Shawn Stinson

Richmond County Daily Journal

It’s no surprise to see the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the Super Bowl representing the AFC. This will be the team’s seventh appearance in the game and will be attempting to improve its record to 6-1 in the most watched sporting event in the U.S.

The Steelers, under coach Mike Tomlin, look a lot like the Super Bowl teams under Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, great defense and enough offensive weapons to beat its opponents.

This year’s “Steel Curtain” defense is being compared to the great Steeler defenses of the past and some are even calling this unit of the best defenses in the history of the NFL.

The Steelers finished first in team defense in total yards allowed, giving up only 237.2 yards per game; passing yards, 156.9 per game; and points allowed, 13.9 per game.

The only category where the Steelers weren’t tops in the league was rushing yards allowed, where they were second, right behind the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings gave up 76.9 rushing yards per game and Pittsburgh was right behind allowing 80.2 yards.

While the defense was tops in the league, the offense struggled for most of the season. The Steelers were only able to finish 22nd in the NFL in total offense, the teams below them included the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals and the winless Detroit Lions.

A good reason for the offensive unit’s struggles was the injury to Willie Parker. Without Parker in the backfield, the Steelers were forced to count on Mewelde Moore, Rashard Mendenhall and Gary Russell to carry the load.

While Moore is a good complimentary back, no team wants to count on him carrying the ball 20 to 25 times in a game.

Mendenhall has the potential to become another great running back for the Steelers in the mold of Franco Harris, Barry Foster and Jerome Bettis, but was injured and missed most of the season.

But as Pittsburgh gets ready to step onto the field at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. to face the Arizona Cardinals, this will be one of the first times the Steelers may be as healthy as they have been all year. Granted, wide receiver and team leader Hines Ward will be less than 100 percent and Ben Roethlisberger has an “injured” back, the Steelers have had two weeks to lick their wounds from the tough AFC and get ready for the Super Bowl.

I suspect Tomlin and his staff will have the Steelers ready to face the upstart Cardinals.

Arizona’s offensive weapons will test the defensive schemes from Dick LeBeau. The Steelers like to apply pressure from all angles and force the opponent’s quarterback into making a mistake which is generally turned into a touchdown by Troy Polamalu or another Steeler defender.

In the NFC championship game, the Cardinals did a good job of handling the blitzes of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Steelers have watched that game film a hundred times in the past two weeks to give Kurt Warner a new wrinkle he may be unprepared for.

The Steelers should be able to force Warner into making some mistakes, but with wide receivers like Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, he will be able to complete some passes, but the Steelers will limit those catches to small gains.

The only way the Cardinals are going to be able to offset the pressure Steelers will apply is for Edgerrin James, Tim Hightower or J.J. Arrington to have a good game and break some 20- or 30-yard gains, which is very unlikely to happen.

On offense, expect to see the Steelers open the playbook and not be as conservative as the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers were in their playoff contests with the Cardinals. Roethlisberger may lineup in the shotgun 80 percent of the time in the first half to try and expose the Cardinals defense.

If Pittsburgh can get the Arizona defense on its heels, it should allow Parker to run like he did against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

The Steelers defense will allow Fitzgerald to make a great Lynn Swann-like catch for a touchdown, but it will be the only points the Cardinals put on the board.

Pittsburgh will raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy for a sixth time after rolling to a 31-7 victory over Arizona