Record Super Bowl for Steelers but a shakeup is on its way

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - The Pittsburgh Steelers will be revamped and bringing in fresh faces as it aims to follow up a record Super Bowl win next season, head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters Monday.

Change, even for a team like the Steelers, is the only way ahead in the modern NFL, he said.

Santonio Holmes hauled in a six-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger with 35 seconds left to lead the Steelers to a dramatic 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

The triumph was a record sixth Super Bowl victory for the Steelers and the second in four years. Pittsburgh now has one more Super Bowl triumph than the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

Pittsburgh will undoubtedly lose some players to free agency although key performers, like Roethlisberger and Holmes, will be returning for another shot at the title, Tomlin suggested.

"A lot of the faces will be the same but nothing stays the same in this game. A few will come and go. Those that remain, the roles will change," he said.

"When I walk down the hallway and look at the championships of the Steelers of the 70s it's the same faces in the same positions on those photos. That's not the reality in today's

NFL.

"We're going to roll up our sleeves at the appropriate time and start with a new group of men ... and go about the business of trying to put ourselves in position to compete in '09."

Tomlin, however, said even if his team won the Super Bowl again in 2010 he would not consider it two titles in a row.

"For me, and the thing that I'm going to sell to our football team, is that we're not attempting to repeat," Tomlin told reporters after Sunday's thrilling victory over Arizona.

"That special group of men that was in that locker room last night at the end of that game, that's gone forever."

Roethlisberger was mediocre during the Steelers' Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks in 2006 but played like a cool veteran in the triumph over Arizona.

UNFAIR CRITICISM

Tomlin said it was unfair to knock Roethlisberger over his performance three years ago.

"A lot has been made about his performance in his first Super Bowl but this guy was a second-year player," said Tomlin. "He was on a veteran-laden team led by a future Hall of Famer, Jerome Bettis.

"This time around, he was a fifth-year player, one who has a long-term commitment from this organization that he is our franchise quarterback. He was voted captain by his team mates.

"It's a natural maturation process of a guy in this league. Under no circumstances did I expect him to be the guy who played in that game in Detroit. Everything he showed me is more in line with how he played last night.

"That was my focus and I refuse to live in the past and worry about the performances of a second-year man."

Holmes, who caught nine passes and was named the Super Bowl's most valuable player Sunday, said even when the Steelers were losing 23-20 in the closing minutes he had faith in Roethlisberger.

"Having a 6-5, 250-260 pound quarterback, knowing the strength and play-making ability that he has, we always know that there is a play to be made, no matter what," he said.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)