Pittsburgh Steelers -3- Miercoles 28/1/09

Super Bowl XLIII – Wednesday, January 28, 2009

QUOTES FROM PITTSBURGH STEELERS PRESS CONFERENCE


TE MATT SPAETH

(on the matchup with the Arizona linebackers and safeties) “Their linebackers are just solid across the board, and their safeties are good. Adrian Wilson is very active, and they like to get him involved and do a lot of stuff with him. Most of the time when they’re disguising stuff, it’s to get him involved and get him down around the ball and make tackles and keep him unblocked.”


(on the Arizona defense and its improvement in the playoffs) “The big thing with them right now is they’re getting turnovers and getting the ball. It’s huge anytime you’re forcing that many turnovers, and it means your defense is playing very well.”


(on protecting QB Ben Roethlisberger from the pass rush) “We just have to recognize what they’re doing. All season long when we knew what was going on and saw what they’re giving us, we did a great job of protecting Ben (Roethlisberger). This season it’s just been getting things declared. There may be a little confusion here and there, and that’s usually been when he’s had people in his face.”


(on trying to keep the week as regular as possible) “It’s not going to be normal, but I tried to enjoy myself the first day or two. Now it’s switched to business again, and I’ll start doing some extra film study and getting back into that routine of a regular week. We watched film this morning and had meetings. The facilities are great so it hasn’t been a problem. The weight room, training room, meeting rooms, they’re all nice. Everything has been good so far. We’ll see how the climate affects us today when we have to go out and practice and have to start sweating in it, but right now we’re enjoying the climate.”



G DARNELL STAPLETON

(on what this Super Bowl experience has been like for him so far) “The week’s been great so far. I’m enjoying every moment. We’ve been a little busy with media obligations, but it’s all been pretty fun. We’re going to get back to practice today and start this preparation for this game.”


(on what his schedule today will be like) “We have meetings, then we have lunch and then we get back on the field. We’re just ready to get back into the football aspect of this NFL process.”


(on his reflections playing in the Super Bowl in only his second season as a pro) “When the season’s all said and done, then I’ll start reflecting back on the season. I can’t really start now to see how far I’ve come or we’ve come since the beginning of the season. I have one more game to play this season, and I hope it’s my best game.”


(on how happy he is about his play this season) “I think I’ve stepped in and done a solid job. I’m not going to say I’m Pro Bowl caliber, but I’ve come in and done my part to help this team.”


(on the possibilities of having three consecutive Super Bowl winners from Rutgers University if he wins, joining Gary Brackett of the Colts in Super Bowl XLI and Shaun O’Hara of the Giants in Super Bowl XLII) “Hopefully that will continue. I’ve talked to both (Gary) Brackett and (Shaun) O’Hara. They both gave me some advice on their experience and aspects and how to handle this situation. They also told me to enjoy all of it because you never know when you’ll be back.”


(on what it says about the integrity of the football program at Rutgers University having three possible Super Bowl winners) “It means that we’re starting to get more quality athletes. We’ve always had quality athletes, but people are starting to recognize the quality of athletes that we have at Rutgers. I think before long, we’re going to have a lot more guys in the league that come out of Rutgers.”


(on what it was like to enter the NFL as an undrafted free agent) “It’s tough not to be drafted, but there’s a lot of stories in the NFL of people coming from nowhere to making it in this league. It’s about how you take it, and there are a lot of people that get drafted that don’t make it. So by me not getting drafted, I have more motivation to make it. I’m already a motivated individual who is going to come out and work hard and get better and keep trying to prove that I belong in this league.”


(on if it was tough to wait for an opportunity to play) “Definitely. Everybody that’s on this team is competitive and that competitiveness doesn’t allow you to accept not playing. So you always keep striving to get better so when that day does come, you take advantage of your opportunity that you are able to play at this level.”


(on what it’s been like blocking for Ben Roethlisberger) “It’s been exciting blocking for Ben. He’s a great quarterback and does a lot of great, special things as a playmaker. I just know that if I do my job, he’s going to make a big play for us as a team.”


(on if the offensive line feels that they’ve been underrated this season) “We really don’t have to prove anything to anybody. People can say whatever they want about us, but we were good enough to make it this far, so we’re going to keep doing what we do and fight. We’re going to go out and give it our best game, and hopefully we’ll leave the field as champions.”


(on if there is a player on Arizona’s defensive line that stands out to him) “They all are very athletic and explosive. (Cardinals defensive tackle) Darnell Dockett – who I’ll probably match up with for most of the game – really gets off the ball and is physical and aggressive. The whole unit does a great job of getting you to turn the ball over and that’s something we’ll have to keep in mind and try to prevent.”


(on if Arizona’s defense reminds him of another defense that Pittsburgh has faced this season) “Not really. Every defense has their own characteristics. Some teams like doing some things different, and though there may be some similarities, everybody is totally different.”


(on what Arizona’s defense does best) “They get pressure on the quarterback. They get in the gaps and they get up the field fast. For us to stop their penetration would be huge.”


(on the offensive line’s cohesiveness) “This season has been fun. It’s been a long journey and we’ve taken a lot of criticism, but we’ve grown as a unit. We had some injuries early in the year, which is how I became a starter. We lost two of our veteran players in Kendall (Simmons) and Marvel (Smith) who were both starters in our last Super Bowl, and we now have four new guys that weren’t on the team when they won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. We’ve grown as young guys on the line and we’ve gotten more time to hang out with one another and become closer together as a unit.”


(on how his overall journey has been over the past two seasons) “It’s been a long and a tough one, but I wouldn’t change any of it for the world because of the character and work ethic that I have now.”



WR LIMAS SWEED

(on being used to winning) “I was actually telling someone about that the other day. In little league baseball, we never really lost a game. My seventh grade football team was undefeated. Eight grade we were undefeated in football, baseball and track. Ninth grade it was the same thing. Tenth grade I made varsity and went to the playoffs. We lost first round but we won district and it was a winning season. Next year, we go back to the game right before state and then my senior year we go to state. Then, I come to college year one and we won the Rose Bowl. Year two, we won the national (championship). Year three, we win in the bowl game. Of course year four, you hear me come out and come to the pros and go to Super Bowl in year one.”


(on his overall football record) “I don’t know off the top of my head but if I tally up wins to losses, with losses the max may be 25 or 30 football games and the wins would probably be like 100. It’s something stupid like that, but it’s a great ratio. That’s one thing I’m blessed with. God has always seemed to put me in a position to be on a great team.”


(on what he has learned this year) “The greatest thing I’ve learned is that technique is everything in this league. It’s not always about how fast, how big and how strong you are; it’s about technique. I wasn’t a believer in that. I wasn’t a big technique guy. I was an ‘I’m big, I’m fast, I can run routes’ [guy], but I learned that technique is key. If you can put technique behind all of that God-given talent, it will be unreal. That’s what people are starting to see me do when they see me pop open. It’s a matter of taking the technique and learning and being calm with it in the heat of battle and using that technique. It’s technique that is going to get you good.”


(on if he’d like to have back the dropped pass against Baltimore) “I would have liked to have caught that pass for a number of reasons, but the fact of the matter is that I didn’t. I’ll put it behind me. It’s something where you have to let it go. If I don’t let that pass go, they’re not going to get the block for Heath (Miller) and then we don’t get the big first down. Maybe I don’t do some of the other things that I did in the game. I would have liked to have it back, but it is what it is. We’re in the Super Bowl and there are more plays out there to be made.”


(on if it’s been a good season) “It’s been a good season from the standpoint of sitting back. I’ve played a lot of special teams and have never really played them in my life. That’s another thing that’s good, if a receiver can get out there and play special teams because most receivers really don’t. At the same time, I got some plays here and there and I got a chance to sit back and watch Hines. I learned a lot of my technique from Hines, Nate Washington and Santonio (Holmes). Just sitting back there and watching those guys and understanding the game, I believe that’s helped me out so much.”


(on his blocking being inspired by Hines Ward) “I would say that it was in me to do it before I met Hines, but seeing how he goes out there and has that reputation for being a hard, physical receiver that will knock you in the dirt, it definitely filters off. It filters from him to Nate to Santonio to me as you guys say when we played the Ravens. It’s a mentality that you have and it’s a mentality that if you’re going to be a Pittsburgh wide receiver, then you have to be tough and you have to be physical.”


(on the adjustments he has had to make) “I knew I would have some problems because there was an adjustment. This year has been a good year, maybe not statistically. That’s not really the case, you just want to be in the Super Bowl. That tops it all. I’d rather have zero catches and go to the Super Bowl and let the team win it than have 100 catches and we’re sitting at home right now, not having this great opportunity. This definitely was a great year, a year for me to sit back and learn from Hines, learn from Nate, Santonio and at the same time, get out there and make a few plays here and there. We’re in the Super Bowl, what else can you ask for?”


(on Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald) “When I look at him, I see a guy who runs nice, crisp routes, a big physical guy who goes up and gets the ball. Those are all characteristics that I have and that I’m capable of doing. It’s just learning the game and learning where to be. Sometimes you can have all that ability, but if you don’t know where to be and you don’t know the right time to time the jumps and the right time to do it and the right coverages, sometimes it can throw you off.”


(on how he feels) “I feel great. To come to the Super Bowl in year one, it’s a great thing. You have guys who have been in the League for 13 years, 14 years, seven years and they’ve never been to the Super Bowl, let alone win it. So for me to come here year one and go to the Super Bowl, that’s an extreme blessing and lot of the older guys remind me of that. They’re like, ‘we’ve been in the league for 13 years. Orpheus Roye has been in the league for 14 years and has never been to a Super Bowl.”


(on preparing for situations when Ben Roethlisberger is flushed out of the pocket) “You don’t really prepare. It’s one of those things where it happens in practice. He moves around a lot in practice and it just carries over into the game. We’re used to him moving around, jumping around and moving outside the pocket and scrambling. We have a drill that we work on when he scrambles and we know exactly what to do.”


(on the biggest moment for him this season) “The big moment was when I had to fill in for Santonio Holmes and basically play against the New York Giants. They were the defending Super Bowl champions and they were looking good on film. That was a big moment for me to go in and take those snaps and start that game.”


(on his pregame ritual) “I like to listen to one song pregame. I’ll sit at my locker room with my hood and just listen to one song in the locker room and on the field during pregame. It gets me in a nice rhythm. It gets me in a nice groove. When I’m in a nice rhythm and a nice groove, I’m ready to play.”


(on the toughest part of the transition for a receiver from college to the NFL) “It’s tough from the standpoint of reading coverages, first of all. It’s nice like college where a ‘cover two’ is a ‘cover two.’ Sometimes you have guys out there making ‘cover two’ look like ‘four seam.’ When you are coming off the ball, everything is timing. It’s not like college where you can run ten yards and the quarterback can be a couple of seconds late and he can still hit that window, because the window is so wide open. In the NFL, that window is smaller. Guys have to know how to read coverages and when guys don’t know how to learn coverages as well or guys disguise it well, then you tend to slow down in your routes and you don’t hit it full speed. If you can’t hit it full speed, the quarterback doesn’t have the timing right and it creates picks. It generates a lot of bad things. I think for receivers, being a rookie, it’s hard because you have to learn coverages. Basically, they have to be a quarterback.”


(on needing game experience to develop as a player) “Everything can be drawn up textbook. Coach can say to run ten yards and run a curl, but until you are actually in the game and you can see it and get a feel for it… you need reps. You need actual game looks to become better and get better.”


(on if he thinks he’s ready) “I definitely think I’m ready. I’ve seen it all. I go against the number one defense in the world every day when I practice and I think I’m ready to play. I’ve shown that I can get open. Now I just need to finish the plays.”



LB LAWRENCE TIMMONS

(on how he’s handling the media attention) “I just take it as it comes. It doesn’t bother me. It just comes with being in the Super Bowl. I am just soaking this in. It’s a great experience. I’ve never been around this much media in my life, but it’s great.”


(on if he is embracing the Super Bowl experience) “You have to (embrace it) because this is what you work for. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying it, but be responsible too. This is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity and I think if you come here and become crazy, you’re taking the fun out of it.”


(on his expanded role this season) “I think I had a decent year this year. The coaches have been great to me. They’ve just been walking me through everything. It’s like we are on (the same page) and everything is great. The coaches doing such a great job contribute to me having a good season.”


(on the Cardinals offensive line) “They have a great offensive line and Kurt Warner, he’s going to get the ball out fast when he sees more blitzes. He’s great, he’s on top of his game right now, and I’ve got nothing but great things to say about him. He’s a Hall of Famer too, I think. It’s going to be very hard to stop him.”


(on Steelers focusing more on what the Cardinals have done in the playoffs) “We’ve been breaking them down from the playoffs. They’ve been doing a great job of winning the ball. They’ve got deep ball guys like crazy. They’ve got three guys that can take it to the house every time, it’s crazy.”


(on disrupting Kurt Warner) “We definitely have to try and take him off his game. You don’t want those guys being comfortable because they’ll run up the scoreboard on you. We just have to stick to our game plan and we’ll be fine.”


(on the Steelers top-ranked defense) “The rankings don’t really mean much right now. That’s great, but we just have to come in and whoever is the most physical team on Sunday is going to win. We just have to do what we do.”


(on if he is anxious for the game) “Yeah I am, because these are long days and I’m just trying to embrace the moment right now but I do want the game to come.”



HEAD COACH MIKE TOMLIN

(opening statement) “It’s been kind of a regular Wednesday morning for us. We came over to this facility and had our normal Wednesday morning routine of a game week. We met special teams-wise this morning, had the team meeting, and then broke up into offensive and defensive units and then positions from there. So we continue to put one foot in front of the other, and prepare ourselves to hopefully be our best on Sunday. Hopefully that’s enough to have a winning performance.”


(on preparing for trick plays) “It is not something that you can prepare for this week. It’s something that you build into your football. When we run to the football defensively, at times it looks like we are just swarming, but we are actually running with a purpose. It’s part of everything we do, it’s built in. People have rules of pursuit, and hopefully our rules will take care of us in regards to those things. If you are a pass player first, you play pass. If you are a backside deep defender, you have what we call a ‘21-man rule’– you’ve got to keep everybody inside and in front, etc. It’s part of our football. You run your antennas up in a week like this because you know they are very capable and have a great deal of success with those kinds of plays. But we can’t get enamored by it this week. We have to hope and trust that how we go about our business is sufficient in that area.”


(on his mindset after taking over as head coach) “The number one thing I was concerned about coming in was establishing a sound base of our football – laying the groundwork of our core beliefs. At the same time of course, you are multi-tasking, you are preparing to play and compete. You are getting to know guys and form relationships and all of those things. You can lose sight of the big picture when you try to address those things individually. For me on a daily basis, I wanted to make sure that I kept my focus on laying the foundation for what I perceive to be our football and how we are going to operate. And along the way, some special things happened. Relationships, appreciation for what people are willing to do, not necessarily what they are capable of doing, but what they are willing to do. We have an unselfish group. We have great leadership. Those guys genuinely care for one another, and I think it shows in how they play the game.”


(on if there was a transition between playing the Ravens’ run game and getting ready for the Cardinals’ pass game) “It’s going to be tough, but not because the Ravens are who they are. That’s just the natural challenge that the NFL schedule presents you week to week. Different teams have different strengths, different areas of emphasis in terms of how they play. It’s usually geared toward their strengths; who their dominant players are. We respect that process, that’s why win or lose we turn the page week to week, we wipe the slate clean and we start to prepare and focus on the opponent and the challenge that is in front of us. Big challenge this week, and glad that we have two weeks to do it.”


(on the success of defending opposing wide receivers in the second half of the season) “I think that over the course of the season, teams grow, units grow, and individuals grow. We grew in the right direction individually and collectively from a defensive standpoint. Not just the secondary, but the front as well. Part of great pass defense is rush. You can’t have one without the other. We’ve been consistently applying pressure to the quarterback, and that’s our emphasis, not sacks. Sacks don’t tell the story. It’s to be disruptive, it’s to apply pressure. We’ve done that, and the guys on the back end have done a nice job. Through it all, we’ve had some ups and downs. Some guys had the opportunity to step up and deliver quality play for us. We had some injuries in the secondary. I think that the emergence of a guy like William Gay, who stepped up and gave us quality play. Tyrone Carter, when called upon, stepped up and gave us quality play. It’s been one of the many reasons that we’ve been consistent. It’s about the men. It’s about what they do when they play. They’ve played to the standard.”


(on how the offensive line has answered the call this year) “As far as I’m concerned, that’s still the question as we sit here today. We are always going to be a team in the process of growth, gelling if you will, and coming together. I thought that our guys have done a nice job of focusing on the things they can control, their level of preparation, and their level of cohesiveness. Along the way, we’ve had bumps in the road. We’ve lost some guys and had to adjust the plan, but the focus has been consistent. The guys come into the building every day understanding that we need to get better individually, we need to get better collectively, and the only way to do that is to put your hand in the pile, if you will. That’s a group that does. They spend a lot of time together formally and informally. They take a great deal of pride in how they play. They’ve been highly criticized, and I’ve appreciated that. It’s helped me do my job. Please continue to do that. We’ll squeeze one more performance out of them. Hopefully it’s a winning one.”


(on defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s longevity and energy) “I’m focused on ’09 at this point, and 50 years is a long time. Dick is unique. I don’t know if I’m that unique yet. We’ll see. Dick is a pleasure to come to work with. He is very similar to Monte (Kiffin) in one critical way, and that is they have a legitimate passion for the game of football. They have a unique way of conveying that to players. Age is not an issue with these guys. They have great rapport. They are great communicators. More than anything though, the love affair with the game is very similar and very evident if you spend any length of time around either man.”


(on safety Ryan Clark’s presence in the middle of the field) “Hopefully it’s an intimidating one. These guys are professional, particularly this bunch that we play this week. They are big physical receivers. They are not going to be intimidated. They are going to do what it is they do. Hopefully we do what it is we do. Ryan has been a big part of that. I think he receives a lot of attention for a few plays that happened, some big hits. When I think about Ryan, I think about the ordinary things he does extremely well. He is a great communicator. He is a hub of communication for our secondary. He gets people lined up. He keeps the ball in front of him. It’s a unique job playing opposite of Troy (Polamalu) sometimes because Troy works outside the box. Ryan has got some experience in that. He played opposite another unique guy in Sean Taylor. He prides himself in playing opposite of men like that – keeping the ball in front and doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. He is a big cog in our machine. We appreciate what he’s done for us. He’s just been a pleasure.”


(on the impact of coaching staff continuity) “Enormous. It’s not much continuity in today’s NFL. Anytime you have an opportunity to maintain that, I think it gives you an edge. This coaching profession is a small fraternity. Of course I had a bunch of knowledge about those men and what they were capable of. I knew most of them on a personal level, so it wasn’t anything ground-breaking from that standpoint. We were able to come in and come together and get about the business of continuing to play great defense here. The issue is winning for us, and great defense is a part of that. Having the ability to retain those guys, of course, was pivotal.”


(on his time as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Memphis) “Lack of sleep would be the first thing that comes to mind. That’s probably similar to everyone’s graduate assistant position. It was exciting for me. It was my first opportunity to coach defensive football. Memphis was a unique place in that it wasn’t a dominant program, but they had dominant defense. They embraced that identity. I think that was the beginning of my mentality regarding playing defense. The mentality those guys had, they were intent on beating you up. When they stepped into a stadium, they played the game in that manner. They had that air of confidence about them, and I fed off of that. I think it was a fundamental basis for how I approached defense.”


(on wide receivers coach Randy Fichtner) “Randy has been an awesome addition to our staff. Of course I’ve known Randy for a long time. I met him in Memphis years ago. He is a quality football coach, a great communicator, is passionate about the wide receiver position, a western Pennsylvania man so course his bloodlines runs deep in terms of appreciating what Steeler football is about.”


(on whether the Buccaneers’ knowledge of the Raiders’ offense in Super Bowl XXXVII was overstated, and how that might apply for Cardinals’ head coach Ken Whisenhunt against the Steelers) “I really think it was overstated. It’s a good story. The reality is when we were on that Super Bowl run, we faced that offense every day all season – training camp, organized team activities, etc. If you look at the teams that we played in the playoffs, we played San Francisco coached by Steve Mariucci – west coast (offense). We played the Philadelphia Eagles, coached by Andy Reid – west coast. Then we played the Raiders, coached by Bill Callahan – west coast. So we had played the same offense three weeks in a row, and besides that, we had seen it all year. It got to the point that you didn’t have to draw new scout cards for the week. We played the same offense three weeks in a row.”


(on what James Farrior has meant to the Steelers, and on his past playing encounters with Tomlin) “James knows where I am if he wants to get a shot (laughing). I can’t defend myself anymore. He is spectacular for us. What he does inside the white lines is documented. He is a Pro Bowl player and rightfully so. He is an unquestioned leader on our football team. The guys look to him. He provides quality leadership for them. He is the kind of leader I embrace; very flat-lined emotionally. He doesn’t ride the emotional roller-coaster. He is very consistent on a day-to-day basis on how he approaches his business, and really kind of a blueprint for doing it at a high level for a long time in this league. I think a lot of our young players look up to him. A lot of guys gravitate to him. A lot of guys not only look to him in terms of how they prepare to play football games, but how they prepare over a 12-month calendar. This is a guy who is in great physical condition 12 months a year, takes a couple of weeks off, and then gets back about the business of preparing himself for the next one. Guys followed that model. He had a big following this offseason, and I think it’s one of the reasons why we are still in this thing.”


(on the status of Hines Ward’s knee) “The knee is awesome. It’s great. I usually give him Wednesday off, so we are going to stick to the plan. We’ll see where he is tomorrow. It won’t be an excuse regardless of the condition of the knee.”



CB DESHEA TOWNSEND

(on how difficult is it to prepare for the Cardinals running game) “It makes it tough, but the thing about us is our defense is always built to stop the run first. No matter who we’re playing we want to stop the run first because when you run the ball you’re holding the clock. (You’re) putting your team in bad situations when you let them just run the ball and grind that thing out. For us, it’s going to be trying to put them in third and long situations.”


(on Warner’s style of play) “He’s in the pocket. He’s going to be in the pocket, but the pocket’s going to be gone. That’s what he’s all about, making sure he gets rid of the ball before you get there.”


(on taking LB Troy Polamalu under his wing) “One thing about our defense is it’s tough for any rookie to come in and just excel. We have so many rules and so many defenses that your head is going to be spinning a little bit, but one thing that’s neat about our team is all guys do that. When I got here, Carnell (Lake) (and) (Darren) Perry took me under their wing, they showed me how things go here. They showed me how to practice, they showed me how to watch film and that’s the thing - you have to pay it forward, you have to pass it on to the next person. As long as you do the tradition of how the Steelers do things, (it) will always be around.”


(on what he saw in Polamalu early) “How explosive he was that’s the first thing that you notice about Troy. When he makes his mind up to go somewhere, he’s there in a hurry. That’s one thing that you can’t coach, you have to have that. When we saw Troy step on the field, even not knowing where he’s going, he did it fast and you knew that was good for the team.”


(on Polamalu making plays that really count) “That goes back to the fun of the game that he really plays with. He has fun when he’s out there playing. Some of those runs when he starts one way and cuts back to the other, he’s enjoying the game. He’s that type of player, that when he gets it in his hand great things happen because he just has fun when he’s playing, but he plays hard and he has a true love of the game.”


(on if Polamalu is intense behind closed doors) “He has a good time. He’s quiet. You have to get with him to talk to him. You have to know to get him to really express himself, but one thing about him he’s probably the biggest jokester, prankster on the team. He’s always untying shoes, hiding helmets, so you have to be careful when you’re around him.”


(on the best prank Polamalu has pulled on him) “He’s always hiding my book, has me running around looking for it. He’s just a great guy to be around.”


(on the best prank he’s pulled on Polamalu) “I don’t know. I joke so much that it really doesn’t matter. He’s just enjoyable to be around; our whole team is close.”


(on if they take a lot of pride in being No. 1 in pass defense) “Yeah, we take pride in being a great defense. We are a true total defense. Every guy on this team plays for each other; I think that’s what makes our defense special. You look to the sideline and you look at Coach (Dick) LeBeau and you don’t want to let him down. That’s another reason that you go out there and you want to go out there and compete at a high level.”



WR HINES WARD

(on whether his knee is feeling better by the day) “(I’m feeling) better by the day. I woke up and had treatment this morning. I’ll go out and jog around a little bit and see where I am. I’m just going day-by-day right now.”


(on whether following their regular-season routine is helping him recover) “Yes. I haven’t practiced all year on Wednesdays. Why would I come here and do it now? We’re just keeping it on the same schedule. I get an extra day to get more rehab and get closer and closer. I have to be smart. I’m not going to go out there and go 100 percent and risk falling on the ground in practice. I want to save all I can until I get into the game.”


(on his relationship with Chicago Bears wide receivers coach Darryl Drake) “He’s been my father figure throughout college. I had two years with him. He recruited me as a quarterback, but I wanted to take it to the next level and have a chance to play in the NFL and taking that route was by playing wideout. Luckily, I had him for two years. He taught me the game of football.”


(on how it feels being the “Ryan Clark” of offense) “I take great pride in going out and being as physical as our defense. I try to lead by setting an example for the other guys. If I’m not catching the football, I like to make my presence known elsewhere, so I tend to be more aggressive.”


(on how it feels to be the only offensive player to make the defensive highlights) “It’s a very big honor to be on their prestigious highlight tape as far as hitting guys. It’s a big honor.”


(on breaking up potential interceptions) “It’s something that we preach. When the ball is in the air three things can happen. It can be incomplete, a pass interference or you can catch the ball. That is something that we pride ourselves in. When that ball is in the air, you do all you can to make sure that we come down and the defensive player doesn’t come up with the ball. You’re in defensive mode as well.”


(on whether the hyperbaric chamber is working) “I think so. The week off that we had really helped. I almost got two weeks of treatment into one week. Putting in extra time of rehabbing is really two weeks worth of treatment crammed into one week. I’m walking around without a brace. I know it’s not cutting, but to be one week removed from injury, I’m further ahead of schedule.”


(on whether he will wear the knee brace to play) “I’ll wear it. You have to wear it in case you fall or dive for a ball. You have to have some type of brace on.”


(on how it has been sleeping in the hyperbaric chamber) “Sleeping is good. I’ve been doing it – it’s not like I just started – all year. Unfortunately, I came down with a knee injury, but that’s what I’ve been doing. I let the cat out of the bag. I’ve been sleeping in it all year. I am a firm believer in it.”


(on the biggest difference in QB Ben Roethlisberger from his first Super Bowl) “Maturity. When he walked into the huddle he was still the quarterback, but he had some legendary guys who were captains – Alan Faneca, Jerome Bettis, Marvel Smith. We had a lot of veteran guys. It was only his second year in the league. Now when he steps into the huddle, it’s his team. He doesn’t have to worry about other guys. When he steps into the huddle all eyes are on him. He has a presence in the huddle. He’s a true leader. He definitely wants to go out there and show all the naysayers that he can perform well on the grandest stage of them all. He doesn’t have to prove anything to his teammates or the organization. He’s a winner. Statistically, he may not be top three in the league, but you can’t knock his winning percentage. He’s won a Super Bowl. Regardless of his stats, if we go out and win another Super Bowl, he’s won two Super Bowls in four years. A lot of quarterbacks can’t say that. I don’t want to put pressure on him. I don’t think there is any pressure on him. We just go out there and win as a team. This game is not about who is the best player. It’s about a team effort. Right now we’re playing good team football.”


(on the key to Pittsburgh’s success against Arizona’s defensive backs) “Just make plays. They have some great defensive backs. (Dominique Rodgers-) Cromartie is a rookie, but he’s played a lot of games. It’s hard to call a guy a rookie. He hasn’t seen everything, but it makes it easy because he sees two great wideouts every day to go against in practice. I know that he is going to be amped up to get ready to play. We just have to go out there and make plays. If we go out there and make plays when we have to, we’ll be fine.”


(on his thoughts on CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie) “He is a great, great cornerback. He has a lot of potential. He is going to be an up-and-coming star in this league. He has all the makings to be a good one.”


(on whether a big hit or a great catch gets him more fired up) “Both – a catch and a hit.”


(on what type of advice his mother will give him before the game and what the name “Hines” means) “I’m a junior. My father’s name was Hines. I don’t know where it came from. It’s just Hines Ward Jr. As for advice from my mom, she will just say, ‘Be careful and have fun.’ She doesn’t really know that much about the game to give me the ins and outs. She knows that when I’m not smiling, then I’m not being myself. So (she’ll say), ‘Just go out have fun and continue playing this game the way you’ve always played.’”


(on how much extra time does he spend with WR Nate Washington) “Nate is fine. Nate has been there. He is one of those guys who can move around the board. If you look at the worse-case scenario, Nate will get in and probably play the “F” position which is my position. He is capable of doing it. We’ve talked about it. We’re practicing. Guys have filled in. They’ve been practicing. We’re very confident in Nate’s abilities to go out there and make plays.”


(on the Steelers family-type mentality) “We’ve been though a lot of intangibles. When one family hurts on the team, we all hurt. We’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations throughout the whole team. Guys have stuff outside of football that we all are concerned about. We’re just a close-knit family. That’s why we’re here today. We’re playing in the Super Bowl because we are a close-knit group. We don’t care about who is getting all the publicity because right now it’s all about whoever wins the Super Bowl. You don’t win the Super Bowl with one player. You win the Super Bowl with all 53 guys and coaches. It’s really about the team rather than individuals.”


(on whether the off-the-field issues changed Roethlisberger) “After we won the Super Bowl he had the motorcycle incident. Statistically, he probably had a down year one year, but he’s battled back and persevered. We gave him a big contract and this is the reason why we gave him that contract. If you look at his stats, he is not up there with the top five guys, but he is a winner. You can’t knock what he’s done in the postseason and what he has done throughout his career. For me, that is all I really worry about. I like playing with winners and Ben is definitely a winner.”


(on how long it took for him to realize Roethlisberger had an intangible quality) “His first year. With this offense, you can’t really be based off stats. We’re not one of those teams that is going to throw the ball 50 or 60 times a game. Arizona has three 1,000-yard wideouts. That’s probably unheard of in Pittsburgh history. We don’t really worry about stats. The main stat we worry about is wins or losses. That is what keeps coaches and players around. That’s what it comes down to. Ben, statistically, on the win-loss ratio, is pretty high amongst active quarterbacks. You can’t knock that. You have to continue to look at it.”


(on his infectious ability to get wide receivers to block) “I just try to lead by example – the younger guys see me going out there and doing whatever it takes to win games. I hope they would do the same. I’m blocking for my teammates, the wideouts on screens. If I had the opportunity, I know they would do the same. It’s a trickle down effect. They see me doing it, and so they want to get out and do it. That’s the way you make your presence known, if you’re not catching the ball.”



LB LAMARR WOODLEY

(on QB Kurt Warner’s performance this season) “The group of guys that he’s around, when you look at his receiving corps, he’s got some good players around him, some guys that when he throws the ball out there they’re definitely going to catch it, get a lot of yards after the catch, and also a nice running back and a great line. When you have guys like that around you, you’re able to produce and put up big numbers.”


(on the importance of turnovers) “As a defense we want to commit turnovers, and try to get our offense the ball, try to put them on the shorter end of the field. If we’re able to go out there and get a sack, cause a fumble, pick the ball up, and try to score with it, like Troy (Polamalu) got the interception last week and he took it to the end zone. As a defense we go out there and try to put points on the board as well.”


(on how pressuring the quarterback can help limit the receivers) “The most dangerous guy is the guy with the ball. It definitely starts in the hands of Kurt Warner, and as a defense we have to go out there and put pressure on him. If we go out there and put pressure on him he can’t get the ball to those guys.”


(on what it means to be part of the Steelers’ Super Bowl legacy) “It’s a great feeling to go out there and have an opportunity to play in a Super Bowl and the chance to go out there and get number six, that sixth trophy. To be a part of that is definitely great because you hear a lot of guys talking about that great tradition here in Pittsburgh. To have my name mentioned with those guys, it would be really great.”


(on how the Steelers defense will handle Larry Fitzgerald) “Put pressure on the quarterback. Like I said before, it starts up front. I’m going to be doing a lot of rushing this game, trying to get after the quarterback. James (Harrison) is going to be dropping back into coverage. Our goal is to put pressure on the quarterback, get the most dangerous guy with the ball.”


(on what the Steelers can do to slow down the Cardinals offense) “The only thing we can control is what we do on defense. We can’t control what they do on offense but if we go out there and execute our plays, if we go out there and make big time plays, if we can go in there and get pressure on the quarterback and get some sacks, we’ll be able to get turnovers. It’s all about what we do in our game plan.”


(on the Steelers’ tradition at the linebacker position) “As a young kid you understand that tradition about the linebackers, and then when you come here you have to embrace it. One thing about the linebackers that played here back in the day, and one thing about us is we all have that same attitude. We go out there and we play aggressive, we go out there and stop the run and that definitely starts with the linebackers. You kind of know about that tradition early in your career and you want to be a part of that tradition. I think any linebacker that comes through Pittsburgh would want to be mentioned with those guys. When you think about Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, (Greg) Lloyd, (Jason) Gilden, Kevin Greene, you want to be a part of that when you’re done playing football.”


(on how the current Steelers linebackers compare to past players) “This defense and this linebacking group will be talked about on how we finish this game. We’ve got to go out there and finish this game on the right note, that’s how we’ll be remembered.”


(on the key to the Cardinals offense) “I’ve got to say Kurt Warner because he’s the guy that’s going to have the ball first. He has to get ball to (Larry) Fitzgerald, so it starts with the guy with the ball, and we have to put pressure on the guy with the ball first.”


(on how he wants the team to be remembered) “As one of the greatest defenses of all time. Throughout the whole year a lot of people questioned our offense a little bit, saying that our offense was struggling and our defense was going to be the main factor. I think throughout the whole year we played pretty well, having one of the hardest schedules in the league, going against some of the top runners in the league and shutting them down. But we’re going to be remembered on how we finish this last game. We can’t be one of those teams that played good throughout the whole year, then when it came to that final game didn’t show up.”


(on how he deals with pregame jitters) “I usually don’t have any butterflies. I just go out there and play. When you run out there and you see all those people, it’s time to play. When you’re out on that field everything else is zoned out. You can’t be struck by what’s going on around you. You have to take care of what’s in front of you. If you lose focus and start worrying about everything else, the guy in front of you is going to knock you down, so you better get ready for that.”


(on the mindset of playing a pass-heavy offense as opposed to a run heavy-offense) “They’re playing a team that rushes the passer. They’re playing a team that has a 3-4 defense and we’ve got a lot of weapons. At the same time that we have to be concerned about them, they have to be concerned about us. We have to go out there and execute our plays. If we go out there and do what we are supposed to do we can stop a lot of that.”


(on if a player can tell when a quarterback is getting rattled) “You can definitely read it, he’s trying to get out of there. He doesn’t want to hold the ball that long. He sees you coming and he’s not following through on his throws. Once you see that you know you got to him a little bit. Now you just have to go through and put some hits on him.”


(on the Steelers success moving in players from defensive end to outside linebackers) “I don’t think it’s a hard transition when you switch from defensive end to outside linebacker. You’re pretty much asked to do the same thing, rush the passer, but the thing about when you switch positions is dropping back in coverage. When you start getting reps at dropping back into coverage it becomes natural. Playing defensive end you don’t get reps at dropping back. Over time, when you learn different coverages and you have reps doing it, it just becomes natural. I think the fear sometimes is us defensive ends going out there covering receivers or running backs, you have to get the fear out of it. You just have to go out there and make plays, do the best that you can do.”


(on if he is asked to drop into coverage a lot) “The thing about our 3-4 defense, what makes us different from any other defense, is that we’re asked to cover those guys. This year I’ve covered receivers, I’ve covered tight ends, and I’ve covered backs out of the backfield. That’s just something that we have to do, and when you know you have to do it, you just do it. You don’t think about it, just do it. When you think about it, that’s when you get beat.”