The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
January 18, 2011
PITTSBURGH, PA - JANUARY 15: Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates after defeating the Baltimore Ravens 31-24 in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game at Heinz Field on January 15, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH — Down the hall on the way to the Steelers offices are the shiny silver totems of a franchise. Their standard is so simple that when Coach Mike Tomlin was asked what it meant to play like a Steeler, he could sum it up in one word: “Win.”
The six Lombardi Trophies — two have been added since 2006 — provide the backdrop to Sunday’s A.F.C. championship game, which few saw coming. The Steelers have been considered one of the best teams in the conference since they emerged from the first month of the season with a 3-1 record despite the absence of Ben Roethlisberger (suspended) and their top two backup quarterbacks (injuries). But while the New England Patriots packed their belongings in garbage bags Monday — their elimination still a source of marvel to many around the league — Tomlin was already so deep into film study on the Jets that he could not remember how his offensive line performed when the Steelers lost to them in December at Heinz Field.
Tomlin is an emotional coach — witness his shadow boxing with players as they came off the field during the Steelers’ victory over the Ravens on Saturday — but he dials down his press briefings into Belichickian territory. He delivered one critical piece of injury news Tuesday: Defensive end Aaron Smith, who has missed the last 11 games with a triceps injury, will practice starting Wednesday and could be available to play a limited number of snaps.
But when Tomlin was asked about safety Troy Polamalu, who missed that Jets game but is expected to play Sunday, he echoed what he said in September. He insisted that the results of the Roethlisberger-free stretch were what he expected because when a backup is thrust into the game at any position, players from another position have to pick up the slack.
“We’re not going to use his presence or lack of presence as an excuse for anything,” Tomlin said about how much Polamalu’s absence may have cost the Steelers in that game. “We have one standard; that standard is winning.”
So far, that has worked for the Steelers. While the Jets are the charismatic upstarts trying to emulate the run the Steelers made in the 2005 season from sixth seed to champion — the only time a sixth seed made it to the Super Bowl — the Steelers have turned conference championship weeks into a winter ritual as familiar as the missing teeth in Jack Lambert’s grin. This is their 15th A.F.C. championship game, the most appearances by any team since the 1970 merger between the N.F.L. and the American Football League.
In the airport on Tuesday morning, the “Go Steelers” signs were already flashing, the statue of Franco Harris making his Immaculate Reception was the focal point of travelers’ photos (George Washington, in full Revolutionary War regalia, stood ignored, steps away), the piles of Terrible Towels were stocked at the souvenir stores.
“The only story line we have is six trophies, and we’re trying to get another one, and that’s what we’re working towards,” safety Ryan Clark said Monday.
For all their storied history, the Steelers’ recent record is mixed. They are 7-7 over all in conference championship games and 5-5 at home. They won the last one they hosted, in January 2009 over the Ravens, the first conference championship game with Tomlin as coach. Before that, they had lost four of five.
Perhaps that is part of the reason the Steelers are not the lightning rods for bitterness from opponents that the Patriots are. The Jets and the Steelers dispatched their most fearsome rivals in the divisional round, leaving behind just a game devoid of the bile of last week. Jets Coach Rex Ryan heaped praise on Tomlin on Monday, declining to make the game a personal grudge match. Jets players wondered how to sack a behemoth like Roethlisberger, instead of cursing him. There does not seem to be a need for another warning from the N.F.L. about trash talking.
On Monday, the Pittsburgh rookie center Maurkice Pouncey said Jets linebacker Bart Scott — he of the searing post-Patriots on-field diatribe — said “a couple of words” back in December, but concluded, “A couple of defensive linemen did, but it was a good game.”
On Tuesday, Tomlin said: “I love Rex. Rex has a lot of fun with you guys. When you see past all those things, this is a great football coach. His glass is always half full.
“Our styles are probably more similar than you would imagine. Rex just has more fun with you guys.”
Maybe so. But Tomlin has something Ryan wants badly, and he walks by them every day when he gets to work.
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