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Show DAILY Sunday, February 5, 2006 HERALD SUPER BOWL XL |. TODAY, 4:25 P.M., ABC ASCOUT’S VIEW ‘How an NFL Scout Sees the Seahawks-Steelers Matchup: | think Matt Hasselbeck will come out of the Super Bow! with more passing yards than Ben Roethlisberger, but that’s be' cause Pittsburgh is going to win. Hasselbeck may have.the better stats, but Big Ben andthe Steelers will walk away with the Lombardi Trophy. ... The Seahawks haven't seen anythinglike |. They can watch as much tape as they want, but it's hard to geta feel for what kind of impact this kid hasuntil the game starts. Because ofhis athletic ability and intensity,| think he'll have the single biggest impact on the game of any player. ... For the last few years, people have talked about Jonathan Ogden asthe bestleft tackle in the league, but Walter Jones has beenthe best. He plays with such great patience, body control and strength, he’s hard to beat. Very rarely is he in recovery mode. Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren are both great coaches.If | had to pick one whohasthe edge,I'd say Cowher. That's because Pittsburgh hasplayed in more big games,both this season and in recent years, whereas Seattle is just starting to have a biggamementality. ... Seattle's defense is underrated and people don’t know much about their players, but they werefifth in the league in stopping the run. They have somerelentless pass tushers and a good wave ofplayers they canrotate in to keep bodiesfresh.... Pittsburgh does as good a job as anybody in the league of coming up with oneortwo trick plays a game. Ken Whisenhunt, their offensive coordinator, is great at designing trick plays off of existing ones. He has a variation off what you saw the weekbefore, so teamstend to overreact to what they think they're going to see. Rocky Bemard is playing at a high level for Seattle. He's given FILE/Arizona Daily Star New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath (12) gets a pass away against the Baltimore Colts underpressure from a Colts defender, in them theinside passrush to be able to collapse the middle of the pocket and flush quarterbacks outside. Then those ends do Super Bow| Ill, in this Jan. 12, 1969 photo. The Jets won, 16-7, backing up Namath’s bold pre-gameguarantee. a nicejob of cleaningthings up.... The Steelers don't have to do Super XL much besides what they've done all year to try to stop Shaun Alexander. They were the fourth-ranked defenseoverall, and they were third against the run andfirst in average yards per rush allowed. They don't have to do anything crazy just becauseit's the Rams neverwould have won Brown might become the neyt Willie Brown, whose NFL Films highlight staple—a 75-yardinterception return in Super Bowl XI—gave coach John Madden Super Bowlcredibility he took into the announcer’s booth. RayLewis made headlines for the right reasons during Super Bow! weekend in Tampa when the Ravens’ defense dominated the Giantsin ‘85 Bear-like fashion. In Chicago, people remember William Perry's touchdown run as the lasting memory of Super Bow! XX butthe sight of defensive end Richard Dent probably still makes Patriots quarterback Super Bowl XXXIV when Tony Eason cringe. Dent won linebacker Mike Jonestackled Super Bow! MVP honors,one of seventimesa defensive player has doneso. Could Troy Polamalu ofthe Steelers or Grant Continuedfrom E1 balanced gameplanprefers. Similarly, the Steelers in the postseasonhave taken to throwingearlyto get a lead so theycanicethe vict« ry and would love nothing more than to ride out a quick lead on their favorite Bus. 3. Get signature defensive play or performance Withoutone,the St. Louis Kevin Dysononeyard short of a potential game-tying touchdownin the most clutch Super Bowldefensiveplayever. Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brownlocked up a Super Bow]victoryand aninflated free-agent contract with the Wistromof the Seahawks make it eight? 4. Ride the hot foot With apologies to Jim Raiders with his second interception in the closing minutes O'Brien, whose 32-yardfield tume they werein the Super Super Bowl Vfor the Baltimore Bow! 10 yearsago. The Raiders thought Larry Colts, Adam Vinatieri is the standard by which to measure againstthe Steelers the last goal with five seconds left won all other kickerson this stage. mancesin three victories, the Vinatieri won twoof the past onethingall those quarterbacks four Super Bowls withfield goals in the final seconds — XXXVIwith a 48-yarder on the had in commonwas poise. Bart final play and XXXVIII with a 4l-yarder with four seconds remaining. Without clutch kicker,Bill Belichick mightjust be another NFL coachlivingoff a single Super Bow!victory a la Brian Billick, Ditka and Madden rather than a genius bound for Canton. Of course,trusting a’kicker can backfire as theBills and Levyfoundoutin Super Bow! XXV when Scott Norwood missed a potential game-win- ning 47-yardfield goal on the final play of the game. Imagine how much moreyouthful Levy wouldbe if that miss hadn't aged him in dog yearsafter that game. 5. Keep cool at QB In 39 Super Bowls, the winning quarterback has been named MVP 20times. From Joe Namath backing uphis bold guarantee in Super Bowl III to Tom Brady pavinghis path to Canton with two MVPperfor- Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Kurt Warnerpossessed that intangible quality that is hard to illustrate with anything other than a Super Bowlring; Fran Tarkenton, David Woodley and Neil O'Donnell did not. The most memorable example of quarterback cool came from the 49ers Joe Montana in Super Bow! XXIII when he stepped into the huddle at the SanFrancisco 8-yardline with 3 minutes 10 seconds left, trailing 16-13, Montana approached tackle Harris Barton, whowas | agitated at a teammate for a penalty he committed, and pointed out comedian John Candyin the stands. Calmed, the Niners put together a gamewinning drive on which Mon- Super Bowl. THE PICK Terry Bannon CHICAGO TRIBUNE Seahawks(15-3) vs. Steelers (14-5) Line: Steelers by 4. Last meeting: Seahawks won, 23-16, at Seattle on Nov. 2, 2003. Key stat: Steelers have wonthree road playoff games by an average of 11.3 points. The buzz: Quarterbacks make thedifference, and both are hot. Seahawks’ Matt Hasselbeck has thrown eight TD passes tana completed 8 of 9 passes, withoutan interceptionin the last five games. Steelers’ Ben including a touchdownpass to John Taylorthat is preserved in framesall over the Bay Area, Jerome Bettis home, etc. — has somehow overshadowedthe Thelegends of John Elway, Troy Aikmanand Brett Favre followed,establishing a legacy for the position Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Hasselbeck dreamofsharing. Roethlisberger has thrown seven TD passesvs. one interception in playoffs. The Steelers’ romantic playoff run — taking Seahawks’ season-long consistency. What's more, Seattle is more rested after two easier home playoff games instead of three tough road tests. BANNON'S PICK: Seahawks 27, Steelers 23. 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