NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's annual Super Bowl media briefing Friday mirrored daily headlines within the country's current financial climate, focusing on economic, job and labor issues.

And he disagreed strongly with the players union's contentions this week via a union-commissioned analysis that the league is in robust fiscal health, as a possible uncapped season looms in 2010 and, potentially, a lockout afterward, with the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.

"There's a lot of fiction in that report," Goodell said of the NFL Players Association document, which states that teams, on average, made $24.7 million in profit. "That report is not accurate."

The NFL's chief concerns in what the commissioner dubbed "a difficult period" are that its business partners are going through difficult times and fans have less disposable income. The league and individual teams already have cut jobs to pare costs and have worked together to keep season-ticket prices stable to battle those issues.

But the biggest looming issue is possible labor strife.

Owners opted out of the CBA in May, and a new agreement must be in place by March 2010, or else the union is threatening to ditch the salary cap completely. The NFLPA also has vowed not to budge on the nearly 60 percent it receives in revenues.

But Goodell argued that the financial landscape has changed, with the league and ownership incurring the costs of investing in and operating stadiums, which are "significant costs and risks," and that "adjustments need to be made to continue to grow our . . . game."

The union has countered that if the league is in such financial peril, it should completely open its books - something Goodell and the owners decline to do, saying the union already knows the revenues, based on their sharing agreement, and is well-versed in the NFL's largest expenditure - player costs.

"We don't have to open the books for everyone to evaluate that," Goodell said, adding that he's "optimistic" that common ground can be found before the 2011 season.

Show of emotion

Well before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Cardinals fullback Terrelle Smith will approach an end-zone pylon, go to a knee and utter a prayer that his mother taught him. The pregame words pay homage to the loved ones he has lost, while asking for protection.

The gesture has been a part of his pregame routine since 2004, when his father, Otis, whom he credits for providing him life's foundation and helping him forge his work ethic, passed away of bone-marrow cancer at age 63.

The prayer takes on special resonance these days. His mother, Sheryll, died Dec. 10 after a long battle with breast cancer.

She was 56.

"It's very emotional. It hurts, man. And I don't want to tell everyone this and that, but it's me. And if you want to know me, it's me," Smith said of the loss of his parents within a four-year span.

"I'm human like anybody else. I have emotions. I have hurt, pain, agony. I feel defeated sometimes, because I'm a young man just trying to go from day to day and with the tragedy," he said. "I have to find a way to turn it around and use it to my advantage. I feel, sometimes, it's not fair that my parents had to leave the Earth so young due to illness. But I continue to work. And it's something I can't control."

In April, Smith's mother told him he'd be playing in one of the "biggest games in Arizona's history . . . a bowl game" and be a big part of it. She added that her son then would "dedicate it to your father."

"She said that many, many a time," Smith said.

Now it could become a dedication to both his late parents.

"It's divine intervention," the fullback said. "I think God blessed her with the vision. You can't say she was a fortuneteller or anything like that. It just shows me God is real."

A fearsome foursome

There's a measure of responsibility that comes with following the likes of Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Joey Porter and others at a single position.

"It comes with being a part of the Steelers' defense," said James Harrison, the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. "It's the first thing you think."

Since 1969, 16 Steelers linebackers have made the Pro Bowl.

This year's group constantly has been reminded of that history, as pictures of some of those Pittsburgh greats loom large at the team's practice facility back home.

Harrison and fellow outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley and inside linebackers James Farrior, Larry Foote and Lawrence Timmons have accounted for 381/2 of a team-record 51 regular-season sacks, helping build on Pittsburgh's tradition at that spot.

"We're the No. 1 group," Woodley said. "You look at the numbers all across the board we put up this year, they're high numbers."

But the ultimate measure comes Sunday, he said.

"How we finish this game, that's what will put us down in the history books."

Etc.

* Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said before practice Friday that Ben Roethlisberger "is fine," amid reports that the quarterback had a second X-ray of his injured ribs this week. Receiver Hines Ward (knee) also remains on track to play.

* Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler had a short introductory meeting with the NFL commissioner after Goodell's news conference.

* The Cardinals completed their second weeklong stay at a foreign practice facility with their Friday workout. Arizona stayed in the Washington, D.C., area between September games against the Redskins and New York Jets.

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