Super Bowl notebook: Pouncey might play

FORT WORTH, Texas - Players who are carted off usually don't return. But the Steelers are holding out hope that one of their guys who had to be carted to the Super Bowl will be able to play on Sunday.

Rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, who suffered a high-ankle sprain and what coach Mike Tomlin yesterday said "could be characterized as" a fracture in last week's AFC title game against the Jets, has not been ruled out. He did, however, come off the team plane in North Texas with the help of crutches and then had to take a golf cart to the team bus.

If Pouncey doesn't play, Doug Legursky would make his first career start at center in the Super Bowl. That didn't seem to bother Tomlin, especially after the way Legursky played against the Jets.

"Maurkice didn't get hurt on the last play of the AFC Championship Game, if you know what I mean," Tomlin said.

Steelers go with the Flo

Offensive tackle Flozell Adams has a reputation as a player who often crosses the line to illegal acts on the field. Giants fans know him best for his run-ins with Justin Tuck.

But the Steelers see him in a different light. Many of the players have suggested that they are trying to win this Super Bowl for Adams, who spent 12 seasons with the Cowboys and won only one playoff game. Adams is so revered by his teammates that the offensive linemen traveled to North Texas wearing throwback Michigan State jerseys with Adams' name and number.

"It's like an embrace kind of thing for them to show appreciation that they think of you that much, to get the old-school jerseys," Adams said. "It took me by surprise."