Super Bowl XL

Detroit ? Among the many storylines to Super Bowl XL is the smash-mouth Pittsburgh Steelers and their frenetic blitzing against the softer, more cerebral Seattle Seahawks and their West Coast passing game.

There are plenty other intriguing angles: Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, a Detroit native, playing what could be his final game in his hometown; Bill Cowher, the longest-tenured head coach in the league, trying to win his first Super Bowl after 14 years in Pittsburgh; and Seattle coach Mike Holmgren attempting to become the first to win Super Bowls with different teams.

But the main focus today probably should start at quarterback, where the play of Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, 23, and his 30-year-old counterpart, Matt Hasselbeck, likely will go a long way toward determining the outcome. With quarterbacks winning the Super Bowl MVP 19 times, don’t be surprised if No. 20 comes from this game.

Though conventional wisdom indicates the Steelers (14-5) and Seahawks (15-3) got this far because of their running games, both teams have become far more balanced in the playoffs.

The Steelers have said they would try to turn Seattle one-dimensional by focusing on shutting down Shaun Alexander, the league MVP with 1,880 rushing yards and a record 28 touchdowns. The Seahawks are hoping to do the same to Bettis and leading rusher Willie Parker, meaning the game could hinge on both quarterbacks’ ability to throw under heavy pressure. Roethlisberger can become the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Dan Marino, who grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs, had been the youngest to start a Super Bowl when he lost to the San Francisco 49ers in 1985.

Marino, who never got back to the Super Bowl, has befriended Roethlisberger, and the two have spoken several times since the Steelers, the sixth seed in the AFC, upset the Denver Broncos two weeks ago at Invesco Field to get a chance to win a fifth Super Bowl.

“We talked a couple of times this week,” Roethlisberger said. “He called me and said, ‘Listen, enjoy it and have fun there because you never know if you’ll come back.’ He said he always thought he was going to make it back, and he never got to play in it again.”

The Steelers, 15-1 a year ago, were 7-5 going into the playoff stretch drive this year, mostly because Roethlisberger missed three games because of a knee injury, then hurt his right thumb in a Monday night loss to the Colts. He got healthy in a hurry and helped lead his team to seven straight victories, including three on the road in the playoffs against the three highest seeds in the conference.

Roethlisberger’s regular-season numbers weren’t spectacular. He was 21st in the league in passing yards (2,385) and tied for 14th in touchdown passes (17), with nine interceptions. But when it came time to make a critical throw for a first down or keep a drive alive by running, Roethlisberger had few peers, and his 98.6 passer rating ranked third in the league.

In playoff victories over Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver, the Steelers used a start-fast blueprint that allowed them to take early leads, mostly by throwing. In the regular season, Pittsburgh ran on 57 percent of its offensive plays; in the first half of the three postseason wins, they threw 56 percent of the time and outscored the opposition by a 52-23 margin. They would build a lead, then go back to the run in the second half to protect it and use clock.

Against a Seattle team that finished 25th in pass defense (222.4 yards a game), Roethlisberger can be expected to throw early and often. In the playoffs, he has a 124.8 passer rating, completing 68 percent for seven touchdowns and one interception.

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Unlike the Steelers, who rely on many blitz packages, the Seahawks get most of their pressure on quarterbacks from their front four. Seattle led the league with 50 sacks, half credited to their starting defensive linemen. The Steelers had 47 sacks, and their two leaders were outside linebackers Joey Porter (101/2) and Clark Haggans (9).

It has taken Hasselbeck awhile to fulfill the promise expected of him when the Seahawks obtained him in a 2001 trade with the Green Bay Packers. He had begun his career as a rookie in 1998 under then-Packers coach Mike Holmgren before rejoining Holmgren in Seattle, where he initially struggled and occasionally battled with his head coach on how to play the position.

This season, all those lessons learned under a coach who had helped develop Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brett Favre paid off. The Seahawks ran off 11 straight victories before losing a meaningless season-ending game to the Packers while they rested most of their starters. Hasselbeck passed for 3,459 yards with 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions during the regular season, leading the NFC with a 98.2 rating. He’s been better in the playoffs with a 109.6 mark, including three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“It’s taken a little while,” Holmgren said. “But right now, he and I are in a very, very good place. Matt has been consistent in his play for the last three years. He’s worked very hard to make sure he’s the leader of the football team. No one works harder, and he has great respect from his teammates. It’s all kind of come together this season.”

Super Bowl XL

Hasselbeck likely will leave the pocket more than Roethlisberger, especially if the Steelers continue blitzing. He’s run a dozen times in two playoff games, averaging four yards a carry, but frequently moves around only for extra time to throw. It also helps that his veteran offensive line, with four of the five starters playing together for five years, has allowed him to be sacked 16 times and only twice in the postseason.

Hasselbeck, like Roethlisberger, has seemed to revel in all the attention he has received this week and does not mind that the Seahawks, despite being the top seed in the NFC, are four-point underdogs.

“The truth is the truth,” he said. “People expect Pittsburgh to win this game. Oh well. We’re not getting caught up in it. They’re the hottest team in football right now. But I appreciate this a great deal. Holding that NFC championship trophy up last week in front of our crowd, a crowd that once wasn’t too fond of me, it just made it a little more special. I’m really proud that it worked out here.”

¢When: 5:25 p.m. today

¢Where: Ford Field, Detroit

¢TV: ABC, channels 9, 49 (Sunflower Broadband channels 9, 12)

¢Records: Steelers 14-5, Seahawks 15-3

¢Line: Steelers by 41â2