Joe Cool almost became a Steeler. Oh mercy what a time that would have been.

Former San Francisco 49′ers great, Joe Montana wanted to become a Pittsburgh Steeler in the twilight years of his career.  That’s right, Joe Cool wanted to spend the last several years of his career back in Pittsburgh for a truly storybook ending.  Except there was one problem, the Steelers didn’t want him.

In a recent interview on the Dan Patrick Show and subsequent write up by Arrowhead Addict, Montana stated his desire to finish out his future Hall of Fame career within earshot of his hometown of New Eagle, PA.  However, while the 49′ers were shopping him out, the Steelers did not have a desire to take the 4x Super Bowl Winner, 3x Super Bowl MVP Champion, and 7x (soon to be 8x) Pro Bowl Selection.  Whaaaaaaaaaaa???????

That’s right.  The Rooney’s and Tom Donahoe (then Director of Football Operations, aka GM) decided to stick with their current quarterback who was coming off of his own Pro Bowl year – Neil O’Donnell.  :rubbing eyes:  :shaking head:  :rubbing eyes:  blink blink blink…..

It’s hard to fathom that an organization would even think for .01 seconds of not trading for someone with Montana’s resume – even if he only had a few good years left in his career.  As I mentioned, the young O’Donnell was just coming off of his first (and only) Pro Bowl season.  Strangely, the Steeler organization decided that was enough to pass on Montana even though O’Donnell was 2-6 just the season before.  Montana lasted for two more seasons in the league as a Chief.  He took them to the playoffs both times and even to the AFC Championship game in the ’93 season.

O’Donnell’s career would pay some divedens by staying with the Steelers.  O’Donnell would lose to Montana and the Chiefs in 1993 during their playoff duel.  He took the Steelers to the AFC Championship and lost to the Chargers in ’94.  After then, Montana retired and hung up the cleats forever.  O’Donnell stayed with the Steelers for only one more season himself and took the Steelers to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1980.  The Steelers lost to the Cowboys in a very disappointing Super Bowl performance.  Steeler fans were left with a bitter taste for O’Donnell, who threw a key interception late in the game in what would have been a drive to take the lead.  He moved on to the Jets during free agency the following off season being the bad ass QB he was (please note the sarcasm…..).

At a time when the Steelers playoff hopes are in dire straights this season, it’s hard not to dwell on the good ol’ days and think ‘what might have been’ were Montana to join the Steelers in 1993.  Would he have played more seasons than just two?  Would the Steelers have added one for the thumb and then some?  O’Donnell was a bit of a sore spot on that Steeler roster with hot and cold games.  Perhaps NFL history would have been written a little differently if we ever saw Joe Cool in a black and gold uniform.

Damn you Donahoe……

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5. 1972 Steelers

(11-3)

Lost in Conference Championship Game to Miami (21-17)

After a 5-9 finish in 1970 and a 6-8 finish in 1971, the new and improved Steelers under Chuck Noll appeared ready for a breakout season in 1972, and set their sights on a postseason berth. When you talk about seasons where one can pinpoint exactly where a franchise’s fortunes change for the better, it would be 1972 for the Steelers, and boy was the rebuilding process finally headed in the right direction.  After 40 years of almost perpetual losing, and not even a postseason victory to their names, the Steelers of 1972 changed the culture of the franchise.  Three terrific years of drafting by Noll sprinkled in with some veteran holdovers from the 60’s such as Ray Mansfield and Andy Russell finally blossomed into an 11-3 season, and the franchise’s first ever Division title.

The Offense was of course a ground-based attack, and was led by 1972′s 1st Round Draft pick and future Hall of Famer Franco Harris.  Harris earned Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and paced the team with 1,055 Yards rushing and 11 total Touchdowns (10 Rush and 1 Reception).  Veterans Frenchy Fuqua and Preston Pearson also shouldered some of the load and rushed for a combined 929 Yards and 4 TD’s (Fuqua: 665 Yards and 4 TD’s, Pearson: 264 Yards).

Yet during a season where the Steelers finished 2nd in the League in Rushing Yards, 3rd year Quarterback Terry Bradshaw showed some marked improvement.  Bradshaw threw 12 TD’s compared to only 12 INT’s with 1,887 Yards Passing and a career-high 346 on the ground with 7 TD’s in 1972.  While those are not necessarily “sexy” totals, they were good considering the fact that he threw 46 Picks combined during his first two seasons and was a turnover machine early in his career.  While Ron Shanklin and Frank Lewis were not a “Stallworth and Swann duo,” they still put up respectable stats for the team (Lewis: 27 Catches for 391 yards and 5 TD’s, Shanklin: 38 Catches for 669 Yards and 3 TD’s), and complimented the Steelers’ ground game enough to rank the Steelers 5th in the League in Total Points for the year.

’72 also saw the beginnings of the “Steel Curtain” Defense, as the unit ranked 2nd in the League in fewest Points Allowed (175) and 1st in fewest Rushing TD’s Allowed (6).  “Mean Joe” Greene, Dwight White, and Andy Russell made the Pro Bowl, and 2nd year Linebacker Jack Ham led the team with 7 INT’s.  The Defense was a turnover driven unit and finished with a League leading +22 Turnover margin, as the Secondary of Mike Wagner (6 INT’s), Glen Edwards (1 INT), Mel Blount (3 INT’s), and John Rowser (4 INT’s) were ball-hawks to be reckoned with that season.

The team started the season a tad sluggish at 2-2 and lost a close game to the defending Champion Cowboys in Week 4 at Texas Stadium.  Yet after the Dallas game, the Steelers reeled off Wins in 9 of their next 10 games to finish the season with an 11-3 record, and avenged their only Loss during the stretch when they beat Cleveland 30-0 in Week 12.  The stage was set for a Divisional Playoff showdown between the Steelers and Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium.

Harris' catch and run is arguably one of the greatest plays in N.F.L. history. Image Courtesy of sportsillustrated.cnn.com

After the Steelers let a 6-0 lead slip through their fingers when Ken Stabler ran for a 30 Yard TD, it did not look good for the Steelers.  But I guess December 23, 1972 was just the Steelers day, because from his own 40 Yard Line, Terry Bradshaw uncorked a pass over the middle which changed football history forever.  I don’t think that I need to refresh anyone on what happened next, so I will let the picture to the right here illustrate the ridiculous combination of luck, hustle, and overall awesomeness do the talking for me:

Because of the N.F.L.’s then-wacky postseason format, the Steelers got to play the Conference Title game at home the following week against the 15-0 Dolphins which had beaten Cincinnati the week before.  The Steelers appeared to be riding high off of “The Immaculate Reception” and the subsequent 13-7 victory, actually raced to an early lead against Miami.  Yet a brilliantly planned and executed Fake Punt-Run by Larry Seiple of the Dolphins swung momentum Miami’s way, and the Steelers eventually lost the game 21-17 in spite of their valiant effort.

Pittsburgh likely would have beat Washington in Super Bowl VII the following week had they won, and it could have been a cherry on top of a “Cinderella Season” had the Steelers advanced to the title game and won.  Still, 1972 was the ultimate “building block” year of the franchise because it paved the way for four decades of greatness which we have witnessed ever since.

4. 2010 Steelers

(12-4)

Lost in Super Bowl XLV to Green Bay (31-25)

The 2010 season looked doomed before it began as 2x Super Bowl winning QB Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for the first four games of the regular season because of some “restroom indiscretions” with a woman of in Milledgeville, Georgia.  Add to that the fact that the Steelers became the “poster-boys” for Roger Goodell’s crusade to eliminate physical football and all its remnants from the League, and cover his and the League’s behinds from future law suits in the process.  Yet this 2010 team seemed to only respond to hard times as they rode to a 3-1 record during Ben’s absence (kudos to Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon), a 12-4 regular season record, an A.F.C. North title, and an A.F.C. crown.

In spite of Big Ben’s absence, a make-shift Offensive Line (aside from Rookie Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey), and Bruce Arians’ questionable play-calling, the Offense performed quite well when you consider the circumstances and their production.  Running Back Rashard Mendenhall set career highs in Carries (324), Rushing Yards (1,273), and Touchdowns (13), and totaled 1,440 Yards from scrimmage.  Backup Isaac Redman had 2 TD catches, and none more famous than his all-around stellar catch and run to win the game and Division against Baltimore in December of that season.

2010 also illustrated how terrific the Steelers’ Wide Receiving corps was.  2nd year man Mike Wallace stepped in for the recently departed San-smokio Holmes and caught 60 Passes for 1,257 Yards and 10 Touchdowns.  Between Wallace, the crafty veteran Hines Ward, Rookies Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown, and Tight End Heath Miller the Steelers had quite the group of pass-catchers as Ben threw for 3,200 Yards and 17 TD’s in 12 regular season games.

Yet what I will always remember about 2010 was how incredible the Defense played that season.  As a unit, the Steelers finished 1st in Points Allowed, 2nd in Total Yards Allowed, 2nd in Turnover Margin with +17, and 1st in all major categories against the Run (Fewest Yards, Fewest Attempts, and Fewest Touchdowns).

This is "Steelers Football" in 2010 at its best. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

Inside Linebacker Lawrence Timmons got jobbed when he did not get a Pro Bowl berth, but he was a “Tackling Machine” like the fictional Bobby Boucher in 2010.  Timmons led the team with 134 Tackles, grabbed 2 INT’s, had 10 Passes Defended, and 3.0 Sacks.  Not to be outdone, the ageless James Farrior had his best season since 2004 and made 109 Tackles and 6.0 Sacks as the Steelers’ Inside Linebackers formed the most reliable duo in the League that season.  Undeterred by the League’s campaign to thwart him, Harrison still notched 100 Tackles and 10.5 Sacks as him and LaMarr Woodley (10.0 Sacks) had 10.0+ Sacks apiece during the regular season for the third time as teammates.

The Defensive Line played just as stellar as all the units as Casey Hampton, Ziggy Hood and Pro Bowler Brett Keisel stood firm and allowed the play-makers to do what they do best. The real star of the Defense in 2010 was Troy Polamalu as he earned Defensive M.V.P. honors that year.  Polamalu was a one-man-wrecking crew from his Strong Safety spot and made 7 INT’s on the season to go with highlight reel defensive play after highlight reel defensive play.

The Steelers had an incredible comeback win over the Ravens in the Divisional Round, and then held on for dear life and eventually prevailed over the Jets the following week for the A.F.C. crown.  The only thing which stood between Pittsburgh and their 7th Super Bowl title were the hot Wild-Card Green Bay Packers.  Unfortunately for the Steelers, Super Bowl XLV was simply not their day as they committed too many costly mistakes, and the Packers to their credit capitalized on them when they needed to do it.

2010 was almost a glorious “Eff You” season to Roger Goodell and the rest of his cronies throughout the League.  I know that I would have paid top dollar to see the look on Goodell’s face had he been forced to give the Lombardi Trophy to the Steelers, but it just did not happen.  Regardless, this 12-4 team played consistent football at an extremely high level through the entire season.  Had this group just taken it one step further, you could argue that this team would have been the best one in franchise history over the last quarter century.

(more…)

As regular readers of NPC surely expect, this is where I’d usually post some random news and/or talk a little smack about our upcoming opponents. Considering this week’s game is against longtime rival the Dallas Cowboys, I’m sure many of you thought I’d unveil a masterpiece along the lines of “29 Reasons Pittsburgh Is Better Than Dallas” or “Top Ten Venereal Diseases Tony Romo Has Contracted From Skanky Blondes.”

Sorry to disappoint.

I tried to do something like that but my heart wasn’t in it. Don’t misunderstand, I hate the Cowboys, more than any team not from Cleveland or coached by a hoodie wearing douchebag. But at the same time, I also have to respect them. When you look at the NFL, there are really two teams which stand out as the crown jewel franchises. One of course is the Steelers while the only other choice has to be the Cowboys.

Whenever a team is successful, you’ll find a segment of the country jumping on the bandwagon trying to feel like winners. This allegiance is always short-lived, ending as soon as said team stops winning Super Bowls. In the late 80s, 49er gear was all over the place. Has anybody bought red and gold merchandise in over a decade? When Green Bay and Denver had their brief moments in the spotlight, they garnered a smattering of nationwide support but most of that was pity and none of it was sustained over the years. As for the most dominant team of the 00s, nobody outside of New England cares one iota about the Pats except to hate them.

The only two truly national franchises are the Steelers and Cowboys. The Cowboys call themselves “America’s Team” and while that bit of hyperbole is typical of an arrogant organization, it is also true you’re just as likely to find a Cowboy fan in Bangor, Maine or Butte, Montana as in Dallas, Texas. Likewise, Steeler Nation extends far and wide as is evidenced by the waves of Black and Gold which invade road stadiums in numbers like no other.

So why do I hate them? Why can’t I establish mutual respect and leave it at that? Why does Batman hate the Joker? Why does Superman enjoy punching Lex Luthor in the mouth? Why?

Because we are the same but opposite. One is summer while the other is the winter. One is light while the other is dark. One is good while the other is evil. I think you can figure out which is which.

The Steelers are and have always been a blue collar team which emphasizes gritty nose to the grindstone hard-work. The Cowboys are and have always been prime time flash and dash glitzy Hollywood red carpet superstars. In fact, they’ve had players named Prime Time and Hollywood.

The Steelers have always been about the whole being more than the sum of the parts. To quote the wise Mr. Spock, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.” We’ve never had a situation where one specific player is our whole franchise. We never make one player the centerpiece of an entire team. That’s all Dallas ever does. Theirs is a culture of individualism. They’ll find a great RB or a great LB or a great QB but when that player goes down (as Romo did this year or Terrell Owens did last year), the team immediately falls apart. No wonder their fans wanted Bill Cowher and his belief in the team to come and save them earlier this year.

The Cowboys are owned by an irritating jackass of a man who insists on being the team’s General Manager.  Jerry Jones shameless self-promotion stands in stark contrast to the quiet dignity exuded by one of the most respected owners in all of sports, Dan Rooney. This is no doubt why the Cowboys have experienced over a half dozen coaching changes since 1993 while we’ve had one. Their meddlesome owner is at the root of their Machiavellian “win at all costs” strategy. He will bring in any player, regardless of character or past misdeeds, if he thinks it will help them win. Locker room cancers (T.O), gun-toting maniacs (Tank Johnson), and stripper beating miscreants (Pacman Jones) are all welcome in Big D. The Steelers systematically rid themselves of such players, even if they’re supremely talented, such as in the case of Plaxico Burress, an undeniably superior WR whose pea-brained antics continue to embarrass his team to this day.

Tony Romo knows he has crossed over to the Dark Side. That’s why he recently tried to cleanse his karma by taking a foul-smelling bum to the movies. Sure, this isn’t nearly as impressive as Ben Roethlisberger using Jedi Mind Tricks to talk a crazed gunmen out of bustin’ a cap in his ass but it was nice of him to pay it forward since nobody has been luckier these past few years than ‘ol Tony. Besides, what’s so impressive about sitting next to a homeless pan-handler? He let Britney Spears sit on his lap so obviously he’s not put off by strange odors.

Look, here’s the moral of the story. Sometimes good wins but occasionally evil is triumphant. Like in Super Bowl XXX where coke-snorting Mike Irvin and his band of whoring madmen handed the Steelers their lone Super Bowl defeat when Christian gentlemen/future astroturf salesman Neil O’Donnell was paid off by Jerry Jones threw two badly timed interceptions. They’re still paying for that win as they’ve never won another. Hopefully when Good emerges victorious this week, we’ll set their playoff hopes back enough to add another year to that penance.

Winning cures all ills and the Cincinnati Bengals have typified that over the Marvin Lewis era. After the 2005 season, Lewis was praised as a savior for the Bengals organization despite his players’ constant run-ins with the law.  And if winning cures all the ills, losing amplifies all of the ills and after an 8-8 season in which the Bengals blew chance after chance to make the playoffs, gripes about Lewis’ coaching style started to surface. After a tumultuous 7-9 season in 2007, the honeymoon was clearly over and Lewis is probably in his last season with Cincinnati. Unless of course, he wins.

Unfortunately, this has all of the makings of a disaster season as the defense made the grave mistake of hiring Mike Zimmer to be the defensive coordinator. They also have the Chad Johnson fiasco, which likely will not end well. But for all of the talk of getting rid of Lewis, one has to wonder whom they will get to replace him and do a better job. Who will be good enough to work with a cheap owner in Mike Brown and take over a roster filled with criminals, troublemakers, and malcontents?

STEELER DEFENSE vs. BENGALS OFFENSE

QB Carson Palmer has been ruled out of the game.  So the duties will fall to 4th year back-up Ryan Fitzpatrick.  Fitz played his college ball at that football powerhouse, Harvard.   I might not know much about him but I’m guessing he can kick your ass on the S.A.T.s.  Speaking of which, he’s probably most famous for the urban rumor that he scored a perfect 50 on the Wonderlic test in only nine minutes thus beating Vince Young by 44 points.  I was recently given a chance to share my wealth of Steeler knowledge on a Bengal website so I’ll return the favor and give him a chance to tell us about this Ryan fellow.

Anyway, in two games he’s accumulated a stunning QB rating of 57.7 which is hard to believe because, like the S.A.T.s, you get 75 points just for showing up.  He’s thrown one TD pass this year despite having some decent receivers and no semblance of a running game so I wouldn’t be too optimistic about how he’ll fare against our PH.D of D Dick Lebeau and his exotic schemes.

The running game has been so bad that they went out and signed Party Animal Cedric Benson.  The Bears had enough of him after his 2nd DUI in as many months but evidently no crime is too horrible and no rap sheet is too long for the Bungles.  Benson hasn’t done much this year as he’s working himself back into game shape.  The nominal starter is Chris Perry, who the astute Cincinnati management liked so much they got rid of Rudi Johnson during the preseason.  Perry’s responded to being handed the job by stinking out the joint, fumbling 5 times this season while averaging a miserable 2.6 YPC and cracking the 50 yard barrier only once this season.

The Bengals use a 3 WR, 1 TE scheme and usually leave the tight end in for pass blocking help. They did this with Reggie Kelly over the years, but now have Ben Utecht to take over Kelly’s old duties.  Of course this didn’t save Carson Palmer from getting creamed earlier this year.  The Steelers will definitely be able to get pressure on the QB and with a young inexperienced guy back there, responding to that pressure will require a Herculean effort.

The Steelers have been coy about the returns of NT Fats Hampton and DE Bret Keisel.  Not to downgrade these excellent players but the defense was more than fine without them as Chris Hoke, Travis Kirschke, and Nick Eason formed a solid line in their absence.  They held the hard-running Jaguars to only 50 yards on the ground and now they’re going against a team that can’t run the ball at all.  You do the math.

Cincinnati will have to throw the ball, early and often.  Luckily for them, good WRs they do have.  Chad Uno (TD catches this year) is the speed guy and it’s tough to argue with a guy who has finished 2nd, 5th and 6th in WR DPAR in the last three seasons.  He wanted out of Cincy last year and Mike Brown refused to trade him and take an $8 million cap hit.  He’s clearly moved on to plan B, the Randy Moss Scenario, where he has decided to play like crap so the team will give up on him after this year.  The Bengals are fortunate to have another superstar receiver in TJ Houshmandzadeh on the other side of the field from Uno.  While Housh is the “hands” of the team, he’s nowhere near as fast as Johnson, but he’s much bigger and has really good speed for his size.

Our secondary Triple Threat of Ike Taylor, Bryant McFadden, and Deshea Townshend has played very well all year long.  As long as they show up to play this Sunday things should be under control although mental lapses of any kind and the Bengals do have the players to hurt you.  They also have the players to steal, rape, punch, and drunkenly crash into you but that’s another story.

STEELER OFFENSE vs. BENGALS DEFENSE

Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is a 3-4 coach but due to personnel has been forced to stick with Marvin Lewis’ favored 4-3 scheme.  The Bengals are one of those teams who love to use a lot of Cover 2 zone.  Over the years, they have struggled heavily against the run. Here’s how their average yards allowed per carry have looked under Marvin Lewis:

2003……..4.8
2004……..4.4
2005……..4.3
2006……..4.2
2007……..4.2

Fast Willie Parker was set to make his return this Sunday and licking his lips over the chance to run against that defense.  He already has four 100 yard games against them and would very likely add a fifth this weekend.  Then he stepped in a hole.   Yes, you read that right.  A first class, professionally run organization which spares no expense in strength, conditioning, and rehabilitation equipment for their players has evidently lost a key player to injury because of a POTHOLE.

I have no idea who the Steelers employ to take care of both Heinz and their practice fields but they should be fired immediately.   Meanwhile, Mewelde Moore, who offense coordinator Bruce Arians didn’t seem to realize was on this team until two weeks ago, has performed tremendously in FWP’s absence.  It looks like he’ll be given the featured back role once again this Sunday.   Hopefully he’ll have the same success he had against the much stouter-against-the-run Jaguars.

With Zimmer running the defense, Ben Roethlisberger can almost breathe a sigh of relief this week.  The Cowboys went from 34 sacks under Zimmer in 2006 to 46 sacks under Wade Phillips in 2007 because of different philosophies as the players stayed the same.  Expect a very conservative defense that will likely blitz only in very obvious or very safe situations.  The linebacker position for the Bengals is in disarray as the only player solid at a position is rookie Keith Rivers, an explosive weakside backer. Odell Thurman was a trouble-maker who’s not playing for them anymore. He won my defensive rookie of the year award in 2005, even over Lofa Tatupa, so it’s sad when you think how good he once was.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Big Ben is going to take some sacks no matter how good of a line we put in front of him because of his tendency to hold the ball and his belief that he can escape any situation to make a big play.  As such, I think the baseline for sacks/game is about 3.  Even with minimal pressure and good blocking, Ben is going to go down several times a game simply because of his playing style.

WRs Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes should still be able to find room out there and make a few plays.  I’d also look for TE Heath Miller to have his first big game of the year.  With their lack of pass rush and weak LB corp, he’ll be able release off the line and roam around in open space a lot more often this week than in previous ones.

One the surface, the winless Bengals don’t seem to have much going for them.  But as we saw last week when two 0-fer teams got their first victories, a hungry and desperate NFL team is a dangerous NFL team.   Also, for as bleak as the future looks, other than a terrible effort against the Titans, Cincinnati has played competitively almost every week.  Three of their losses have been by a TD or less and they took the World Champion Giants to OT.  Even if Ocho Bozo has given up, it doesn’t appear the team as a whole has.  No matter what the year, what the record, or who the QB, be it Neil O’Donnell, Jon Kitna, or Jeff Blake, the Bengals usually play the Steelers tough.  With some of the hardest games of the year on the horizon, let’s hope this week isn’t one where the Black and Gold look past their opponent and fall into a trap.