Super Bowl 2011: The Six Key Steelers Who've Been Unsung Heroes in 2010
Every team from best to worst has it's unsung heroes, the men you never hear about but that do a ton of work for their team's winning cause.
When a team reaches the Super Bowl, it's because of those players just as much as the superstars.
Pittsburgh is a blue collar town with a blue collar football team. On that blue collar team, there are six guys who've been essential to the team's success this year. Here's a look at who they are and what they've done to help Pittsburgh reach it's eighth title game.
1. Doug Legursky, C/G/T/FB
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Like the Johnny Cash tune says, he's been everywhere.
He's played every position on the offensive line. He's been the jumbo package fullback. He's a do it all, say nothing player.
He came out of Marshall as an undrafted rookie a couple of years ago. He's been a backup ever since, but a very valuable backup. In a season where the Pittsburgh offensive line was shredded by injury or ineffectiveness, he's been the constant stopgap, the man who has put out the fire.
In the AFC Championship, he got the biggest test of all. He had to step in for the only consistently healthy and effective lineman on the team: center Maurkice Pouncey. He did very well. Two bad snaps (only one of which you can blame him for) aside, he stepped in against one of the league's top units and blocked effectively.
He'll have an even tougher task in the Super Bowl if he starts in Pouncey's place again, which is still highly likely. He'll have to beat one of the top defensive tackles in the game: B.J. Raji. There's no disputing Raji's talent. He's one of the top five interior linemen in the NFL right now.
Legursky, however, might be a future star offensive lineman. The question is where to put him when it's all said and done. He's done well everywhere he's been so far.
2. Shaun Suisham, K
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Everyone was puzzled when Pittsburgh signed him to replace the departed Jeff Reed. After all, wasn't Reed supposedly cut because of how inconsistent he'd become on field goals? How was signing a journeyman kicker with a history of accuracy trouble going to solve things?
Well, somehow or another, it did.
Suisham, who's kickoffs still make Pittsburgh fans uptight, has found his accuracy on field goals. He's been clutch, he's been everything Jeff Reed was his first year, and he's been everything the Steelers have needed in their usually-close games.
He may not be in Pittsburgh after the Super Bowl, but he's one of the reasons they are here now. He was 14 of 15 in the regular season and two of three so far in the playoffs. That's a huge upgrade over what Reed was providing in the first nine games of the year.
If they win their record seventh title, I wouldn't be surprised if Suisham had some part in that too. When you've got two evenly matched team, sometimes special teams decides a game. The Steelers don't have the edge in that area, but you just never know.
3. Ramon Foster, RG
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He, like Doug Legursky, is another undrafted free agent. He's also even less well-known than our first unsung hero.
As the season opened, Trai Essex was the team's starting right guard. He proved inconsistent and unable to provide a good push inside, so the Steelers benched him for the untested Foster, who'd played sparingly but effectively in his rookie season.
Now he's started eight straight games and he's been pretty solid. The right side of the Steelers line has been good all year, good enough that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians has favored that side in the rushing attack. Foster has helped block for a star quarterback and a 1,200 yard rusher in Rashard Mendenhall.
The question now is whether Foster can help block one of the best fronts in the NFL. He, along with the entire offensive line, excelled against the New York Jets, but this defense is much better and much bigger. He'll be responsible for finding holes for Mendenhall and his mates and for holding Defensive Player of the Year runner up Clay Matthews and his friends at bay.
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4. Ziggy Hood, DE
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In Hood, the Steelers have replaced one chronically unsung hero with a new one.
Hood was drafted in the first round in 2009, so it's hard to say that nobody knows his name or anything about him, but his play has gone relatively unnoticed. Brett Keisel and his heroic beard draw most of the attention on the defensive line.
Hood, however, has put together a nice season. He's been part of a stalwart run defense that once again didn't allow a 100 yard rusher in the regular season or playoffs. Teams had trouble gaining 100 rushing yards against this unit. Hood also registered three sacks, which is high for Steelers' defensive linemen, who are used more to open up holes for linebackers and safeties than to do their own rushing.
In the Super Bowl, he'll go up against a tough offensive line and an emerging star at running back in James Starks. The bet here is that the Packers, for all their ability, won't generate much on the ground against Hood and the stout front seven of Pittsburgh's new Steel Curtain.
5. Bruce Arians, Offensive Coordinator
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For the record, I like my crow done well with a side of potatoes and humble pie.
I was wrong. A lot of people were wrong. Bruce Arians can coordinate an offense. He just needed to have his job threatened and a fan base sent into an uproar to do it up right.
Arians has done a tremendous job this year. I'm still holding my breath about how he calls this Super Bowl, but I can't argue with the guy's overall performance. Pittsburgh's been good on offense all year, especially late in the game when it counts most.
He's showed some creativity by allowing a returned Antwaan Randle El and a speedy Mike Wallace to do some fun things with reverses and fake reverses. He's shown guts by throwing on a third down to get enough yards to run out the clock in the AFC Championship. He's shown adaptability by calling games for a team who's offensive line is utterly and completely decimated.
Yeah, he's earned his pay this year. He may even earn a contract extension for it if the team can claim another Lombardi trophy.
Is he ever going to be Mike Martz (in his heyday)? No. Is he good enough for a team who's quarterback does a lot of the play calling on his own? He certainly is. Best of all, he has a great rapport with Ben Roethlisberger and the other offensive players. That, in the end, seems to have been one of the most essential things.
6. Sean Kugler, Offensive Line Coach
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If you give credit to the position, you have to credit that position's coach too.
Kugler has done more with less than anyone I've ever seen.
He was handed a line with one questionably dominant player (Max Starks), one ancient veteran retread (Flozell Adams), a rookie (Maurkice Pouncey), and a couple of no name guards (Chris Kemoeatu and Ramon Foster).
And that was before Starks got hurt.
What's he done? Nothing besides turned Pouncey into one of the league's top centers (he earned Pro Bowl honors as a rookie, not easy for a center and not easy in a conference full of good snappers), turned Adams back into a good tackle (not to mention getting him to play that good on the opposite side of the line from his natural position), gotten the most out of those no name guards and Doug Legursky, and squeezed some effective performances out of Jonathan Scott.
Against the New York Jets, the Steelers offensive line made you forget who they were. They looked like a Pro Bowl unit. They aren't, but they have one more game to impress all of us. Here's hoping Kugler has one more miracle up his sleeve.
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