Steelers coach Mike Tomlin used the Bucs as a barometer for his Steelers to play strong defense in the Super Bowl this past February.

Joe regularly bangs the drum for the NFL Network. Simply put, if you do not have the NFL Network, you are not a man.

There are no excuses. You are the subject of a Sam Kinison bit. You are the inspiration for an outburst by Don Vito Corleone.

Rarely a day goes by that Joe does not watch the NFL Network at some point (added advantage: Stacey Dales debuted with her new NFL Network gig Wednesday).

Last night the newest edition of America’s Game premiered, highlighting the 2008 Steelers. This series is an hour-long documentary for each Super Bowl-winning team and may be the best thing ever produced by NFL Films which is saying a lot.

Naturally, Joe buried himself in his leather couch and watched. While Joe is well-aware that Mike Tomlin was the Bucs secondary coach when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, Joe wasn’t aware Tomlin challenged the Steelers to be like the Bucs.

This was all documented in the America’s Game segment of the 2008 Steelers.

Just before the Super Bowl, the Steelers practiced at USF. The Steelers were getting a lot of interceptions in practice but weren’t returning the interceptions for touchdowns.

That night, Tomlin explained, he put together a highlight reel of the Steelers not returning interceptions and mixed in the Bucs returning three interceptions against the Raiders in the Bucs Super Bowl win.

 The next day, Tomlin showed the highlight reel to the Steelers defense and told them, “When I coached with the Bucs we returned three interceptions in the Super Bowl. That was a great defense. If you want to be great, you have to return at least one, possibly two and it may take three to win this game.”

“It inspired us,” Steelers safety Troy Polamalu said of Tomlin’s Bucs Super Bowl highlights.

Then the show detailed why NFL Films is such a great production company. It first showed a clip of Tomlin joking with John Lynch during the Bucs Super Bowl that the Bucs defense was getting too greedy.

It next showed a clip, taken just after James Harrison’s 99-yard interception return for a score that ended the first half and proved to be the pivotal play of the game. Steelers linebacker James Woodley was woofing to whoever would listen how great the Steelers defense was as Woodley trotted off the field.

Tomlin walked up to him, held up three fingers and said, “The last time I was in this game the team I was with returned three. That was a great defense.”