Top seed -- blessing or curse?
December 17
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Columnist Joe Starkey
"Can't you just hear Hines Ward, who plays the disrespect card better than Eric Clapton plays guitar, sounding off after the Steelers buck tradition and win an AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field:
We were the No. 1 seed. Nobody expected us to win!
He'd have a point, actually, because securing the AFC's top playoff seed more often means a death sentence than an E-ZPass to the Super Bowl.
Check the harrowing numbers: Since the NFL adopted a 12-team playoff format in 1990, only seven of 18 AFC top seeds have advanced to the Big Game. That's a .389 batting average, dragged down by a middle of the order -- Bill Cowher and Marty Schottenheimer -- that made Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds seem clutch by comparison.
The Steelers under Cowher were 0 for 3 in reaching Super Bowls as the No. 1 seed (1994, 2001, '04). They finally won it all as a monumentally disrespected, totally neglected, barely elected No. 6 seed in 2005.
Even the juggernaut Patriots of 2007 suddenly looked mortal in the AFC title game and couldn't finish the deal in the Super Bowl.
Given all that, combined with the Steelers' recent history of thriving in hostile environments such as New England and Baltimore, one could hardly blame the club if it brought in Dick Jauron as a guest head coach this week and thus ensured a loss Sunday at 12-2 Tennessee.
But that really isn't necessary.
In fact, it sounds as if coach Mike Tomlin is treating this game as significant to his team's championship aspirations. If they win, the Steelers would only have to defeat Cleveland (or have Tennessee lose at Indianapolis) to secure home-field advantage.
"If we should happen to meet (the Titans) again in the playoffs, I'd prefer to play them in Pittsburgh" Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. "That's why this is important."
He's right. It is an important game.
Not critical, but important.
History be darned. The No. 1 seed would give the Steelers their best chance to reach the Super Bowl.
Think about it: If you're facing Tennessee, you're facing a team with a destructive defensive line (when healthy), one that would benefit from a raucous crowd, particularly if the Titans grab an early lead.
That might not bode well for a still-jelling Steelers offensive line.
At Heinz Field, the offensive line wouldn't have to deal with silent counts and moving at the sight of the ball being snapped, rather than the quarterback's voice.
On the other side of the ball, do you know what a split-second jump does for James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley rushing off the edge?
"All it takes is to blink, and they're gone," says Steelers radio reporter Craig Wolfley, a former NFL offensive tackle. "There is nothing worse, as a tackle, than getting caught looking between the ball and the guy you'll block.
"You want to play at home, no doubt in my mind."
Besides, that .389 batting average doesn't look so bad when
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