The Steelers' pro-bowl rookie center Maurkice Pouncey will officially miss Super Bowl XLV against the Green Bay Packers because of a high-ankle sprain suffered in the AFC Championship game. Legendary and inspirational defensive end Aaron Smith is also officially out of the big game because of a torn triceps he suffered in October against the Dolphins and has been unable to fully recover from in time for the Super Bowl.
It's obviously been proven that the Steelers can win without Smith because they're in the Super Bowl. Second year man, Ziggy Hood, has done an excellent job filling in for Smith and has excelled as of late. Did you see some of the post-game celebrations after the AFC championship? Ziggy was running around sans shirt in 5 degree temperatures. Anyone who is crazy enough to run around without a shirt in that kind of weather is my kind of defensive end. I'm not worried about Ziggy. I have confidence that he'll get the job done.
Pouncey might be another story. For the past few years, everyone was wondering if the Steelers could find any offensive linemen they could actually win with. Now, with Pouncey's injury, people are worried that he's a lineman that the Steelers can't win without.
In his first year in the NFL, Pouncey is already the best offensive lineman the team has, by far. He's assumed a leadership role and is one of the brightest young stars in the game. I have no doubt that he'll go on to have the same kind of consistent career as other Steelers' offensive linemen of the past.
He just won't be able to participate in this year's Super Bowl. Doug Legersky, the utility offensive lineman, will take Pouncey's spot under center. There is great concern that he'll have a hard time controlling the Packers' nose tackle BJ Raji. There is reason for concern since Raji is the of the best in the league at his position.
It's a match-up that, on paper, doesn't favor the Steelers. Does this mean they won't be able to win the Super Bowl? Heck no. Legursky has done a pretty admirable job whenever and wherever he's had to play this season and the running game didn't seem to miss a beat after Pouncey left the Jets' game two weeks ago. There was the problem of a couple of bad snaps between Legursky and Roethlisberger, but hopefully, a couple of weeks of practice and repetitions have corrected that issue.
If you use history as a judge, the Steelers should be fine. Pittsburgh won 4 Super Bowls in the 70's and in each one of those games, they were without a hall of fame player for at least a portion of the contests and they still won.
In Super Bowl IX against the Vikings, linebacker Jack Lambert left the game with a leg injury, and his replacement played the game of his life.
In Super Bowl X, Joe Greene missed a great deal of the second half because of an injury and the defense didn't suffer for it.
In Super Bowl XIII, John Stallworth, the offensive star of the first half, missed the second half because of severe cramps. They still managed to survive and win.
In Super Bowl XIV, linebacker Jack Ham didn't even play because of an ankle injury, and Lynn Swann had to leave the game with a concussion, and yet, Pittsburgh still won.
All those players are in the hall of fame, and yet, the Steelers still managed to win the championship without them. Of course, there were other hall of famers to pick up the slack, but today's Steelers probably have some future Canton inductees on their roster.
I think they'll be okay without their rookie center as good as he may be.
Go Steelers!
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