Big-play receivers a must for Super Bowl contenders
February 3
Chicago Tribune columnist David Haugh
"A fan approached "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney in a hotel lobby before Super Bowl XLIII to ask Rooney why he was there. Rooney, 90, just looked at the man with his patented facial expression of someone who had swallowed a lemon.
"You never miss the Super Bowl," Rooney snapped.
You never know what points you might miss, such as the most lasting impressions from the Steelers' 27-23 victory Sunday over the Cardinals.
1 Every Super Bowl contender needs a big-play wide receiver.
The teams combined for fewer than 100 rushing yards—58 for Pittsburgh and 33 for Arizona. But the Steelers overcame that because they had an emerging star in Santonio Holmes. Holmes finished with more catches and yards than Larry Fitzgerald, who was the main reason the Cardinals romped in the playoffs. Put a player that explosive on the Bears and it immediately changes everything, even if they don't change quarterbacks. There were six wide receivers with catches Sunday good enough to be the Bears' No. 1 receiver. Without a guy like that, teams become one-dimensional and cannot overcome deficits. The reason the Cardinals rallied from 13 points down in the fourth quarter, and the reason the Steelers answered in the final 2 minutes 30 seconds, had as much to do with Holmes as Ben Roethlisberger.
2 Players make the defensive scheme—provided the scheme fits the players.
In Chicago, the Cover-2, which was considered football genius just two years ago, has been deemed feeble and outdated. But add a classic 4-3 edge rusher who sacks the quarterback for the Bears the way James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley do for the Steelers, and suddenly it will seem trendy again. The Steelers' vaunted 3-4 works mostly because of the outside linebacker tandem's rare athleticism and physical cornerbacks and safeties who make plays on the ball. They will be celebrating in Pittsburgh until July, but Super Bowl XLIII was not a great night for defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau's scheme. Its strategy to align the safeties practically in Clearwater to avoid getting beaten deep ultimately backfired when Fitzgerald broke his 64-yard touchdown with the safeties too deep to make a play. Harrison's 100-yard TD return came off a fake blitz, but even he admitted that was partly his own freelancing. Mike Gandy's three holding calls on Harrison were caused more by strength than strategy. What made the 3-4 seem unblockable? As brilliant as LeBeau is, the answer always has been the players."
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