Aging Steelers sticking together

Associated Press

LATROBE, Pa.

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark is no dummy. Of course he wanted the defending AFC champions to go after coveted free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. How could any team not want a player with Asomugha’s shut-down skills?

Yet Clark believed Pittsburgh’s potential pursuit of the former Oakland Raider should come with a caveat: The Steelers could only make a play for Asomugha if they re-signed veteran Ike Taylor first, even if Taylor lacks Asomugha’s Pro Bowl-laden resume.

“We’re family over here,” Clark said. “We’re brothers ... we focus on keeping our own, keeping the same guys at the dinner table that’s taken us to two of the last three Super Bowls.”

The table remains full after Pittsburgh inked Taylor to a four-year, $28 million contract last month.

Still, it’s a group that had to take a long hard look at the family portrait after Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers torched the Steelers for 304 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-25 Super Bowl victory.

A unit that has consistently been among the best in the league over the half-decade looked downright ordinary — not to mention a step slow — while Rodgers expertly picked it apart.

Cornerback Bryant McFadden admitted he wasn’t healthy that night in Texas. Neither was All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu, hindered in the postseason by an Achilles injury.

Excuses? Hardly. Pittsburgh’s secondary doesn’t do excuses.

Asked to explain what happened and Polamalu offers his typically straightforward, soft-spoken assessment.

“We gave up big plays on offense and on defense,” he said. “We had opportunities on both ends to gain some great momentum that we just weren’t making.”

Polamalu and company view the game as an anomaly, not the beginning of the end for one of the most experienced defensive backfields in the league.

Rather than go out and make a run for Asomugha, the Steelers brought back the 31-year-old Taylor, one of the most physical cornerbacks in the league.

He’ll join Polamalu, Clark and McFadden for one more run at a Super Bowl. All four will be at least 30 by the end of the season, and Polamalu and Clark already have flecks of gray in their hair.

Just don’t call them old. At least not yet.

While Polamalu grants the unit may not be quite as nimble as it was a couple years ago, he’s not sure it matters.

“I think our defense has a great advantage in the sense of feel for one another, the teamwork, the camaraderie and maybe less based on athleticism than most others,” said Polamalu, who will make his preseason debut on Thursday against Philadelphia. “We’ve been in this system for a long time, more than any other team in the NFL, so we have a great feel. I don’t think it’s anything we’ve ever discussed.”

Maybe because they’ve been together so long they don’t have to.

Clark calls the secondary a reflection of the blue-collar city that it plays in. For proof look no further than Taylor, who had surgery on his broken left thumb Tuesday morning, but still managed to make his way to the cafeteria at St. Vincent College to have lunch with his teammates.

“Why not?” said a somewhat groggy Taylor. “I want to be here. I want to be here with my guys, the team.”

Clearly, this is a group eager to move on after their season ended with a thud.

They all dealt with the loss in their own way, though. William Gay, a nickel back who will start on Thursday against Philadelphia while McFadden nurses an injury, made himself watch Rodgers hit for big play after big play to send the Steelers to just their second loss in eight Super Bowl trips.

“You can’t burn it, it’s in history forever,” Gay said. “You just look at it and try and make it different when you get to that spot again. Don’t make the same mistakes.”