It was not much of a stretch for most ardent observers to picture the Pittsburgh Steelers offense generating six touchdown drive en route to a blowout victory over the 49ers, which is exactly what happened yesterday. It was a little harder to predict the level of physicality that the defense was able to muster through much of the night.
Years back, outside linebacker James Harrison once caught heat for claiming that he wanted to hurt opponents, distinguishing hurt from injure. To hurt an opponent is to bruise him both physically and mentally, making him feel every hit, and sapping his will to run the ball up the middle.