So much for the six-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers not getting any respect from the national media. Peter King – famous of course for his Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com – picked the Steelers to go the distance and capture their seventh Lombardi Trophy in 2010. No link here. You’ll have to wait until Sports Illustrated’s 2010 NFL preview issue hits newsstands tomorrow to believe me. But that’s what King is picking according to Chris Mahr, publicist for SI, who emailed me and others the news this morning.
Here’s a snippet of his reasoning:
“The Steelers’ MVP might be Roger Goodell. At press time it appeared likely the commissioner would reduce Roethlisberger’s suspension from six games to four for good behavior-Roethlisberger spent the summer kissing babies and signing every autograph within miles at training camp. Byron Leftwich and/or Dennis Dixon should be able to navigate a friendly first-month schedule (Atlanta, at Tennessee, at Tampa Bay, Baltimore) and hand Roethlisberger a 3-1 team when he returns. A six-game suspension? That would be trouble, obviously.”