By BOB LABRIOLA

Steelers.com

 

This time, there were no slip-ups, no chances for the opponent to make false claims and then use those claims as motivation.

 

Back in 2001, life changed all over America because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Because the idea of playing football so soon after that tragedy was a ridiculous notion, the NFL adjusted its regular season schedule, which ultimately led to the period between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl being sliced from two weeks to one.

 

That was the year the Steelers finished 13-3 and were scheduled to host the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field. The Steelers spent one day that week on the logistics of taking their entire staff, players, coaches and families to the Super Bowl, as was mandated by the NFL.

 

When what the Steelers did became known, the Patriots used that as incentive for their players, even though they also had been required to send team representatives to the same league meetings because it's impossible to move that many people that far within 24 hours. And they had to be there in 24 hours, because the conference champions were required to be on site the following day.

 

But that served as a lesson to the Steelers, as did their experience in Super Bowl XXX in 1995, and the team used all of that to make the plans this time around.

 

During the week leading up to the game against the Broncos in Denver, Super Bowl were two words that weren't heard at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex. Everything changed, however, once the Steelers returned home as the champions of the AFC.

 

Thank heavens for the extra week before Super Bowl XL.

 

"I think the biggest benefit is that we can try to get all this done before Thursday so we can come in here Thursday with the focus on football," said Coach Bill Cowher. "It is an opportunity that you want to share with a lot of people, and the logistics of going through that can be overwhelming at times with all the requests.

 

"At the same time you can't forget what we're going in there to do. I think that allows you to not feel rushed or overwhelmed by it in a short period of time. One week's time is tough. People have done it; I don't envy that."

 

What had become the normal procedure for the Steelers in the latter part of the season was that the players were off on Mondays and Tuesdays following wins, and then the preparation for the upcoming opponent began at full speed on Wednesday morning.

 

With some extra time to play with between the win over the Broncos and the game against the Seattle Seahawks, Cowher brought the players in on Monday for a meeting that included detailing the plans for getting the players' families to Detroit for the game.

 

"Basically our players came in (Monday)," said Cowher. "We talked a little bit about last Sunday's game. We kind of went through the logistics of what next week will entail in terms of the tickets, the travel—particularly as it relates to family and friends. The players will be in the process of getting all that information back in the next couple of days.

 

"The coaches will be game-planning during that time, and so we'll come in and work Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Monday we'll go to Detroit. We'll get off the plane and have a light workout, get used to the facilities at the Silverdome where we're going to be working that whole week. Tuesday is media day. Then we'll have a basic Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

 

The thing that makes the Super Bowl more difficult than any other game on the schedule is that even though it will be just another game once the ball is teed up, everything that happens leading up to that moment is very, very different. The only player on the Steelers roster with any first-hand experience of that is Willie Williams, who happened to be with the team for Super Bowl XXX.

 

"There are some things that you can share with [the players] like the demands, what the game was like, the pregame part of it and all the things that lead up to it," said Cowher. "There are some things that you share. I've talked to some people around the league as well. It has been 10 years. We're trying to just inform them of what to expect but it's still going to be a football game once that ball is kicked off. It still comes down to execution."

 

And Cowher will try to make things as normal as possible during the preparations stage, so that when it comes to execute, the Steelers will be able to execute.

 

"The distractions are going to be there (in Detroit)," said Cowher. We'll put most of [the game plan] in this week. This is going to be an important week of work, there's no question about that; not that next week won't. We'll talk about what they'll be facing going there.

 

"We've got some guys who have not been there before but we have a lot of coaches who have been there before. We'll try to educate them to help them understand what it's going to be like next week. But this week is a very important week, no doubt."