Defense Has Always Been First and Foremost for Steelers

DALLAS -- In July and August, Rob Pratte and the folks for whom it's all Steelers all the time every week on KDKA Pittsburgh's "Black and Gold Sunday'' were convinced that Ben Roethlisberger's four-to-six game suspension would sink the season. A couple predicted an 0-4 start, one was optimistic enough to suggest they might start 1-3.

Now that they've been proven wrong ...

They all remember, as do Steelers fans around the country (and world?) that Pittsburgh, the "Steel City,'' won its first four Super Bowls in the1970s on the backs of the "Steel Curtain'' defense -- Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount and the rest (including a cameo from a dime back named Tony Dungy). And that the Steelers are the living embodiment of the phrase: "Defense Wins Championships."

Even in an era when the NFL has done everything it can to bend the rules to favor offense.

"I feel like we're upholding a tradition," says defensive end Brett Keisel, who will be seeking his third Super Bowl ring in six seasons when Pittsburgh plays Green Bay Sunday. "Just to be compared to those teams is an honor."

For the record, the quarterback on the Steelers of the 1970s was Terry Bradshaw, who is in the Hall of Fame, and no slouch. Neither is Roethlisberger, who is seeking his third Vince Lombardi Trophy.

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But Roethlisberger's play in the first Super Bowl the Steelers won with him (2006) was, to be kind, mediocre at best -- it was much better in the win over the Cardinals two years ago, including a winning touchdown drive in the last two minutes.

On the other hand, Ben played 15 of the 16 games last season and Pittsburgh finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs. Why? Because strong safety Troy Polamalu and defensive end Aaron Smith were each out for 11 games.

Polamalu was back this season, winning defensive player of the year honors, in part because of one play that won the Steelers the AFC North -- a strip sack of Baltimore's Joe Flacco that set up the Steelers' only touchdown in a 13-10 win that put them in position to win the division.

What jeopardized the Steelers' position? A loss to the Jets on Dec. 19 in the first of two games Polamalu missed with an Achilles' injury.

Polamalu is not a "look at me'' guy.

He's been asked during Super Bowl week why the Steelers win with him and lose without him and repeatedly replies "I don't know,'' citing a group of safeties who have replaced him -- Anthony Smith, Tyrone Carter and Chris Hope -- as "great.'' That's a word that certainly doesn't apply to Smith and Carter and has to be modified with Hope, who now plays for Tennessee. Smith, in fact, is on the Packers' roster but on injured reserve.

Meanwhile, Aaron Smith, one of the NFL's most underrated defensive ends, has been out most of the season -- he played just six games and has officially been listed as out for Sunday's game. But he has been effectively replaced by Ziggy Hood, a first-round draft pick a year ago who wasn't ready to step in for Smith then but was solid this season -- another success for the Steeler system in which youngsters are drafted to replace veterans.

This isn't to diminish the importance of Roethlisberger.

If Charlie Batch, 2-1 replacing Ben this season (Dennis Dixon went 1-0 before he was injured in Week 2) played this Sunday, it's doubtful the Steelers would have much chance Sunday against Green Bay's defense, which was second to the Steelers in points allowed this season (240-232) That Green Bay defense, coached by Dom Capers, is eerily similar to the Steelers, coached by Dick LeBeau -- the two worked together in Pittsburgh from 1992-94 and are good friends and former roommates.

But Pittsburgh more than Green Bay is hoping for a defensive battle, not a game like the one the Steelers won in 2009 against the Packers at Heinz Field -- 37-36 on a last-second pass from Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace.

"I hope it's going to be a low scoring game, although many games today are not," LeBeau says. "You've got two great offenses and so there may be some points scored, but for my comfort zone, I hope it's a low scoring game."

It's certainly the style with which Pittsburgh is most comfortable.