Super Bowl XL - Team talking points
The Steelers and Seahawks are teams with vastly different backgrounds, but on the field they are very similar.
Pittsburgh is in the heart of blue-collar Pennsylvania and its team personifies that perfectly. After a big day at the racetrack, Art Rooney bought a franchise from the NFL for $2,500 (£1,400) in 1933, the year the Pennsylvania Blue Laws banning Sunday play were repealed. His team were known as the Pirates, after the baseball side, for their first six years until the Steelers were born. Even though it is now valued at $717 million, the club is still in the Rooney family with Art's 74-year-old son Dan as chairman and his offspring scattered through the organisation. They have had just two head coaches since 1969 in Chuck Noll, who led them to four Super Bowl rings in the 1970s and Bill Cowher, who took the helm in 1992 and is leading the quest for "one for the thumb" 10 years after their last appearance in the big game, a loss to Dallas in Arizona.
Twenty-two former Steelers are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, from Johnny (Blood) McNally, the tearaway halfback of the 1930s, to quarterback Terry Bradshaw, architect of those four Super Bowl triumphs and now a genial TV host.
Pittsburgh's route to the big game has been a rollercoaster, their wildcard playoff place only secured thanks to four straight wins to end the regular season, followed by emotional victories on the road in Cincinnati, Indianapolis – in one of the most exciting games ever played – and Denver.
By contrast, Seattle's road to Detroit has been serene, characterised by grinding displays on home turf in front of a deafening crowd to beat Washington and Carolina in the playoffs. But look at the bigger picture and their journey to the big game has been a long one.
You could be watching the Los Angeles Seahawks this weekend had former owner Ken Behring had his way in 1996 and moved the team south. The team were only formed in 1976 when the NFL expanded to 28 teams, and enjoyed early success that took them to the 1984 AFC Championship Game, lost to Oakland. In the midst of dotcom country 13 years later, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen rescued them from a fate worse than California and began to rebuild a side of championship-calibre.
Just three hall-of-famers have played for the Seahawks and one, Franco Harris, spent just one season in Seattle after a career in Pittsburgh. Their lone legend is wide receiver Steve Largent, who retired in 1990 with every major career record for receivers and went on to run for Governor in Oklahoma in 2002.
One Super Bowl contender has tradition, the other has become suddenly fashionable but their teams are very similar. Both rely heavily on the running game backed up by quarterbacks who have come of age this post-season. Both have muscular receivers who will fight for the ball like defensive backs and both have aggressive defenses that combine blitzing with speed in coverage. Old versus new or man versus man, this is shaping up as a classic contest.
Hats and caps for all of your favourite teams
NFLBriefing.com
Pittsburgh is in the heart of blue-collar Pennsylvania and its team personifies that perfectly. After a big day at the racetrack, Art Rooney bought a franchise from the NFL for $2,500 (£1,400) in 1933, the year the Pennsylvania Blue Laws banning Sunday play were repealed. His team were known as the Pirates, after the baseball side, for their first six years until the Steelers were born. Even though it is now valued at $717 million, the club is still in the Rooney family with Art's 74-year-old son Dan as chairman and his offspring scattered through the organisation. They have had just two head coaches since 1969 in Chuck Noll, who led them to four Super Bowl rings in the 1970s and Bill Cowher, who took the helm in 1992 and is leading the quest for "one for the thumb" 10 years after their last appearance in the big game, a loss to Dallas in Arizona.
Twenty-two former Steelers are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, from Johnny (Blood) McNally, the tearaway halfback of the 1930s, to quarterback Terry Bradshaw, architect of those four Super Bowl triumphs and now a genial TV host.
Pittsburgh's route to the big game has been a rollercoaster, their wildcard playoff place only secured thanks to four straight wins to end the regular season, followed by emotional victories on the road in Cincinnati, Indianapolis – in one of the most exciting games ever played – and Denver.
By contrast, Seattle's road to Detroit has been serene, characterised by grinding displays on home turf in front of a deafening crowd to beat Washington and Carolina in the playoffs. But look at the bigger picture and their journey to the big game has been a long one.
You could be watching the Los Angeles Seahawks this weekend had former owner Ken Behring had his way in 1996 and moved the team south. The team were only formed in 1976 when the NFL expanded to 28 teams, and enjoyed early success that took them to the 1984 AFC Championship Game, lost to Oakland. In the midst of dotcom country 13 years later, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen rescued them from a fate worse than California and began to rebuild a side of championship-calibre.
Just three hall-of-famers have played for the Seahawks and one, Franco Harris, spent just one season in Seattle after a career in Pittsburgh. Their lone legend is wide receiver Steve Largent, who retired in 1990 with every major career record for receivers and went on to run for Governor in Oklahoma in 2002.
One Super Bowl contender has tradition, the other has become suddenly fashionable but their teams are very similar. Both rely heavily on the running game backed up by quarterbacks who have come of age this post-season. Both have muscular receivers who will fight for the ball like defensive backs and both have aggressive defenses that combine blitzing with speed in coverage. Old versus new or man versus man, this is shaping up as a classic contest.
Hats and caps for all of your favourite teams
NFLBriefing.com
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