SPORTSPGH .COM

"He's got a great feel for the game and a lot of self‑confidence, and so this kid has been successful, you know, all of his life," Cowher told reporters after the Steelers 34-17 win over the Denver Broncos in the AfC Championship game. " I don't think he knows what not having success is. That's something; I want to be part of a team that shows him that. We'll keep riding his coattails and hopefully there will be more to come."

Although it is hard to predict just how far Roethlisberger will take the Steelers in the future, it is not hard to imagine the Steelers winning the Super Bowl this year. Flat out the Steelers, as a team, are dangerous when Roethlisberger is at the helm. In their past 7 games, all wins, the Steelers have outscored their opponents by the combined score of 201-85 --or an average score of 29-12.

In the past 2 years, in games Roethlisberger has started, the Steelers have lost only 4 times in 31 contests. In those four games the Steelers lost to New England (twice), Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. All three of those teams had one thing in common. They all had quarterbacks (Bradey, Manning, and Palmer) who are arguably among the very best in the game. In other words in the past two seasons it has taken a great quarterback playing their A game to beat these Steelers.

As a team, in 2005, Pittsburgh has evolved. They are not the same kind of team that lost to the Patriots last season in the AFC Championship game.

For a while, this season, the Steelers were looking for their identity. All that changed on December 11th when the Steelers used a punishing rushing attack and beat the Chicago Bears 21-9. The Steelers running game was back and so were the Steelers. They had reclaimed their identity as a smash mouth team with a great defense. At least that's what we all thought.

But on January 15th a brand new aspect was added to the Steelers identity. Against the Indianapolis Colts the Steelers, set their smash mouth aside and came out of the block firing. Roethlisberger was brilliant, almost unstoppable. In the opening half he connected on 12-of-19 passes for 172 yards and 2 TDs, and the Steelers held a 14-3 lead at the intermission. Everyone recalls the sequence of yo-yo events late in that game, but at the end of the day the Steelers won that contest 21-18.

After the win over the Colts Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward told the story.

"The play-calling was aggressive," Ward said. "They thought all we can do is run the ball. We can pass the ball, too." 

Yet even after the win over the Colts it was still hard to imagine that the Steelers would continue to utilize that same aggressive style. But there they were, cutting through a great defense, like a lawnmower, in the first half of the AFC Championship Game. By half time the Steelers held a 24-3 lead and Roethlisberger was near perfect while going 13-for-17 for 180 yards and 2 TDs. Denver Bronco linebacker Ian Gold summed it up well when he told reporters. 

"We did not complete the mission and it's frustrating," said Gold. "But anytime you make it to the AFC Championship Game and you lose, you hope to lose to a team like that."

As a team, the Steelers are playing well on both sides of the ball. The defense has turned in some impressive performances as well. They held the great Peyton Manning to a mere 18 points, while allowing the Colts to convert only 3-of-13 third downs. Manning was sacked 5 times and at times looked anxious with happy feet.

In the Broncos game they forced quarterback Jake Plummer into 4 turnovers, sacked him 3 times had held one of the NFL's best running attacks to 97 yards, with 30 of those coming from a scrambling Plummer. The early lead had a big affect on the game.

"It's tough," Plummer said. "They were getting after it and when they got a lead, we get one-dimensional."