Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Steelers fans wave their Terrible Towels before Super Bowl XL at Ford Field. Click photo for larger image.

DETROIT -- Ford Field looked and sounded much like Heinz Field with a roof last night.

The crowd in the 64,500-seat indoor stadium was predominantly Steelers fans, dressed in black and gold and waving Terrible Towels.

Dan Rooney estimated that more Steelers fans were at this Super Bowl than any of their previous five, which also were well attended by them.

"I think it's tremendous," he said before the game. "And what they went through to get here -- getting the tickets, getting the hotel rooms, driving here."

Although many Steelers fans live throughout the country, as evidenced by their huge turnouts in San Diego this season and in Dallas in 2004, this is the closest Super Bowl to Pittsburgh -- 285 driving miles from Grant Street.

"We've had good turnouts at all of them, but this is so close," Rooney said. "Pittsburghers, they come to see the game."

The cheers were deafening when Lynn Swann and Franco Harris were introduced as former Super Bowl MVPs before the game. Two-time Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw did not participate.

The fans lustily booed three former MVPs -- New England's Tom Brady, Baltimore's Ray Lewis and Dallas' Larry Brown.

Pregame neutral zone

A handful of game officials -- referee Bill Leavy and alternate Undrey Walsh among them -- plus NFL security types stood at the 50-yard line throughout the pregame, enforcing a 5-yard buffer zone on each side to avoid any unnecessary hostilities between the Steelers and Seahawks.

Walsh greeted loquacious Steelers linebacker Joey Porter in particular, exchanging pleasantries, then staying in front of him at the Steelers' 45. Boom microphones and television crews surrounded Porter, who was performing calisthenics alongside fellow linebackers James Farrior and Larry Foote. When Porter soon after spied Seattle third-team tailback Josh Scobey jogging between the Seahawks' 45 and midfield, he called him out, yelling across the NFL-mandated barrier area for violating the neutral turf. Scobey moved downfield seconds later.

About that point, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ran up to Porter and seemed to calm him some.

It wasn't a hard and fast line in the turf, though. Receiver Antwaan Randle El crossed midfield to offer a pregame hug and a handshake to Seattle coach Mike Holmgren.

Seahawks' early rise and fall

From the get-go, the Seattle offense grabbed control of the clock, if not the game. The Seahawks mustered the first five downs of the game, and the Steelers failed to record their first until four minutes into the second quarter. The Seahawks held the football for 10:30 of the first 15 minutes, and then nearly 4:30 of the opening seven minutes of the second quarter. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck completed eight of his first 11 attempts, 9 of 13, and a gaudy 14 of 19 -- for 118 yards.

Then it all changed.

Hasselbeck tossed a 40-yard pass to Darrell Jackson, who already caught a Super Bowl record-tying five passes in the first quarter, with two more, including a touchdown, getting nullified by penalties. Jackson could have scored a touchdown on that corner route with 48 seconds remaining before halftime, but when he altered his route to catch the ball he only put one foot in bounds -- stepping with his other foot clearly on the sideline, rendering it incomplete.

The Seahawks only got off two more plays in the half, frittering away 35 seconds of clock time while Hasselbeck called an audible. They took so much time, the Steelers called a timeout with 13 seconds to set their defense. Hasselbeck threw out of bounds for Jackson again, and Josh Brown pushed right a 54-yard field-goal try that, if successful, would've tied the Super Bowl record of Buffalo's Steve Christie in a losing effort in XXVIII.

Boo, Part II

After letting it fly during the pregame show for those former Super Bowl MVPs they viewed as nemeses, Steelers fans inside Ford Field expressed their discontent over a misspoken halftime score by Denver radio broadcaster and Super Bowl XL public-address announcer Alan Roach:

"Steelers 3, Seahawks 7."

Boooooo.

Brown out

Maybe the electricity outage back in Seattle from high winds affected his karma, because reliable kicker Josh Brown missed his first two field-goal attempts of the Super Bowl. Both were from 50 yards or more, but that's a makeable distance for him.

A kicker making 7 of 12 attempts from 50-plus in his three-year career, a kicker making 5 of 8 this season, a kicker who converted two from at least 50 in an early season victory against Dallas, 13-10, Brown muffed twice in three and a half minutes of game time last night. He was wide right with a 54-yard try seconds before halftime and then was just left with a 50-yard attempt 3:20 into the third quarter.

Dressed for action

Running back Duce Staley received his Super Bowl bonus even before kickoff last night -- he dressed for the game.

Staley suited up for the first time this postseason, for the first time since Dec. 4 and for only the sixth time this season.

Staley, who turns 31 Feb. 27, was a safety valve because of the knee injury to fullback Dan Kreider. Although listed as probable, if Kreider had any problems during the game, third-down back Verron Haynes was scheduled to replace him at fullback. Staley gave the Steelers another option if Kreider left the game.

Rookie linebacker Rian Wallace, who plays mostly on special teams, was made inactive for the game instead. The rest of the inactives for both teams:

Steelers -- No. 3 QB Tommy Maddox, CB Willie Williams, LB Arnold Harrison, G Chris Kemoeatu, OT Trai Essex, WR Lee Mays, DE Shaun Nua.

Seahawks -- No. 3 QB David Greene, CB Michael Harden, FB Leonard Weaver, OT Wayne Hunter, OT Ray Willis, DE Robert Pollard, TE Itula Mili, DT Rodney Bailey.

Quick hits

Bob Waggoner, who served as the back judge in the game, is a Pittsburgh native and played linebacker at Juniata College from 1969 through 1972.

Steelers halfback Willie Parker's 75-yard run on the second play from scrimmage after halftime was the longest running play in Super Bowl history, eclipsing Marcus Allen's 74-yard run on Washington in Super Bowl XVIII.