They Said It: Super Bowl edition

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was the center of attention at Super Bowl media day, talking about the off-field issues he faced last summer. The two-time champion told The Toronto Sun about one of the bigger steps he's had to go through since his sexual assault conviction last April: "I've had a lot of apologizing to do. I had to apologize to the Rooneys (Steelers owners); I had to apologize to the fans. I had to apologize to the press. I wasn't always the nicest guy. I can admit that."

The man responsible for molding the defense that has to stop Roethlisberger on Super Sunday, Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers, told reporters at media day about his team's approach heading into the big game: "I think our philosophy is based in, number one, trying to stop the run and trying to make the game a one-dimensional game. We feel we have many different things that can attack and pressure the quarterback, and we know this is a quarterback-driven league now. If you let the quarterback sit there and he can do everything on time, then it's normally going to be a long game in this league. You have to be able to do something to try to disrupt the quarterback's rhythm, and, if you can do that, it leads to being able to take the ball away."

One of the league's tougher defenders, Steelers OLB James Harrison, said to The Washington Post that his intention isn't to hurt anybody in the Super Bowl, even (a bit sarcastically) appealing to the commissioner to make things safer for opposing players: "I don't want to hurt nobody. I don't want to step on nobody's foot or hurt their toe," Harrison said. "I don't want to have no dirt or none of this rubber on this field fly into their eye and make their eye hurt. I just want to tackle them softly on the ground, and if you all can, we'll lay a pillow down where I'm going to tackle them, so they don't hit the ground too hard ... Mr. Goodell."

The first question asked of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers at media day was by NFL Network host Deion Sanders, who wanted to know if former Packer Brett Favre had contacted the QB this week about preparing for the Super Bowl: "No," Rodgers said without hesitation.

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