Sandy delays Steelers’ arrival in New York

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Steelers are turning their visit to New York this weekend to face the Giants into a day trip.

The Steelers will leave for New York on Sunday morning and depart Sunday evening. NFL teams are required to travel the day before a game. The league allowed the Steelers to alter their plans because the hotel the team is booked to stay at in Jersey City was still without power as of Thursday afternoon in the wake of super-storm Sandy, which ravaged the New York area earlier this week.

Pittsburgh will fly at 9 a.m. on Sunday and arrive in New York about 90 minutes later, well ahead of the scheduled 4:25 p.m. kickoff. The team will charter home later Sunday night.

The game matches two of the NFL’s oldest and most storied franchises, and right now, two of the most successful. In the past seven seasons, the teams have combined to win four Super Bowls, with keys to those championships being two young quarterbacks taken in the first 11 picks of the 2004 draft — Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger.

Manning was taken No. 1 by San Diego and traded to New York. The Steelers gobbled up Roethlisberger with the 11th pick overall, and neither team has had reason to complain.

Manning and Roethlisberger will face off for only third time in their nine-year careers when the Giants (6-2) put their four-game winning streak on the line against the Steelers (4-3) at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

Giants captain Justin Tuck says the franchises have a lot in common. “I think it comes down from the top,” said the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end. “You talk about the Rooneys, the Maras and the Tischs, and it’s kind of filters from the top. You have two franchise quarterbacks. You have teams that have been known for their defence. It’s two tough-minded franchises that know how to win football games.”