Don't Tell the Steelers It's Hard to Repeat -- They Remember

LATROBE, Pa. -- Here at Steelers training camp, there's always a class in session. Practice ends, but not all at once. As some players hop on golf carts and head back to the dorms on the campus of St. Vincent College, others stay to ask and answer questions. Ziggy Hood, a rookie defensive lineman out of Missouri, picks the brain of 11-year veteran Aaron Smith. Rookie cornerback Keenan Lewis tails Ike Taylor around, looking to pick up pointers.

"There's just so much knowledge here," Lewis said. "These guys that have been here a long time, they're just so valuable for a new guy coming in."

The Steelers are loaded with veterans. There are 15 players on the current roster -- 10 on defense alone -- who played for the team in both Super Bowl XL and XLIII. And because of that, there's no other team this side of Massachusetts that knows how hard it will be to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

"The biggest thing is, every team in the NFL, they're going to mark you on their calendar," Smith told FanHouse before Monday's practice. "If they can beat the Super Bowl champs, even the teams at the bottom of the league, that's a big mark in their favor. Every week, you're getting the other team's best effort."

That's something the Steelers had heard before. But when they came back for the 2006 season after winning Super Bowl XL, they had to learn it the hard way. They began that season 2-6, with humbling losses in places like Jacksonville, Atlanta and Oakland (to a Raiders team that would win only one other game all year).

"You're out there playing a team and all of a sudden it hits you: 'Wow! They're playing a lot harder than we saw them play on film'," Smith said. "So I think that's the lesson we carry forward. Don't think that what you see on film is what you're going to see from that other team on the field. And just know you aren't going to be able to just show up and beat somebody."

Linebacker James Farrior said the most important thing he and his teammates can do is forget that they won last year's Super Bowl. If their opponents want to remind themselves the Steelers are the defending champs, that's fine. But Farrior doesn't want the Steelers to look at it that way.

"The first time around, we were just focused on defending the title," Farrior said. "But we've got to wipe the slate clean, no matter how exciting that Super Bowl was. We've got the rings. The banner will go up at the opener. And that'll be it. That'll be the last time we think about last year."

When you talk to the Steelers' coaching staff, it sounds as if that directive came straight from them. Asked why this Steelers team was perhaps better suited than the 2006 team to repeat, defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau shook his head.

"Every year is a different year, everybody starts even, and we would be foolish to look at it any other way," LeBeau said. "We have a very good football team with a chance to do some good things. But that's all we have right now."

Well, kind of. This coaching staff also has the advantage of continuity -- an unusually large contingent of players and coaches who have been together for a long time and knows how to listen to and apply such lessons and mantras. These Steelers have been through this experience before, together, and when they talk about the lessons of the past there's instant comprehension.

"That's the biggest thing, I think, is the shared experience," safety Troy Polamalu said. "A lot of us have been here together for so long that you hardly even have to say anything and you know your teammates understand you. That's a big advantage."

It's one they appreciate.

"It's very rare that you get this many guys back on a Super Bowl team," Farrior said. "It says a lot about our ownership. They believe in the system that's in place here, and they know how important it is to keep the guys around here -- players and coaches -- who know how to make that system work."

It all adds up to a tremendous level of easy confidence that's not hard to feel when you spend a day at Steelers camp. The defensive veterans are confident in each other, confident in their coaches and especially confident in Ben Roethlisberger, the great big quarterback who's one of four offensive players who played in both of those Super Bowls.

"Number 7," Smith said when asked the biggest reason he believes the Steelers can win it all again. "As long as we keep it close, with Number 7, you've got a chance."

Oh, they have a chance all right. It's hard to repeat as Super Bowl champs, but they know that. And the fact that they know it may be the best reason not to pick against them.