Friday, January 20, 2006
PITTSBURGH -- Ask any Pittsburgh Steeler who he most wants to win Sunday's AFC Championship Game for, and the answer is Jerome Bettis.
Win or lose, The Bus is expected to retire after 13 seasons (10 in Pittsburgh) and a Hall of Fame career that has him fifth on the NFL rushing career list.
"We're one game away [from the Super Bowl]," eight-year wide receiver Hines Ward said. "That's all Jerome asked for [when he came back this year], another opportunity and this week we've done that.
"We want to win for ourselves, but we want to win for Jerome because he deserves it."
Ward mentioned others, including defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen (12-year veteran) and center Jeff Hartings (10 years).
"[They're] guys who put in the long years, the hard work to get back into this position again, one game away," Ward said. "It's those guys who deserve more than anybody.
"I want to do whatever I can to perform well and get those guys to the Super Bowl."
Seeking a winfor Coach Cowher
There's one other guy the Steelers should be wanting this victory for -- Coach Bill Cowher.
In his 14 seasons as Steelers coach, Cowher, 48, has won eight division titles and his teams have been in the playoffs 10 times.
The Steelers are playing in their sixth AFC Championship Game since January 1995.
The one blemish on Cowher's record -- his teams are 1-4 at home in conference championship games. As sweet as it would be for Bettis, von Oelhoffen, Hartings, James Farrior (nine years) and Chris Gardocki (15 years) to get championship rings, no one deserves one more than Cowher.
In the NFL, coaching legacies are determined by Super Bowl victories. Chuck Noll won all four he coached in for the Steelers. Bill Walsh (49ers) and Joe Gibbs (Redskins) won three rings.
Bud Grant (Vikings) and Marv Levy (Bills) lost all four games their teams played in.
Are Grant and Levy lousy coaches compared to Noll, Walsh and Gibbs? Logically, of course not. But logic doesn't always prevail in the NFL (think of the overturned Troy Polamalu interception last Sunday against the Colts).
For Cowher, this is the eighth AFC Championship Game he's been involved with in 19 years. Around here, Cowher's first two games when he was an assistant to Marty Schottheimer are known as "The Drive" and "The Fumble."
Cowher remindedof championship losses
As much as Cowher would like to not think about the Browns' losses to the Broncos in the 1987 and 1988 AFC Championship Games, the media keeps reminding him.
This week, Cowher was asked why the Steelers aren't traveling to Denver until Saturday.
"Going in as late as we are going, I don't think it will have as big of an effect," said Cowher, referring to Denver's altitude. "We'll stick to our normal schedule a lot like New England did last week."
Reminded that Schottenheimer took the Browns to Albuquerque before the 1988 game, Cowher said that was because the NFL back then insisted that the Browns had to be in Denver two days before the game.
Did going to New Mexico help? Cowher shrugged and said, "We lost the game. Everybody remembers the fumble drive. I guess that answers that question."
In October 2003, many current Steelers played against the Broncos at Invesco Field. Cowher said he doesn't remember Denver's high altitude being a factor in the Broncos' 17-14 win.
Bettis, who suffers from asthma, says he's already been schooled on how to adjust his medication for running the ball a mile above sea level.
Linebacker Clark Haggans, who played for Colorado State, playing in Colorado is "a little bit [different] but you get used to it. It's a big game -- you don't put worry about the air in the front of your mind. You have to worry about the task in front of you."
Ward said that if the Steelers don't win, he won't be shedding tears for Bettis in the locker room like he did after last year's 41-27 loss to the Patriots at Heinz Field.
"Best team in the league, to go 15-1 and be dominant and fall one game short was just very disappointing," Ward said of last year's AFC Championship Game. "My heart went out to [Bettis] and I was emotional about it.
"I told Jerome I won't cry for him, that's for sure. A lot of guys gave me ... it was hard, crying on TV," Ward said.
Defensive tackle Casey Hampton said he hopes to see Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer handing off often to running back Mike Anderson.
"That's what we want," Hampton said. "We pride ourselves in stopping the run so hopefully they will come out and try to run the ball and have tough time against us."
Bettis said that the four teams remaining in the playoffs (Steelers, Broncos, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks) all have defenses good at stopping the run.
The teams that establish the run on Sunday most likely will be motoring to Detroit in two weeks for Super Bowl XL.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write to him at williams@vindy.com.