Quotes of the Year

• "I think we all feel like it's time. We've been close and we have to take that last step."
  - Art Rooney II in March, predicting that the time was right for a return trip to the Super Bowl.
  
  
• "All you guys think I'm going to have it, so I'm not going to."
  - Ben Roethlisberger in August, annoyed that the media was predicting a sophomore jinx for the young QB.
  
  
• "Right now, I think we're the better team."
  - Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer, after getting whipped by the Steelers in week 7.
  
  
• "I'm not sure how to feel about this team yet.... Right now this just seems to be a team that may win a wild card game but nothing else."
  - Me, after a discouraging Steelers loss at Baltimore in week 11.
  
  
• "It's time for a change. It's like going from a black-and-white TV to a color TV. It was Pittsburgh; it's Cincinnati now, and it'll probably be that way for a while now."
  - Cincinnati WR Chad Johnson, who later learned a valuable lesson about the difference between regular season wins and playoff wins.
  
  
• "Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this.... and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!"
  - Joey Porter to Troy Polamalu on the sidelines during the Wild Card win at Cincinnati, quoting the classic line from Dumb and Dumber. Troy had just made an ill-timed lateral after committing a costly personal foul earlier in the game.
  
  
• "I'm not going to sit here and baby and cry like their quarterback did."
  - Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, acting like a little child because we knocked his quitter team out of the playoffs.
  
  
• "I'm tired of coming down here and whipping your ass!"
  - Joey Porter to the crowd at Cincinnati during the Wild Card win, in reference to the fact that the Steelers have won 5 straight at Paul Brown Stadium.
  
  
• "The defender never had possession with his leg up off the ground doing an act common to the game of football. He was losing it while his leg was still on the ground."
  - Referee Pete Morelli, in a moment of pure insanity during the 4th quarter of the Colts-Steelers Divisional Playoff game.
  
  
• "This can't happen to Jerome. Don't let his career end like this."
  - Hines Ward to God, in a prayer request offered moments after Jerome Bettis had fumbled on the one yard line late in the Divisional Playoff game.
  
  
• "I, uh... I'm looking for a safe word here... [stuttering] I don't want to be a bad teammate... Let's just say we had some problems with the protection."
  - Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning, throwing his lineman under the bus after choking for the 839th time in his college/pro career.
  
  
• "We're going home!"
  - Jerome Bettis, as the final seconds ticked away in the AFC Championship Game.