Vets are at core of super season

The team's 48-year-old coach is one of those cogs.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
DENVER -- As happy as the Pittsburgh Steelers were to clinch their franchise's sixth Super Bowl trip on Sunday, the joy was greater for the NFL veterans who have been chasing an elusive ring for years.
Specifically, players were happy for tailback Jerome Bettis, defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen and center Jeff Hartings as well as coach Bill Cowher.
"He deserves it," said Hartings of Cowher. "To not talk about him as one of the best coaches in NFL history when you look at his 14-year run ...
Comfort zone
"I certainly wouldn't want to play for any other team," said Hartings, the former Penn State player who left the Detroit Lions after the 2000 season and signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent. "I love these guys. I love Coach Cowher. It feels good to win it for him and Jerome."
Ah yes, The Bus. After a Hall of Fame 13-season career , Bettis, 33, is expected to retire after the Steelers play the Seahawks on Feb. 5 at Detroit's Ford Field.
Asked to confirm the retirement rumor, Bettis said, "That's a great question -- I don't know."
Bettis added that he will make his decision after the Super Bowl that's being in played in his hometown.
"I don't know if I have [special] feelings," said Hartings of returning to where his NFL career began. "It's been a while. I had my chance to stay there and I didn't take it. This is just a path that God has taken me down.
"But I think it means a lot to [linebacker] Larry Foote and Jerome. Those guys grew up there. When you first look at it [the reaction is] -- aw, the Super Bowl is in Detroit -- but for guys like that it's special."
Keeping level heads
The Steelers qualified for the NFL's title game by walloping the Broncos 34-17 at Invesco Field at Mile High. The mood in the locker room was celebratory but not jubilant, reflective not boisterous.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said getting Bettis one last game in his hometown "has been my driving force all year. I'm glad I didn't have to cry and apologize to him that I didn't get him there."
Wide receiver Hines Ward, an eight-year veteran, said winning the AFC is "gratifying. Hell, I almost cried [for Bettis]. We both almost cried.
"Not just Jerome, but guys like Kimo and Jeff Hartings, those guys put in long years and time into this," Ward said. "They deserve opportunities to go to the Super Bowl."
Von Oelhoffen, the soft-spoke defensive end who gained notoriety two weeks ago when he rolled into Carson Palmer and tore the ACL in the Bengals quarterback's left knee, played six seasons in Cincinnati before joining the Steelers after the 1999 season.
Contagious
"Jerome, in some way, has affected everyone on the team," Ward said. "We're happy to be going to the Super Bowl, but we want to win.
"We want to win the whole thing and give [Bettis] that ring. It would be a book in the making -- 'The Jerome Bettis Story.' It couldn't happen to a greater guy."
Bettis says Cowher, who is taking his second team to the Super Bowl in his 14-year career, deserves to be considered in that category.
"He's been criticized for not being able to win the big one," Bettis said. "That was a thought for us, too.
"He's been our leader and he's been supportive of us when we have failed," said Bettis who has played 10 seasons in Pittsburgh and was not part of Cowher's 1996 Super Bowl team that lost to the Cowboys.
"He's been the number one supporter and it's just great that we're able to win [the conference] and get him another opportunity and another crack at that elusive Super Bowl ring."
No gnawing
Cowher says his 1-4 record in AFC Championship Games (all at home) before Sunday hasn't been gnawing at him.
"It is what it is," said Cowher, whose teams lost to the Chargers (1995), Broncos (1998) and Patriots (2002 and 2005). The Broncos and Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl.
"I can't do anything about it," said Cowher, 48. "I don't want other people to be stuck to me. You can say anything you want about me and the failures I have had. That's fine. I understand it's part of this business.
"We need to go win one more game -- no one remembers who lost the Super Bowl."
williams@vindy.com