Cardinals' red has shades of Steelers' black and gold

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 18: Head coach Ken Whisenhunt of the Arizona Cardinals celebrates with fans following the NFC championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles on January 18, 2009 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals defeated the Eagles 32-25 to advance to the Super Bowl. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)


TEMPE, Ariz. -- What was considered a Super Bowl longshot -- the Arizona Cardinals started the season at 90-1 odds to become Super Bowl contenders and improved to 40-1 by playoffs' eve -- became a sure thing Sunday evening with an NFC championship.

So, of course, the Steelers would wind up meeting the Cardinals, or "Steelers West," in two weeks in Tampa.

The football gods apparently have a delicious sense of humor and irony.

"Did you expect anything different?" Cardinals coach and ex-Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt asked yesterday, with a grin and his palms skyward. "I mean, when we actually won the [NFC championship] game, how could it have not been the Steelers?

"It's just a shame there won't be many story lines this week because of this matchup."

What a wise guy, that Whisenhunt.

He, remember, accepted the Cardinals' position before the Steelers ultimately decided upon Mike Tomlin. He then brought with him Russ Grimm, who also was a finalist for the Steelers' job, as his assistant head coach. There are no fewer than six other assistants who previously or most recently worked in those same South Side headquarters and four players who formerly practiced there: injured linebacker Clark Haggans, special-teams ace Sean Morey, tight end Jerame Tuman and quarterback Brian St. Pierre.

No wonder the Cardinals, a 110-year-old franchise whose playoff history consisted of seven games and two victories before they captured three consecutive triumphs this month, patterned themselves after the former employers of Whisenhunt and Grimm. Their practice schedule is the same. Their mantras about physical and mental toughness, accountability, hard work and unity are the same. That's how the Cardinals became "Steelers West." That's how they came to reach Super Bowl XLIII against the Steelers (14-4) for whom Whisenhunt called the plays and Grimm served as assistant head coach in the Super Bowl XL triumph at Detroit.

"I don't think you could have scripted it better," said Morey, who spent 2004-06 under the Steelers' special-teams coach Kevin Spencer, who is guiding him now. "It's going to be a situation where I'm familiar with a lot of those guys. It's going to be fun.

"It's an honor and a privilege. The years I had in Pittsburgh were some of the greatest of my life. The players in Pittsburgh are some of my best friends. And they're tough."

Terrelle Smith, a former Browns fullback, figures that the Steelers approach lugged to the desert by Whisenhunt and Co. can only become a boon to the Cardinals (12-7) come Feb. 1.

"Now we are going against them," Smith said. "Last year, we played them, and it was a good game [a 21-14 Cardinals victory in Week 4 at University of Phoenix Stadium]. This will be a good game. If anyone knows how to beat them, I know he does."

"Well," Whisenhunt added on that subject, "it can't hurt us that we know a little bit about them. Hopefully, it will only help us. That team has changed [in] the two years since we were there. … I think knowing the personnel for the most part is a little bit easier because you don't have to spend as much time doing that."

For the record, these Cardinals discount that Sept. 30, 2007 victory.

"Obviously, now we're playing for a little bigger money bag," said middle linebacker Gerald Hayes, a Pitt man the same as Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald on a team also using natives Steve Breaston of Woodland Hills High as the No. 3 receiver and South Park's Reggie Wells at starting guard.

"I think they're a better team than they were then," added Morey of the 2007-08 Steelers. "They have an approach where you play for each other, similar to this team."

He intends to impart on his Cardinals mates a Super Bowl lesson from three years ago.

"It's something Bill Cowher said to us … when we were entering Super Bowl XL: 'Nobody remembers who lost the Super Bowl,'" Morey said. "That resonated with a lot of us. The guys aren't going to just show up."

Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 20, 2009 at 12:00 am