yeah im still in shock over it ...I mean could you have imagined if big ben started the raven game in week 2 ....and a ROOKIE wins that and pitt goes 16-0 and beats the damn dolphins record!! ....he was 1 start away from maybe doing it ....it was an UNBELIEVABLE season for sure....
I can not wait to get the 2004 steeler highlights on DVD
I can not wait to get the 2004 steeler highlights on DVD
Don't count on it being all highlights.<TABLE class=tborder cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt1>I can not wait to get the 2004 steeler highlights on DVD
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From the Buffalo News Paper
COMMENTARY
Steelers are special, no matter who suits up
1/3/2005
Mark Mulville/Buffalo News
Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who has cultivated a winning culture, gets his point across to Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor.
By BOB DICESARE
The Indianapolis Colts would be ordinary without Peyton Manning, the Atlanta Falcons pedestrian without Michael Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles appear lost without Terrell Owens, a plight with which Minnesota can empathize given its reliance upon Randy Moss.
Every quality NFL team seems to have a singular player it can't afford to lose, an indispensable link to its success. Every team, that is, except the one that marched into The Ralph with one hand tied behind its back and relieved the Buffalo Bills of their playoff aspirations. Every team save the Pittsburgh Steelers, who Sunday afternoon tapped into their unique abundance of pride and grit and became the only team in AFC history to accumulate 15 regular-season victories.
The coming weeks will tell whether the Steelers warrant consideration as one of the better NFL teams ever assembled, single-season division. They'll have to get their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy before they're afforded a nomination as a team of historical significance. But it could be no team has compiled a more impressive regular season than the one the Steelers capped with their conquest of the Bills, who were drowned in a talent pool of immeasurable depth.
There's not much more the Steelers could have done to accommodate their desperate, high-flying hosts. They rested rookie sensation Ben Roethlisberger, their ailing starting quarterback. They pulled his backup, Tommy Maddox, in favor of practice squad quarterback Brian St. Pierre.
Running back Jerome Bettis and wideout Plaxico Burress sat. Running back Duce Staley played sparingly. Most of the starting defense was yanked early in the second quarter. Their clock-killing, fourth-quarter drive was achieved with Pro Bowl center Jeff Hartings benched against his will.
"The last thing I want to do is come out of a game, you know?" Hartings said. "Take me out of a practice."
Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher was like a Las Vegas magician, each item pulled from his hat more impressive than the last. The grand finale came when he made the Bills, one of the league's hotter teams, vanish from the NFL playoff picture, an unfathomable feat considering no opposing team had ever won at The Ralph in January.
The parade of consistency speaks to the culture Cowher cultivated this season while resuscitating the Steelers from last year's atypical 6-10. They kept winning when an injury to Maddox ushered in the Roethlisberger era far ahead of schedule. They validated their 5-1 record by thumping unbeaten New England on Halloween. Any remaining skeptics were dismissed with a rout of untainted Philadelphia the following week. Something special was in the works.
Injuries were overcome without any noticeable fall-off, although only on Sunday could the efficiency of the machine be fully appreciated. The Steelers said they were coming here to win. Who would have thought, with St. Pierre taking snaps, with Willie Parker running 19 times, they could have been so utterly sincere?
"You're playing to win every week you go out there," Cowher said. "I know we took some defensive guys out and they were not real happy at the time. But you know what? We were playing to win this football game. We came in here with that in mind. Regardless who's out on that field, there's a standard that's been set around here that's been upheld by a number of people who stepped in during the season."
There's a feeling around these parts that the Bills would have been a playoff team had Willis McGahee been named the starting running back earlier in the season, that he alone would have made an appreciable difference. The Steelers reached four deep for their feature back Sunday and still ran roughshod over one of the league's better defenses. They swapped Bettis for Staley, and vice versa, as injuries dictated throughout the season. They're not complaining.
"There's a lot of confidence, a lot of pride and a lot of belief in each other," Bettis said. "The coaches have done a great job of keeping us focused even at times when we had nothing really to focus on. Like this game."
"We don't expect a drop-off," said star wideout Hines Ward, who was incidental to the victory. "Everybody was expecting us to lose. I think we were 9-point underdogs in Vegas. It was a must-win for them and we still found a way to win the ballgame on the road. It's just a credit to our whole team."
There have been three other 15-1 regular-season teams in NFL history. The '72 Dolphins went 14-0. But none of them took on a quality foe with their better players in reserve only to find they were too talented, too dedicated, too well-schooled to give a game away.
"We're not only a good team, but a good team with a lot of depth," Maddox said. "And I think you saw the depth."
Willie Parker, 102 yards? Yeah, I think we got the point.
COMMENTARY
Steelers are special, no matter who suits up
1/3/2005
Mark Mulville/Buffalo News
Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who has cultivated a winning culture, gets his point across to Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor.
By BOB DICESARE
The Indianapolis Colts would be ordinary without Peyton Manning, the Atlanta Falcons pedestrian without Michael Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles appear lost without Terrell Owens, a plight with which Minnesota can empathize given its reliance upon Randy Moss.
Every quality NFL team seems to have a singular player it can't afford to lose, an indispensable link to its success. Every team, that is, except the one that marched into The Ralph with one hand tied behind its back and relieved the Buffalo Bills of their playoff aspirations. Every team save the Pittsburgh Steelers, who Sunday afternoon tapped into their unique abundance of pride and grit and became the only team in AFC history to accumulate 15 regular-season victories.
The coming weeks will tell whether the Steelers warrant consideration as one of the better NFL teams ever assembled, single-season division. They'll have to get their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy before they're afforded a nomination as a team of historical significance. But it could be no team has compiled a more impressive regular season than the one the Steelers capped with their conquest of the Bills, who were drowned in a talent pool of immeasurable depth.
There's not much more the Steelers could have done to accommodate their desperate, high-flying hosts. They rested rookie sensation Ben Roethlisberger, their ailing starting quarterback. They pulled his backup, Tommy Maddox, in favor of practice squad quarterback Brian St. Pierre.
Running back Jerome Bettis and wideout Plaxico Burress sat. Running back Duce Staley played sparingly. Most of the starting defense was yanked early in the second quarter. Their clock-killing, fourth-quarter drive was achieved with Pro Bowl center Jeff Hartings benched against his will.
"The last thing I want to do is come out of a game, you know?" Hartings said. "Take me out of a practice."
Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher was like a Las Vegas magician, each item pulled from his hat more impressive than the last. The grand finale came when he made the Bills, one of the league's hotter teams, vanish from the NFL playoff picture, an unfathomable feat considering no opposing team had ever won at The Ralph in January.
The parade of consistency speaks to the culture Cowher cultivated this season while resuscitating the Steelers from last year's atypical 6-10. They kept winning when an injury to Maddox ushered in the Roethlisberger era far ahead of schedule. They validated their 5-1 record by thumping unbeaten New England on Halloween. Any remaining skeptics were dismissed with a rout of untainted Philadelphia the following week. Something special was in the works.
Injuries were overcome without any noticeable fall-off, although only on Sunday could the efficiency of the machine be fully appreciated. The Steelers said they were coming here to win. Who would have thought, with St. Pierre taking snaps, with Willie Parker running 19 times, they could have been so utterly sincere?
"You're playing to win every week you go out there," Cowher said. "I know we took some defensive guys out and they were not real happy at the time. But you know what? We were playing to win this football game. We came in here with that in mind. Regardless who's out on that field, there's a standard that's been set around here that's been upheld by a number of people who stepped in during the season."
There's a feeling around these parts that the Bills would have been a playoff team had Willis McGahee been named the starting running back earlier in the season, that he alone would have made an appreciable difference. The Steelers reached four deep for their feature back Sunday and still ran roughshod over one of the league's better defenses. They swapped Bettis for Staley, and vice versa, as injuries dictated throughout the season. They're not complaining.
"There's a lot of confidence, a lot of pride and a lot of belief in each other," Bettis said. "The coaches have done a great job of keeping us focused even at times when we had nothing really to focus on. Like this game."
"We don't expect a drop-off," said star wideout Hines Ward, who was incidental to the victory. "Everybody was expecting us to lose. I think we were 9-point underdogs in Vegas. It was a must-win for them and we still found a way to win the ballgame on the road. It's just a credit to our whole team."
There have been three other 15-1 regular-season teams in NFL history. The '72 Dolphins went 14-0. But none of them took on a quality foe with their better players in reserve only to find they were too talented, too dedicated, too well-schooled to give a game away.
"We're not only a good team, but a good team with a lot of depth," Maddox said. "And I think you saw the depth."
Willie Parker, 102 yards? Yeah, I think we got the point.
Watch Steelers "Hines-Sight" and "The Bus Stop" on KDKA-TV
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_302163341.html#27
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_302163341.html#27
Going into this year I would have thought 8-8 would have been an achievment
and I have been a die-hard Steeler fan since the QB controversy was Dick Shiner or Kent Nix and the wunderkind was Terry Hanratty. Still can't believe they are 15-1. I try not to bet as a homer but what else can a team do in regular season!
and I have been a die-hard Steeler fan since the QB controversy was Dick Shiner or Kent Nix and the wunderkind was Terry Hanratty. Still can't believe they are 15-1. I try not to bet as a homer but what else can a team do in regular season!
