Enjoy these Super Bowl XLIII champion Steelers for a few more days, a few more hours only.

Come Free Agency and the draft by April's end, that team will no longer exist.

"You won't hear me say 'repeat' or 'defending,' because it's brand new [from here]," the second-year Steelers coach said yesterday morning, barely 10 hours after the Steelers' dramatic, come-from-behind, 27-23 victory against Arizona at Raymond James Stadium. "This group will always be special to me. Sometime soon, that group will assume its place with others in history. And they'll be just that, history.

"The thing I'm going to sell to our Football team, we're not attempting to repeat. That special group of men that were in that locker room last night at the end of that game, that's gone forever. There will be 53 new men in there. A lot of the faces will be the same, but nothing stays the same in this game. Those that remain, the roles will change. Some will ascend, some will descend.

"Our focus will be about being the one at the end of the season. I think repeating and defending Super Bowl championships in today's NFL is something of a misnomer. When I walk down the hallway [at Steelers headquarters] and look at the championships of the Steelers from the '70s, it's the same faces in the same positions on those photos, in terms of the Steel Curtain and so forth. That's not the reality of today's NFL, to be quite honest with you. We'll start with a new group of men -- hopefully a lot of them will be the same."

Tomlin figured to take a couple of days off to take his children to school and spend time with his family, but reshaping the roster awaits.

"My partner, man, [personnel director] Kevin Colbert, he's already starting preparations ... for Free Agency first and then the draft. That's the cycle that is this thing."

Injury report

Not that there's a next game to fret over, but Tomlin reported that defensive captain and linebacker James Farrior injured a groin muscle early in the game but refused to come off. Receiver Nate Washington also got hurt, wearing a sling on his right arm afterward yet saying he refused to leave the field as well.

Farrior, the team's leading tackler, got hurt "end of the first quarter, early second, something like that," Tomlin began. "But James, no way he's coming out of that game. We gave some consideration to relieving him in sub-package Football ... in an effort to try to preserve him in the course of the game, but he would have none of that. He assured us he would be fine.

"This guy is a spectacular leader for us. How he handles his business, how he conducts himself, is the Steeler way. Doesn't say much. A very diligent, detailed worker. He mentors, he challenges, he holds the young guys accountable, and they look up to him. He's a 12-month professional."

For the fans

The coaches and players look forward to sharing the Super Bowl excitement "with our fans," Tomlin said, but he went on to say that outsiders have no conception about the team's connections with its fans -- which gave the Steelers a decided advantage by composing a huge majority of the 70,774 in attendance.

"You know, when you're in other organizations, and I've been in other organizations in this league, you recognize that it's different and you respect it," Tomlin said. "But until you're part of it, you have no idea of the depths of it.

"I mean, it's generational. It's passed down from father to son. It's unbelieveable. I don't know if I can use words to eloquently describe the relationship that this organization has with Steeler Nation. I know the more I get to understand, the more Steeler Nation drives me. I want to give them something exciting. I want to perform for them, I want to win for them, because they're that special."

It's the president calling

Tomlin couldn't quite hear President Barack Obama on the telephone after the game, but would they get a chance to talk before the Steelers make the ceremonial Rose Garden visit?

"I don't know whether or not I'll get a redo," Tomlin said. "Based on what I hear, he's a busy guy.

"Just very surreal, a very humbling experience to be a part of that," Tomlin added of the conversation between the first African-American president and the second African-American coach to win a Super Bowl, two years after Tomlin's mentor and former boss Tony Dungy of Indianapolis. "It's what you dream about. It's amazing not only as a coach, but just as a citizen. It was great ...

"I heard very little, very little of what he said. I let him know that. I said, 'Mr. President, I can't hear what you are saying, I appreciate your call, I appreciate your congratulations,' and I handed the phone back to Mr. [Dan] Rooney."

Pant, pant

The heck with running 100 yards with an interception, 11 Cardinals chasing you and knowing it's all for naught if you don't get to the end zone on the first half's final play.

"I have never been so emotionally drained in my life," Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison said afterward. "I'm just so tired right now, man, I could go to sleep right here."

Quick hits

When a Cleveland reporter at the morning news conference inside the Tampa Convention Center identified himself, Tomlin snorted: "From Cleveland? Hmph." And laughed to himself. ... Tomlin didn't mind the Cardinals' safety on Justin Hartwig's third-down holding penalty in the end zone. In fact, he was about to order punter Mitch Berger on fourth down to run out of the end zone and give Arizona those two points, anyway. "It was a little disappointing," Tomlin added, that the holding call erased a first-down conversion catch by Santonio Holmes. ... He said he expects no coaching staff members to leave, but can't say for sure: "Games like that usually create opportunities for people, I'm not naive. We'll see how that shakes out." ... Commissioner Roger Goodell called the game a "spectacular show" and "a performance for the ages. It's a Steelers night. I think we'll all remember ..."