Nearly eight months later, Mike Mularkey is still seething mad.
Mad that the Steelers, carrying a reputation for being a tough, physical team, were pushed around by the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game.
Furious that his offensive linemen were confused by all the different looks thrown at them by the master of deception, Bill Belichick.
Angry that his offense was -- get this -- intimidated.
"It was disappointing because we had been, to that point, a physical team," said Mularkey, the Steelers' offensive coordinator. "They came in and intimidated us a little bit."
Usually, that is a word associated with the Steelers and their self-proclaimed Big Nasty D, the NFL's No. 1 ranked defense. But, on Jan. 27, a day that still rankles Mularkey, the Patriots came to Heinz Field and pushed the Steelers' offense around like a grocery cart.
First, the Patriots confused them by constantly mixing their players, putting safeties where linebackers were supposed to be, linebackers where defensive tackles were supposed to be, defensive ends where safeties were supposed to be.
Then they sealed the outside and funneled Jerome Bettis and the rest of the Steelers' running game to the inside, right to defensive tackle Richard Seymour and middle linebacker Tedy Bruschi. It worked, too, because Bettis had only 9 yards on eight carries, and the Steelers' offense didn't get untracked until the second half.
"They were moving around and making us change our calls and question some of our calls," said Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca. "They did a good job of confusing us. It took awhile for us to adjust. They were catching us sometimes where we weren't blocking the people we were supposed to be blocking."
The Steelers are hoping to do a better job of recognizing defenses when they open their regular season against the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots Monday night in Foxboro, Mass.
But, then, the Steelers also expect Belichick, the Patriots' fourth-year coach, to throw them even more wrinkles this time.
"They gave us a heavy dose of people playing positions who don't play those positions," said left tackle Wayne Gandy. "They'd have two defensive linemen and five linebackers. They would have four D-linemen and six secondary people. Things like that.
"It was like, OK, there's the Mike, Sam and Will linebacker," Gandy said, referring to the middle, strong and weakside linebacker positions. "But it was turned into, OK, who is this guy? There's only one linebacker here. Lawyer Milloy, is he the linebacker or is he the safety now? That's what they did. They did that at least every other play. Whenever they could get five different people out there, that's what they were doing.
"Maybe three people in the front seven played the whole game and the other four changed the whole time. That's what it was. You might get that once or twice with other teams, but they were giving you a steady dose of it. Usually, you expect a couple plays of that, but not as a whole philosophy."
Nonetheless, Mularkey is upset with the way his players responded against the Patriots. The NFL's No. 1 running game was held to a season-low 58 yards on 23 carries by a team that ranked 19th in the regular season in run defense.
The Steelers passing game accounted for 255 yards, but most of that came when the Steelers fell behind, 21-3. Kordell Stewart threw three interceptions, one on each of the final two possessions, against a defense that ranked 24th in the league against the pass.
"We didn't play well enough to beat them, to be honest with you," Mularkey said. "They were finishing plays, flying to the ball. They were impressive. They're like our defense -- very active. You see those white and blue jerseys always going to the ball. That's impressive. You get them doing that for 60 minutes, that's going to wear you down. We got to match them."
Especially if the Steelers start seeing other teams trying to copy what the Patriots did to them in the conference championship game.
Several of the players said they saw evidence of that in the preseason when the Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins started mixing combinations of defensive players against them.
"I was telling Wayne against Detroit, that's the theme," Faneca said. "That's what teams are going to try to do to us this year."
But Gandy doesn't think it will be that easy.
"I don't know if other teams and players can accept those roles and keep to the philosophy, even stay that disciplined," Gandy said. "If there's anything I can say about the Patriots' defense, it's they're very disciplined. If I'm not crossing the ball, that defensive tackle never crosses the ball. He sits there and, whether he gets to the play or not, he never goes across the ball. It's one of those kind of defenses, and they really just trust it.
"Can another team adopt that? I don't think so. Not that quickly."
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466.
Steelers wary of being outwitted by Patriot 'games' 
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