“Best Steelers Team Of All-Time” Playoffs: Round One

(1) 1975 vs.  (8) 1974

This game was the most rare of the first round, with two teams from consecutive years forced to play against each other.

The ’75 Steelers opened the game with an eight-play, 60-yard drive that saw a fumble by Franco Harris that the offense recovered, and a critical third down conversion where Terry Bradshaw hit tight end Larry Brown for a 17-yard gain.

On 1st and goal at the 10 following a 13-yard run by Harris, Bradshaw found John Stallworth in the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead following a Roy Gerela extra point.

Gerela added onto the lead with a 26-yard field goal with 3:14 left to make it 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. That field goal was set up by a 39-yard run by Harris from their own 48-yard line.

The ’74 Steelers struck back in the second quarter when Bradshaw threw a touchdown pass to Lynn Swann from the 2-yard line right after the two-minute warning to cut the lead to three at the half. A 43-yard pickup by Harris on a sweep helped put the Steelers deep in the red zone.

The ’74 team struck quickly off the second half kickoff, with Bradshaw hitting Brown over the middle for an 18-yard gain on the first play of the half, followed by a 55-yard run by Rocky Bleier that gave them a 1st and goal on the 4.

Harris finished it off, pounding into the end zone from one yard out to give the ’74 Steelers the lead, 14-10.

Off a three-and-out, the ’74 Steelers took the ball on their own 29, looking to expand their lead, but an interception by Mel Blount gave the ’75 team the ball.

Rocky Bleier turned it into a four-yard touchdown run to give the ’75 team the lead, 17-14.

Gerela added a 28-yard field goal with 9:58 to go in the fourth to stretch the lead to 20-14, and they would hold on from there, despite losing the ball on their own 19 with less than a minute remaining.

Joe Gilliam’s pass to Brown in the end zone with 27 seconds left was overthrown, and the battle of the first two Super Bowl champions in team history came to a close.

Harris was the Player of the Game for the ’75 squad, rushing 21 times for 111 yards and catching four passes for 35 yards.

’75 Steelers 20, ’74 Steelers 14  FINAL

 

(4) 1979 vs. (5) 2005

This matchup between the fourth and fifth world championship Steelers teams wasn’t even close.

Terry Bradshaw earned Player of the Game honors, completing 24 of 36 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers with no interceptions, and Franco Harris ran for 80 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown in a 35-3 rout.

Harris also caught five passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. Lynn Swann caught five passes for 104 yards and a touchdown, while John Stallworth caught six for 76 yards.

The ’05 Steelers offense couldn’t hold onto the football with six turnovers. Ben Roethlisberger completed only six of 20 passes for 91 yards and three interceptions.

He was replaced by Tommy Maddox, who didn’t fare much better; He completed only two of seven for 18 yards and another pick.

Jerome Bettis rushed for 55 yards on nine carries, and Antwaan Randle-El had 85 total yards on two catches and a 38-yard gain on an end around in the losing effort.

Donnie Shell led the ’79 defense with five tackles and an interception. Chris Hope and Larry Foote tied for the ’05 team lead with eight tackles apiece.

’79 Steelers 35, ’05 Steelers 3  FINAL

 

(3) 1978 vs. (6) 2008

Roethlisberger overcame being sacked four times and an interception by Mike Wagner to complete 18 of 21 passes for 261 yards to carry the ’08 Steelers to a 16-3 victory in a huge first-round upset.

Both teams struggled running the football as the ’08 team gained only 81 yards on 36 carries, while the ’78 team rushed 34 times for 77 yards.

The ’08 defense frustrated Bradshaw, holding him to only 84 yards passing with two interceptions at the hands of Troy Polamalu and Tyrone Carter. LaMarr Woodley recorded their only sack to go with his three tackles.

Shell and Jack Ham gave a solid effort for the ’78 defense with seven tackles apiece. Shell had two sacks while Ham and Jack Lambert each added one.

The ’78 team’s lone points came on a 38-yard field goal by Roy Gerela with six minutes remaining in the first quarter to give them a 3-0 lead.

The ’08 squad’s five-play, 37-yard drive to open the second quarter was capped by Heath Miller’s 14-yard touchdown catch, which gave them the lead the rest of the way.

The ’08 receivers were plenty busy as Hines Ward caught six passes for 120 yards (including one for 54 yards), and Santonio Holmes caught four passes for 62.

Jeff Reed’s three consecutive field goals from 49, 42, and 33 yards, respectively, closed out the scoring.

’08 Steelers 16, ’78 Steelers 3  FINAL

 

(2) 1972 vs. (7) 2004

The best battle of the first round was fought on the ground, but was won by the foot.

Roy Gerela’s 31-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the game was the deciding score as the ’72 team edged out a 16-13 win.

Both teams were very successful running the football, as Jerome Bettis won Player of the Game honors with 17 rushes for 89 yards and a touchdown. Duce Staley added 93 yards on 12 carries.

The ’72 team ran the ball 41 times for for 169 yards. Franco Harris (a rookie in ’72) rushed for 108 yards on 16 carries, and Preston Pearson ran for 33 yards on only six carries.

The ’72 team dominated the first quarter as Gerela hit the first of his three field goals, and Terry Bradshaw threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dave Smith to jump out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the quarter.

Bradshaw completed only eight of 20 passes for 98 yards; Three of them went to Frank Lewis for 48 yards. Ben Roethlisberger (another rookie) also struggled, completing only seven of 23 passes for 87 yards and an interception by Jack Ham.

Gerela and Jeff Reed traded field goals in the second quarter, giving the ’72 team a 13-3 lead at the half.

Reed’s 27-yard kick with 31 seconds remaining was the lone score of the third quarter, cutting the ’04 team’s deficit to only a touchdown.

Aaron Smith registered one of his two sacks early in the fourth, forcing the ’72 team to punt. Antwaan Randle-El returned the punt across midfield to the 46-yard line, giving them good field position.

On 1st and 10, Staley took a lead draw hand-off for 44 yards, setting up a 1st and Goal at the 2. Bettis did the rest, pounding it in on the next play, and Reed’s extra point tied the game with 10:30 remaining.

The ’72 team got the ball at its own 36 with 6:26 left in the game, and drove 50 yards on 12 plays, with Harris rushing for 29 yards on three carries during the drive.

Bradshaw made the game-saving play on 3rd and 8 at the ’04 team’s 16-yard line, avoiding a sack and scrambling out of bounds to stay in field goal range and set up Gerela’s game-winner.

’72 Steelers 16, ’04 Steelers 13  FINAL

 

(Please Note: All of these game recaps are works of fiction. They are based on simulations conducted at WhatIfSports. They are carried out by random computer simulation and are not at all altered by the author. Ergo, if you don’t like the results, then go do your own simulation! For more information on fantasy simulations and simulation fantasy leagues, please visit www.whatifsports.com.)

Which Steelers Team Is the Best of All Time? Let’s Have a Playoff!

It’s an age-old argument when sports fans delve into the realm of the hypothetical: What if one team from the past were able to play against another years after the fact?

I originally planned on writing an article ranking the top-10 Pittsburgh Steelers teams of all-time, until a friend told me about this amazing website that simulates fantasy sports matchups. It has been used (and sometimes heavily endorsed) by ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons.

Today, thanks to those great folks at WhatIfSports.com, we can come up with a more definitive answer, even if it is based on the hypothetical.

The first thing was to find eight teams that were worthy of selecting for a playoff. Since Pittsburgh has six Super Bowl rings, picking the 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2005, and 2008 teams was the easy part.

Finding the next two eligible teams for the argument would be more difficult. I remembered that a seventh Steelers team reached the Super Bowl; the 1995 team reached Super Bowl XXX, before falling to the Dallas Cowboys.

Four other teams reached the AFC Championship game and fell short: 1972 (the year of the Immaculate Reception), 1975, 1984, and 2004. That left five teams to help decide the final two playoff spots.

I decided to use the one statistic that would transcend decades and offensive eras in order to select the final two teams: scoring differential (points scored minus points allowed). I also used it to dictate the seeding in the tournament.

I discovered that the 1975 team had a scoring differential of 204 points, the most of the five teams and more than five of the the six teams that had already been selected, while the 1972 team had a second-best differential of 168 points.

But was it fair to use two non-championship teams from the same decade? My answer was no.

The final decision was to include the 1972 team, because even though the 1975 team had a higher differential, the 1972 team had a better historical footprint.

They fell to the only undefeated Super Bowl champion in league history, and Franco Harris’s miracle, game-winning catch against the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Playoff game is still considered one of the best ever.

The final team selected was the 2004 team, which went 15-1, with a rookie quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger, and fell to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship, the team that eventually broke their record for most regular season wins in 2007.

The field was complete, and the final seeding was as follows:

1. 1975 (+211 pts.)

2. 1972 (+168 pts.)

3. 1978 (+161 pts.)

4. 1979 (+154 pts.)

5. 2005 (+131 pts.)

6. 2008 (+124 pts.)

7. 2004 (+121 pts.)

8. 1974 (+116 pts.)

Over the next several days, I will feature a series of game recaps based on this fantasy simulation tournament. The final two teams will compete in the completely artificial “Art Rooney Bowl”, for the right to be called the “Best Steelers Team of All-Time.”

I hope everybody enjoys the results, and hopefully Chuck Noll gets some sleep. He’s got a lot of game-planning to do.

Inside the Pittsburgh Steelers Playbook: Effective Play-Calling in 2008

The Pittsburgh Steelers have earned the reputation a team built on the philosophy of running the ball effectively, controlling the clock, and emphasizing an aggressive, blitz-heavy defense.

Last season they made a championship run on the strength of these five plays (four on offense, one on defense) that were consistently effective, although somewhat of a deviation of their aforementioned mantra.

1. Fake Blitz, 1-5-5 Nickel Package

At their own 2-yard line with 18 seconds remaining in the first half of Super Bowl XLIII with a 10-7 lead, the Steelers were in danger of losing the lead going into the half if they couldn’t prevent the Arizona Cardinals from scoring.

Facing a three-receiver set with Kurt Warner in the shotgun and Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin split out to the left, the Steelers countered with a nickel package that featured one lineman (Brett Keisel), five linebackers (James Harrison, Larry Foote, Lamarr Woodley, James Farrior, and Lawrence Timmons) and five defensive backs.

This funky nickel look placed seven defenders in the box with the addition of safety Ryan Clark, giving the heavy indication of a blitz. But with the craftiness of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, the question was: which players would be blitzing?

The play developed quickly as five of the seven men rushed as expected, but Farrior and Harrison faked the pass rush and dropped back into coverage, Harrison in the flat to Warner’s left and Farrior over the middle.

Warner, seeing the blitz up the middle, but not Harrison off to his left, tried to hit Boldin on a quick slant underneath.

Harrison read Warner, jumped the route, and 100 yards later, scampered into Super Bowl history.

2. Bunch Formation – O Bunch F Peel 62 F Split Em Sink (or a similar variation)

Granted, the Steelers ran a number of plays from this set in their two-minute drill and third down packages, but this particular example was most effective for short-to-medium yardage gains.

Lined up in the Bunch formation (often referred to by Steelers’ radio announcer Bill Hillgrove as the “Banana Bunch”), the “Y” receiver (Hines Ward) lines up on the line of scrimmage to the right of the formation.

Meanwhile, the “F” receiver (Heath Miller) lines up off the line to his left, and the “Z” receiver (Nate Washington) lines up off the line to his right, creating a triangle formation between the three of them.

Santonio Holmes, the “X” receiver, lines up on the line of scrimmage to the left of the formation, with a single running back (often Mewelde Moore) in the backfield behind Ben Roethlisberger.

Before the snap, Miller motions in a “peel”, pinching across the formation, only to stop at Roethlisberger and shuffle back to his original position. After the snap, he runs a seven-yard stop route.

Holmes has the option route, running a skinny post if the cornerback gives him a cushion off the line. Otherwise, he runs a fade route against press coverage, or a 16-yard in route against a Cover-2.

Washington runs a five-yard quick out route toward the sideline, providing an outlet against a strong-side blitz, while Ward runs a six-yard “middle route”: crossing into the middle of the field and sitting down in an open window where Roethlisberger can see him.

Moore’s job is to check the protection to see if a blitzer is coming free from the weak side. If not, he runs a stop route similar to Miller’s to the left.

This play brought about mixed results, with Roethlisberger using each of his receivers on different occasions, but the most common were Ward and Miller, finding holes in the defense’s zone coverage and getting the short yardage necessary to keep the chains moving.

3. Play-Action Pass

The addition of Heath Miller as a first-round draft pick in 2005 gave the Steelers the balanced tight end option they needed, with his ability to stretch the field as a receiver being vital to the passing game.

A heavy emphasis on running the football is bound to eventually leave a defense vulnerable against the pass. The Steelers have developed the ability to sell the run well enough to set up the play-action, allowing Miller to come free over the middle or Santonio Holmes in man-to-man coverage deep down the field.

The success of this play in different formations allowed Roethlisberger and Miller to get the Steelers’ offense rolling early in the Super Bowl, getting them into the red zone before settling for an 18-yard field goal by Jeff Reed.

The opening drive may not have resulted in a touchdown, but the tone was set for how the Steelers would use their versatile attack to put points on the board.

4. Counter 34 Stay

This was an effective running play for the Steelers when executed properly, depending heavily upon the offensive line despite injuries and occasional problems with inconsistency.

Lined up with the strong side to the left, Miller lines up as the tight end next to the left tackle. The fullback (Sean McHugh by the end of the season), lines up to the strong side of the formation, off-set to the left in front of the halfback (Willie Parker).

At the snap, left guard Chris Kemoeatu pulls to the right across the formation, while the right tackle (Willie Colon) and right guard (Darnell Stapleton) create a hole for McHugh, who follows Kemoeatu across.

Parker fakes a move to his left, waiting for McHugh to pass in front of him to take on the inside linebacker (the “Jack” in the 3-4), or the outside linebacker (the “Whip” in the 4-3), and Roethlisberger to come to him deep in the backfield for the hand-off.

Kemoeatu seals off the weak-side linebacker or defensive end, depending on whether they face a 3-4 or 4-3 alignment, while Parker follows McHugh’s lead block into the second level of the defense.

Kemoeatu is the key to this play, with his kick-out block to the weak side giving the play the proper time to develop and give Parker a full head of steam as he approaches the hole.

When executed properly, Parker gets the space to get into the defensive backfield to take on one of the safeties. If he can get enough speed coming through the hole and space to get outside, Parker can get to the corner and get up the field.

This play was effective to help set the tone early in the running game, and helping to wear down opposing defenses late in the game with the lead.

5. Improvisation

There is no set formation, personnel grouping, or designated assignment for what helped the offense get out of a certain loss of yardage time and time again: Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to move around in the pocket and buy time to get his receivers the ball.

It was hard sometimes to understand what was more difficult for the Steelers’ offensive line: blocking in their designated protection schemes, or giving Big Ben time to move around long after the initial rush time to find an open receiver.

Critics say that Roethlisberger often gets himself into trouble more often than out of it by holding onto the ball and looking to make a play downfield, but it paid off in critical situations that helped them win a championship.

Roethlisberger’s movement in the pocket helped set up an unconventional 65-yard touchdown pass to Holmes in the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens, and then another for the Super Bowl game-winner.

Some called it luck; some called it “playground football”. Roethlisberger said the Steelers called it, “scramble, left, scramble right until somebody gets open.”

Regardless of what it was called, what’s important is what what the Steelers were called afterward: World Champions.

The 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers: Who Will Step Up?

Defending a Super Bowl championship is one of the most difficult things for a team to do in all of sports. Injuries, free agency, and salary cap casualties are just a few of the things that can be obstacles for a team to repeat. The Steelers have the same challenge on their hands, but certain people must rise to the challenge to fill critical holes.

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