teams whose Lombardi Trophies sit like only children on their mantels.

But it wouldn't quite put them in the same class as the Audio-Visual Society of New England, who won Super Bowls in 2001, 2003 and 2004, the Broncos (1997, 1998), the Cowboys (1992, 1993 and 1995) or the 49ers (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994).

My definition of a dynasty is three championships in four years or four in a decade. That makes the Patriots of the 2000s, the Cowboys of the 1990s, the 49ers of the 1980s and the Steelers of the 1970s the only dynasties of the Super Bowl era. No team has won three straight championships. But if one ever did, I obviously would consider it a dynasty.

Teams winning two titles in a row, like the Broncos, Dolphins (1972, 1973) and Packers (1966, 1967) are mini-dynasties.

So the Steelers wouldn't be a dynasty with a win Sunday. Not yet, anyway.

One and done

When it comes to Super Bowl one-hit wonders, the 1985 Bears are Dexy's Midnight Runners (although "Come on, Eileen" gets played a little more in dance clubs these days than the "Super Bowl Shuffle").

The '85 Bears might have been one of the most dominating Super Bowl winners, beating the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. But the closest they got to another Super Bowl during their window was the 1988 NFC championship game, where they were pounded at home by the 49ers.

Brett Favre led the Packers to the championship in 1996 and brought them back to the Super Bowl the next year. The Rams with Kurt Warner won the 1999 title and got back to the Super Bowl two years later. But both teams saw their dynasty hopes dashed by underdogs. The Packers were upset by the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII and the Rams were stunned by the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI.

It wasn't exactly the quarterbacks who led the Ravens (Trent Dilfer, 2000) and Bucs (Brad Johnson, 2002) to the promised land. They won their titles with defense and showed that you don't need a star quarterback to win a Super Bowl. But if you want to win more than one Super Bowl, that's a different story.

It's the quarterback, stupid

In the 30 years since Terry Bradshaw won his fourth Super Bowl, the only quarterbacks to win multiple Super Bowls are Jim Plunkett, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, John Elway and Tom Brady.

Nice company to be in, and either Ben Roethlisberger or Kurt Warner will be joining them Sunday.

The Manning brothers aren't bad, either, and they still have a chance to give their Lombardi Trophies some company. Just not this year.

Warner was third in the NFL this season with a quarterback rating of 96.9. Roethlisberger was 24th at 80.1, but won four games with his fourth-quarter magic.

Having a Warner, a Roethlisberger, a Brady, an Elway, a Montana or a Manning gives teams a chance to win multiple Super Bowls. On the other hand, Super Bowl champs led by Johnson, Dilfer and Mark Rypien (1991 Redskins) have never been back to the Big Game.

Since hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, both Warner and Roethlisberger have plunged into depths that would make great material for a "Behind the Music" episode.

But they're both back in the Super Bowl. Warner is fronting a new band, while Roethlisberger can drive the Steelers back to the top of the charts.

As Steelers fans, it would light up our lives.

Men in white

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com
January 23, 2009

Super Bowl XLIII hasn't even started yet, but the Cardinals already have made their first mistake.

As the designated home team, they chose to wear their red jerseys.

That means the Steelers will wear their white jerseys, their underdog jerseys (even though they're favored), their us-against-the-world jerseys.

The Steelers reached Super Bowl XL in 2005 by winning three straight road playoff games, all in their white jerseys.

To help keep that mojo going, Bill Cowher decided they would wear white for the Super Bowl. They could have worn their black jerseys, which is probably what most of their fans would have preferred. Hey, if I ever bought a Steelers jersey, it would be a black one, and it's not just because I'm a slob and would be afraid to spill food on a white jersey.

That said, I like seeing the Steelers in their white jerseys. Since the long and winding road toward One for the Thumb began in 1980, some of the biggest and most surprising Steelers wins have come in white. Here are their top 10 white-uniform wins of the last 29 years:

1. Steelers 21, Colts 18 (2005 AFC divisional playoffs): After this shocking win over the mighty Colts, who started the season 13-0, there was no way in hell the Steelers were losing to the Broncos the following week. They were getting Jerome Bettis home to Detroit.

2. Steelers 21, Seahawks 10 (Super Bowl XL): This isn't No. 1 because it wasn't the huge turning point that the seismic upset of the Colts was. But it did officially end the 26-year wait for One for the Thumb.

3. Steelers 33, Patriots 10 (2008): This victory, the Steelers' first in Foxboro since 1997, established the Steelers as Super Bowl contenders, and look where they are now. It could ultimately prove to be the changing of the guard in the AFC.

4. Steelers 13, Ravens 9 (2008): As big as the win over the Patriots was two weeks earlier, the Steelers didn't need it as badly as they needed this one. It not only secured a playoff spot, but it clinched a first-round bye.

5. Steelers 24, Patriots 21, OT (1997): Of their white-jersey wins over the past three decades, this is the Steelers' most improbable comeback. A stupid Drew Bledsoe interception made it possible.

6. Steelers 24, Broncos 17 (1984 AFC divisional playoffs): The Steelers reached the playoffs with a 9-7 record, and proudly wore their white jerseys in upsetting John Elway and the Orange Crush Broncos.

7. Steelers 26, Oilers 23, OT (1989 AFC wild-card game): The Steelers wore white on New Year's Eve, outdressing the Luv Ya Blue Oilers. The Steelers kicked the mediocre 1980s out the door, and offered a peek into what would be much better days in the two decades to come.

8. Steelers 13, Raiders 7 (1984): This was when the Raiders were perennial Super Bowl contenders and Al Davis still had control of his bowels. The men in white beat the Silver and Black, who then played at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Steelers needed this win on the last weekend of the regular season to make the playoffs, where they upset the Broncos.

9. Steelers 17, Buccaneers 7 (2002): The Bucs didn't lose again after this Monday-nighter in the next-to-last week of the regular season. They went on to win the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the Steelers didn't get another shot at the Bucs, losing at Tennessee in the divisional playoffs. But they do return to the site of that win for the first time on Super Bowl Sunday.

10. Steelers 20, 49ers 17 (1984): I know very little about this game, except for the fact that it was the only game the 15-1 49ers lost that season. The Steelers were one win away from getting another shot at the 49ers, but they lost 45-28 at Miami in the AFC championship game.

Honorable Mention: Steelers 23, Redskins 6 (2008): This makes the list because of the surprise factor. Historically, the Redskins are one of the few teams that wears its white uniforms at home. I fully expected the Steelers to be in black and the Redskins in white for this Monday night game. But the Redskins, who were 6-2 at the time, came out in burgundy, and the Steelers came out in white. Look what happened.

The Cardinals might have the charm and motivation of underdogs in this Super Bowl. But they have no idea that those white threads somehow make the Steelers play like they have something to prove.