Remember that other team? They just might win

I write to remind you that there are still 60 minutes of football to be played and actually… I write to remind you that there are still 60 minutes of football to be played and actually another football team in the Super Bowl.

Living here in Pittsburgh might lead one’s mind toward the idea that the Steelers have already won the Super Bowl.

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off a 34-14 demolishing of the Carolina Panthers and have won 13 of their last 14 games.

A team that has thrived off being under the radar all season, winning at home with might and on the road with precision, the Seahawks travel to Detroit as underdogs, practically forgotten.

The Seahawks were underdogs against the Panthers in Seattle according to most NFL “experts,” and now they’re underdogs against a team that barely made the playoffs and still doesn’t know which Willie Parker is going to show up on Sunday.

As the Steelers proved three weeks in a row, the team that everyone neglects creeps into the picture and surprises everybody.

That being said, I am not shocked that the Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Heck, they proved that they were the AFC’s best team with three stunning performances in a row.

“Disrespect:” An overused word in NFL discussions, yes, but a word that accurately describes the media’s treatment of Seattle and Pittsburgh all season.

Perhaps a more fitting word for Seattle, however, is underestimated. Everyone doubted Matt Hasselbeck as an NFL quarterback, but he has yet to throw an interception in the playoffs this year.

The first argument for the Seahawks starts with Shaun Alexander, the NFL’s MVP and rushing champ.

Now Steelers’ fans contest that the Steelers have a great rushing defense, and that is certainly taken into consideration when discussing Alexander’s potential impact on the game.

Alexander schooled the Carolina Panthers, the NFL’s fourth-best rushing defense, for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the NFC Championship and, I almost forgot, ran for an NFL record 28 touchdowns this season.

The MVP and the NFL’s best offensive line can run on anyone and, even if he struggles, Alexander’s potential alone sets up Hasselbeck, who experienced his finest year in the NFL this season, tossing 24 touchdowns while completing 65.5 percent of his passes.

When teams blitz, as Pittsburgh does quite often, he completes 64 percent of his passes. The 30-year-old was only sacked 24 times this season, and only twice in the playoffs.

Seattle allowed just 22 first downs in their first two playoff games while holding their opponents to just 21.4 percent efficiency on third downs. They also happened to pick off NFL playoff history’s highest-rated quarterback, Jake Delhomme, three times.

The Seahawks only allowed an average of 94 rushing yards and 17 points per game this season, which means the Steelers’ offensive line will need to assert itself early and get Parker going.

It seems like this season the Steelers have relied too much on a trick play or a special team’s bail-out to win games. In the playoffs they have improved immensely, but Seattle has been good all season, why would they stop now?

Seattle had taken a 2-2 start to a 13-2 record before dropping their final contest of the season, a loss that came after they had already clinched home-field advantage in the NFC.

The Steelers are also scorching hot, which is why I think this Super Bowl will be close – but close doesn’t cut it in football’s biggest game.

Seahawks 27, Steelers 24

Jeff Greer is a staff writer for The Pitt News. E-mail him at jag59@pitt.edu, but wait until he is wrong before you mock him.