PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Pittsburgh Steelers insist they don't have a panic button.
An erase button? Absolutely.
The defending AFC champions see their baffling — not to mention decisive — 35-7 loss to rival Baltimore last week as something a little control/alt/delete can't fix.
"I forgot about that game already," said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Good idea.
The Steelers (0-1) haven't started a season with consecutive losses during Roethlisberger's eight-year career. He has no plans to start now heading into Sunday's home opener against Seattle (0-1).
"Talking to (defensive co-ordinator Dick) LeBeau, we used our mulligan on the first tee and we got 17 more holes to birdie," Roethlisberger said.
The Seahawks didn't implode for an entire game as the Steelers did. Instead, they saved it a 59-second span in the fourth quarter, letting a comeback against San Francisco evaporate as quickly as it took the 49ers Ted Ginn Jr. to return a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown.
It was a sobering dose of reality for the defending NFC West champions, who had hoped to solve their quarterback issues by bringing in Tarvaris Jackson. Instead, Jackson spent most of the first week in his new gig trying to stay upright behind a shaky offensive line that allowed him to get sacked five times and harassed countless others.
Now Jackson has to face a Pittsburgh defense eager to show the doubters the group of 30-somethings isn't as old or as slow as the Ravens made it look.
Not exactly the best time for a young team trying to find its footing to visit Heinz Field.
"There is never a good time to play these guys," said Seattle coach Pete Carroll. "It's always difficult."
This week, perhaps, more than most.
Coach Mike Tomlin expects his players to be "angry" after getting squashed by the Ravens, though safety Troy Polamalu — who got involved in a dustup at the end of the game out of frustration — isn't quite ready to promise vengeance.
"You'd like to say this year is the same as last year, but each team's got it's own characteristics," he said. "Everybody's a year older, you've got some new guys coming in. Everything changes. It's going to be interesting how we react to this."
How each team tries to bounce back isn't the only intrigue. The game will be refereed by Bill Leavy, who called Pittsburgh's 21-10 win over the Seahawks in the 2006 Super Bowl.
Leavy has acknowledged botching a couple of calls late in the game that blunted a potential Seattle rally. The game is ancient history to the Steelers, who added a win in the 2009 Super Bowl to their burgeoning trophy case. Not so much in the Northwest, even if there are only two Seahawks — cornerback Marcus Trufant and linebacker Leroy Hill — remaining from the franchise's only Super Bowl appearance.
Fans are still angry over a questionable quarterback sneak for a touchdown by Roethlisberger, who swears to this day he was in the end zone even if replays seemed to show otherwise.
"They need to get over it," said Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward, voted the MVP of the '06 game. "I'm sure the players have. You've got to move on."
The Steelers are certainly ready to. They know they can't afford to let Baltimore get a big jump in the division. Getting back into a rhythm offensively would help, though Pittsburgh will have to start rookie Marcus Gilbert at right tackle against the Seahawks after veteran Willie Colon was lost for the year with a torn right triceps.
Gilbert understands "the standard is the standard" regardless of experience. The standard took a beating against the Ravens, as the Steelers turned it over seven times, including three interceptions and two fumbles by Roethlisberger.
The Seahawks aren't quite the Ravens. They barely put any pressure on San Francisco's Alex Smith and failed to generate a turnover. Carroll attributed the lack of a pass rush to the 49ers' bruising running game, something the Steelers abandoned against the Ravens after falling behind so early.
It's something Pittsburgh would like to get back to after running back Rashard Mendenhall had 45 yards on 12 carries a week ago. Even more, however, they want to get back to dictating the game. It didn't happen against Baltimore, raising more than a few questions about a team expected to be a Super Bowl contender.
There are no such expectations in Seattle, which is still searching for an identity under Carroll. Longtime quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is in Tennessee. Jackson was brought in from Minnesota to take over and is still trying to get a grasp on the system.
He should get some help Sunday if veteran guard Robert Gallery and wide receiver Sidney Rice are cleared to play. Both missed the opener with injuries.
Jackson knows the kind of success the Ravens enjoyed against the Steelers is rare. Yet it also gives teams across the league hope.
"They pretty much did what they wanted," Jackson said. "They were able to run the football. They took big shots. That's what we want to do."
The Steelers insist they didn't go from veteran to creaky in seven months. They had a bad day in Baltimore. It happens, even if it doesn't happen to Pittsburgh very often. The 28-point loss was their worst in an opener since the Dallas Cowboys pummelled them by 30 back in 1997.
Roethlisberger was in middle school back then,but knows that team rebounded to advance to the AFC title game.
"If you panic after a Week 1 loss, you have a problem, your team is dishevelled as it is and isn't going to make it very far," Roethlisberger said. "We're not going to let it happen, we've been through too much together."
