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Home » Sports » American Football
Steelers use toughness to intimidate opponents
Source: Agencies |
January 30, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
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RYAN Clark smashes Willis McGahee and Wes Welker.
Hines Ward breaks Keith Rivers' jaw.
James Farrior stacks up Derrick Ward.
The Pittsburgh Steelers don't deliberately try to injure opposing players. It's just that it happens sometimes when a team is taught to hit only two ways: Hard and harder.
The Steelers are as physical as it gets in the NFL, and the Arizona Cardinals understand they must be prepared to match that hit-or-be-hit mentality if they want to win the Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh-Baltimore AFC Championship game might have been the NFL's most punishing all season, and the Cardinals know what's ahead.
Let's get physical, indeed.
"They're definitely different," Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby said on Wednesday. "They fly around to the ball and they play with a passion, and that's a beautiful thing when you see a team play with a lot of passion. ... You admire stuff like that, seeing people coming down, making big hits and changing the game."
Pittsburgh has been playing with toughness and an edge for decades. The Steelers of coach Buddy Parker were rugged, hard-hitting and nasty in the late 1950s and early 1960s, although they didn't win like their successors did.
The Steelers transformed physical play into an art form during their 1970s dynasty with the defensive line named the Steel Curtain.
"Pittsburgh, it's a rough city. It's a tough city. A lot of hard-nosed people live in that city, so you have to be that type of team to fit in there," cornerback Deshea Townsend said.
Cardinals wide receiver-returner Steve Breaston grew up in Pittsburgh and knows about those Steelers teams. He plays a skill position, yet he has always tried to make his family proud by playing with toughness, too.
"The football there is smash-mouth and a real physical style. The Steelers, that defines them right there," Breaston said.
"Look at their linebackers, secondary, all the way through," he added. "They're all making plays, getting to the quarterback. They make plays. You have to match it or it's going to wear on you, wear you down."
Hines Ward breaks Keith Rivers' jaw.
James Farrior stacks up Derrick Ward.
The Pittsburgh Steelers don't deliberately try to injure opposing players. It's just that it happens sometimes when a team is taught to hit only two ways: Hard and harder.
The Steelers are as physical as it gets in the NFL, and the Arizona Cardinals understand they must be prepared to match that hit-or-be-hit mentality if they want to win the Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh-Baltimore AFC Championship game might have been the NFL's most punishing all season, and the Cardinals know what's ahead.
Let's get physical, indeed.
"They're definitely different," Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby said on Wednesday. "They fly around to the ball and they play with a passion, and that's a beautiful thing when you see a team play with a lot of passion. ... You admire stuff like that, seeing people coming down, making big hits and changing the game."
Pittsburgh has been playing with toughness and an edge for decades. The Steelers of coach Buddy Parker were rugged, hard-hitting and nasty in the late 1950s and early 1960s, although they didn't win like their successors did.
The Steelers transformed physical play into an art form during their 1970s dynasty with the defensive line named the Steel Curtain.
"Pittsburgh, it's a rough city. It's a tough city. A lot of hard-nosed people live in that city, so you have to be that type of team to fit in there," cornerback Deshea Townsend said.
Cardinals wide receiver-returner Steve Breaston grew up in Pittsburgh and knows about those Steelers teams. He plays a skill position, yet he has always tried to make his family proud by playing with toughness, too.
"The football there is smash-mouth and a real physical style. The Steelers, that defines them right there," Breaston said.
"Look at their linebackers, secondary, all the way through," he added. "They're all making plays, getting to the quarterback. They make plays. You have to match it or it's going to wear on you, wear you down."
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