Pittsburgh Steelers Dream Team

As players get bigger, stronger and faster coupled with rules of the

game being in constant change, conventional wisdom suggests

that players from different eras cannot be compared. However, I

have decided to defy that notion. 

I have taken on the daunting task of compiling an All-Time Pittsburgh
Steelers team. When it comes to tradition and success, the Steelers

are a Mt. Rushmore franchise with six Super Bowl titles, tied with the

New England Patriots for the most in NFL history. From 1969-present,

the Steelers have had just three head coaches (Chuck Noll, Bill
Cowher, Mike Tomlin). During that time, even when the Steelers were
not winning Super Bowls, they were considered a contender for one
entering most seasons. 

There are some rigid criteria. The player needed to have played at
least four seasons as a Steeler. Since the free agency era began 30
years ago, that standard needs to be in place. While Kevin Greene is
Hall-of-Famer, he does not make the cut because he was only a
Steeler for three years. Being in the Hall of Fame is the first
consideration coupled with impact on the franchise. The number of
All-Pro seasons are a top consideration with longevity also helping
immensely. While I understand it is hard to compare eras, I’m not
going to convolute this discussion. 

Generational reminders

Just because the Steelers started winning Super Bowls in the 1970s,

being on the team in that era is no guarantee to make this list.
Therefore, the pre-1970s Steelers will get consideration. In the 1980s,
the Steelers plateaued before having some near misses in the 1990s.
Pittsburgh broke through with two more Super Bowls in the 2000s. If
not for the Patriots, the Steelers might have two fists full of Super
Bowl rings. 

To further the challenge, we are constructing the roster in two-deep

format, which means some worthy players get left off the list. So,
before you make a case to put someone on the list, ask yourself,
“Who do I take off the list?”  

OFFENSE

Quarterback-- First team: Ben Roethlisberger. Honorable mention:

Terry Bradshaw.

Controversial choice in some Steeler fan circles but Roethlisberger

holds every meaningful passing record in franchise history. He also

led Pittsburgh to two Super Bowl wins with far less talent around him

than Bradshaw had. However, you cannot deny Bradshaw’s role in
four of the Steelers Super Bowl titles in the 1970s. Bradshaw is in the
Hall of Fame. Though he may not be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer,
Roethlisberger assuredly will be there when his career is done. 

Running back -- First team: Jerome Bettis, Franco Harris.
Honorable mention: Rocky Bleier, Le’Veon Bell. 

Harris and Bettis are two Hall of Famers and are the best running
backs in Steeler history. Harris is the Steelers' all-time rushing leader
and No. 15 in NFL history. He was also the centerpiece in one of the
most iconic plays in NFL history -- The Immaculate Reception. Bettis
was the cornerstone for the best trade in franchise history. Bettis is
second in franchise history in rushing yardage and seventh in NFL
history. 

Bell came with baggage but there’s no denying his status as three-
time All Pro in five seasons. Three straight seasons of at least 1,200
yards rushing and 600 receiving are hard to overlook. In a sense,
Blier is a case of “what might have been” but is a hero in more ways
than one. Bleier left the Steelers to fight in the Vietnam War, where he
was injured and told he would never play football. Bleier rished for
3,865 yards in helping the Steelers win four Super Bowls. 

Fullback -- First team: John Henry Johnson. Honorable mention:

Merrill Hodge.

Johnson predated the Steelers Golden Age but powerful blocker and

runner who is in the Hall of Fame. Hodge was not necessarily a true

fullback but he was a Swiss Army Knife. He did a little of everything

from block, run and receive. 

Wide receiver -- First team: John Stallworth, Lynn Swann.
Honorable mention: Antonio Brown, Hines Ward. 

Statistically, you could make a case for Hines Ward being first-team

but it’s hard to ignore Swann and Stallworth being Hall of Famers
along with one of the best receiving tandems of all-time. Ward played
for the Steelers for 14 seasons, caught over 1,000 passes and was
a ruthless downfield blocker. With Brown, the baggage eventually
outweighed the passenger but he put up spectacular numbers. 

Tackle -- First team: Tunch Ilkin, John Kolb. Honorable mention:

Larry Brown, Alejandro Villanueva. 

Ilkin made just one Pro Bowl but was a durable and reliable starter for

14 seasons. Best tackle in franchise history. Kolb was widely regarded

as the strongest man in the NFL, starting 177 games for four Super

Bowl winning teams. Brown made a successful transition from tight

end to tackle, where he made three Pro Bowls in eight seasons. Even

with the Steelers rich history, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more
compelling story than Villanueva along with the aforementioned Bleier.
Villanueva went from undrafted to two military tours of duty to one of

the best tackles in franchise history. 

Guard -- First team: Alan Faneca, Dave DeCastro. Honorable
mention: Ramon Foster, Craig Wolfley. 

Faneca and DeCastro are two modern day Steelers who are the best
guards in franchise history. Faneca is Hall of Fame worthy as an eight-

time All-Pro. DeCastro remains one of the premier guards in the NFL.

The current Steeler is a three-time All Pro. Foster was an undrafted
free agent in 2009 but to this day remains a stalwart interior lineman.
Though the Steelers were inconsistent in the 1980s, the same could
not be said for Wolfley, who was a reliable starter. Wolfley started 104
career games.  

Center -- First team: Mike Webster. Honorable mention: Dermonti
Dawson. 

Webster and Dawson are both Hall of Famers. Enough said. Webster

and Dawson were the hub of wheel for two eras of powerful running

games, Franco Harris in the 1970s and Jerome Bettis in the 1990s.

Webster was not flashy but played 15 seasons. Dawson was a six-
time All-Pro. 

Tight end -- First team: Heath Miller. Honorable mention: Elbie
Nickel. 

Miller’s 592 catches are the most for a tight end in Steeler history and

third-most regardless of position. Miller was not the fastest or most

athletic but he was very reliable. It’s easy to forget Nickel because he

was a pre-1970s Steeler but 329 career receptions, second only to

Miller in franchise tight ends. 

DEFENSE

DE -- First team: LC Greenwood, Dwight White. Honorable mention:

Brett Keisel, Aaron Smith. 

With 73.5 sacks as a 4-3 defensive end for four Super Bowl
champions, it is an atrocity that Greenwood is not in the Hall of Fame.
White may not have been as heralded as many 1970s Steelers but
played with incredible intensity. Recovering from Pneumonia to play
in Super Bowl IX remains legendary. Keisel went from seventh round
pick to eight-year stalwart defensive end. Though his numbers were
not dynamite, he helped Pittsburgh to two Super Bowls in the 2000s.
Though Smith made just one Pro Bowl in 12 years, he defined
consistent and reliable, starting 152 of 160 games. 

DT -- First team: Joe Greene, Ernie Stautner. Honorable mention:
Cameron Heyward, Casey Hampton, 

The Steelers franchise was mostly an afterthought but making “Mean”

Joe Greene No. 4 overall in the 1969 draft began to change the
franchise. Hall of Famer, two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year
and the backbone to perhaps the greatest defense in NFL history.
Stautner was the first jersey retired in franchise history and was one
of the best defensive tackles of his era (1950-1963). Heyward recently
finished his ninth season but gets better with age, having been
selected All Pro twice in the last three years. Hampton did not light up
the box score but as the 3-4 nose tackle that consumed double-teams,
he allowed Steeler linebackers to hunt. 

OLB -- First team: Jack Ham, James Harrison. Honorable mention:

Greg Lloyd, Jason Gildon. 

Harrison might be the best pass rusher in franchise history, which is

saying something. Anyone going from undrafted to franchise all-time

sack leader to Steeler legend, gets to the front of the line. Ham spent

a lot of his career overshadowed by Jack Lambert but he was just a
valuable to the Steeler success and there was nothing he could not
do. Lloyd had 53.5 career sacks in 11 seasons but was as disruptive
as any player in franchise history. Gildon was not a splashy player
but very consistent. In ten seasons, he had at least six sacks in nine
of them and had 10 or more three times. 

ILB -- First team: Jack Lambert, Andy Russell. Honorable mention:

Levon Kirkland, James Farrior. 

Toughness and physicality were the name of Lambert’s game. The
Hall-of-Famer, six-time All-Pro and 1976 Defensive Player of the Year
defined the 1970s Steelers toughness. Russell was another
overshadowed player from the 1970s Steelers but he was exceptional
on two of the franchise’s 1970s Super Bowl teams. At 270 pounds,
you couldn’t miss Kirkland. Even with his girth, Kirkland could motor.
He was a two-time All Pro in eight seasons. Farrior was an excellent
free agent acquisition in 2002, playing 10 years in Pittsburgh, recording
at least 80 tackles in all but one season. He notched at least 100
tackles in six of those years. 

CB -- First team: Mel Blount, Rod Woodson. Honorable mention:

Jack Butler, Ike Taylor. 

Blount and Woodson are both Hall of Famers. Blount was one of the

best cornerbacks in NFL history. His physical play also forced league

rules changes. Blount was a five-time All Pro and Defensive Player of

the Year in 1975. Woodson was the best all-round defensive back in
franchise history and six-time All Pro. Butler tends to be forgotten

because of the era he played (1951-1959) but the Hall of Famer is

one of the best players in Steeler history as evidence by four straight

All-Pro seasons (1956-1959). Taylor might be a first team choice with

many other franchises but the Steelers have an embarrassment of

riches. Don’t let the low number of interceptions (14) fool you. He

was consistent in coverage and part of two Super Bowl winners. 

S -- First team: Troy Polamalu, Donnie Shell. Honorable mention:

Mike Wagner, Carnell Lake. 

Polamalu was a six-time All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year in

2010. He played with the energy of the Tasmanian Devil. Polamalu

and Shell will be inducted in the Hall of Fame in the 2020 class. Shell

went undrafted from South Carolina State to being a key figure on

some legendary defenses. Wagner gets overlooked in Steelers lore

but his transition from wide receiver to safety was superb. Wagner

tallied 38 career interceptions. Lake was the most versatile defensive

back in Steeler history split his time between cornerback and safety

in ten seasons. He was an All-Pro in five of them. 

SPECIAL TEAMS

P -- First team: Bobby Walden. Honorable mention: Josh Miller. 

Walden was the Steelers punter from 1968-1977 and still holds the

franchise record for 716 punts, carrying a 41.1 yard average. Miller,

who punted from 1996-2003, had 529 career punts for a 42.9 yard

average. 

K -- First team: Gary Anderson. Honorable mention: Roy Gerela. 

Anderson is the best kicker in franchise history and is also the
Steelers' all-time leading scorer at 1,343 points. Gerela was a two-time
Pro Bowler, finishing his career with 731 career points, remaining the
third-highest in franchise history.

Return -- First team: Antwan Randle-El. Honorable mention: Ray

Matthews

Woodson, Antonio Brown and Louis Lipps shined as returners but

Randle-El was one of the most versatile and exciting Steelers of all-

time. He made the transition from college quarterback to electrifying
receiver/return man. Mathews averaged 12.8 yards per punt return

and 25.5 on kickoffs in eight seasons. 

Head coach -- First team: Chuck Noll. Honorable mention: Bill
Cowher. 

Noll pioneered the Steelers dynasty from the sideline throughout the

1970s through astute drafting and meticulous coaching. The Steelers'

rise to greatness boosted the morale of Western Pennsylvania

through economic hardship. Cowher led Pittsburgh to 10 playoff
appearances, including a Super Bowl title in 2005. Noll is in the Hall

of Fame, Cowher will be formally inducted in August 2020. 

Team -- 1975. This version of the Steelers went 12-2 in the regular

season with an impenetrable defense and a balanced offense.

Pittsburgh beat Baltimore (28-10) and Oakland (16-10) in the AFC

playoffs and Dallas (21-17) in the Super Bowl.  

Mixing irony and accuracy

Sometimes a comical discussion among peers can strike up memories of

other stories that take place at a later stage in life. 

To set the scene, Michael Kluck, who was my colleague when I was a

student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I worked with Kluck at

the campus newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan. Kluck passed away in

October 2000 at the age of 34 but I still think about him amply to this

day. Among the friends (Mitch Sherman, Trevor Parks, Todd Walkenhorst,

Antone Oseka to name a few) I hung out with in those days, Kluck was

known as “Big Daddy” because he was a large man. 

At the time, Kluck was a non-traditional student who returned to college

after a teaching and coaching career. Anyhow, I remember chatting with

Kluck one day in the newsroom and he said something to the effect of,

“Why is it, that a baseball player can have a .300 batting average and be

considered great but a journalist makes one mistake and is considered

inaccurate?” Kluck was referring to how a baseball player can achieve

three base hits in 10 at-bats and is considered a high-level hitter. 

Another story stems from an old friend of mine named Dan Staehr, whom

I worked with at Broadcast House, which housed four radio stations in

Lincoln, NE. Staehr was the meteorologist known as “Dan The Weather

Man.” In honor of comedian George Carlin, I often referred to him as

“Dan The Hippy Dippy Weather Man.” Dan was quite insistent that if the

weather forecast called for “a 60 percent chance of rain” but no precipitation
occurred, the forecast is not wrong because there was a 40 percent chance it

would not rain. To be fair, in the Midwest, forecasts can change every 27

minutes. Dan and I traded many barbs from Carlin, including, “tonight’s

forecast? Dark, with widely scattered light in the morning.” 

Though I was initially flummoxed by Kluck and Staehr’s initial point, I saw

both the humor and validity. Semantics aside, baseball is a failure based sport
whereas journalism is a profession where accuracy is your livelihood. 

As one who spent 18 years as a sports reporter in the newspaper industry and,

on a limited basis, as a sports broadcaster, the overreaction that lands in select
company are misspelling and mispronunciations of names involving student-
athletes. 

The first thing that comes to my mind is, “I’ve had my last name butchered

and mispronounced my entire life, I don’t feel sorry for these people.” I get

great comic relief at high school sporting events when a parent acts like a

complete spectacle over the PA announcer mispronouncing their kid’s name.

I can understand addressing it, but you don’t have to act like a jerk. If you

address the problem kindly the first time and the same mistake gets repeated,

then getting bent out of shape is understandable — but if the PA announcer

has not been told beforehand, then he should get some benefit of the doubt. 

In my 18 years as a sports reporter, I had a few parents get worked up over
misspellings that they never address until the end of the season.

At which point I say, “There is something called communication. If it is

misspelled on the roster, then I will probably spell it that way in the paper.”

If it is wrong, however, by all means tell me, because if you wait until the

end of the season to tell me, you are perpetuating the problem. 

If I had a dollar for every time my last name has been mispronounced or

misspelled, I could retire tomorrow. It does not bother me. I address it and

move forward.

Nothing like past interactions to think of today’s events. 

Life as a fan bracing for a long season

The phrase, “you never know” is often uttered in life and sports even

though sometimes you know. 

Spring is associated with the weather getting warmer. Granted, you have

phrases like, “April showers bring May flowers” but spring is a season

that evokes everything from hope to happiness because it represents an

escape from wintery weather. 

That feeling is also linked to baseball season, specifically if you are a fan

of a Major League Baseball team. If you are a San Francisco Giants fan,

however, the 2020 season does not figure to be one for the archives. 

To give you context,the franchise moved from New York to San Francisco

in 1958. Between that season and 2009, the Giants had decades of struggles

mixed with together with division winners and postseason participants.

There was also the heartache of losing the World Series in 1962 (New York

Yankees) and 2002 (Anaheim Angels) in seven games. With the 1989 World

Series against the cross Bay neighbor Oakland Athletics, there was no

heartache in the 4-0 sweep because the Giants were badly overmatched. 

Then came 2010-2016, which was considered the Golden Age of Giants

baseball, at least in San Francisco. The franchise won three World Series

titles in five years from 2010-2014. Since 2017, the Giants have gone

214-272. The reasons are vast and include but are not limited to an aging

roster that had players with atrocious contracts the team could not escape

along with a depleted farm system. 

The organization has since undergone vast structural changes with Farhan

Zaidi entering the equation as president of baseball operations. Previously,

the faces of the front office were Brian Sabean (vice president of baseball

operations) and Bobby Evans (general manager). Field manager Bruce

Bochy has since retired and Gabe Kapler is currently in that position. 

The 2020 Giants are largely viewed as a team comprised of a) Past stars

from glory years with declining skills accompanied with bad “thank you”

contracts or b) Stop gap solutions that the franchise hopes can hold the line

while the farm system gets adequately rebuilt. 

Though he stepped into a difficult situation to rebuild, Zaidi has been a

lightning rod in part because of his analytics driven background, which

some love but others loathe. The hiring of Gabe Kapler as the field manager

has been polarizing because a) His underwhelming 161-163 record for two

years as the Philadelphia Phillies manager and b) In 2015 as director of

player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a 17-year-old accused

a Dodger minor league player initially of videotaping a fight in which two

women whom she had met through Facebook hit her while with her in a

hotel room of a player. The accuser emailed her complaint to Kapler, who

sought direction from Dodgers’ lawyers and human resources personnel

and then replied quickly with a phone call, apologized, and offered to help

in any way she needed. Though no charges were filed, it remains unwanted

baggage Kapler brings. 

Some managers fail in their first job but apply what they learn and succeed

in their subsequent stints. Bobby Cox, Terry Francona and Joe Torre come

to mind. The problem is that Kapler is not stepping into a 90-win roster. At

best, it is a 70-win roster. The Giants went 77-85 in 2019 but even that

record is misleading because of a torrid 19-4 stretch in July. The 2020 Giants

will be minus left handed ace Madison Bumgarner, who signed with the

Arizona Diamondbacks. Yet, the franchise brings back Pablo Sandoval and

Hunter Pence, two veterans they let go to get younger. Hmmmm. 

Most Las Vegas sports books have the Giants over/under win total at 71

with the under being the common investment.  Though I question some of

the new regime’s moves, I’m open to being proven wrong. I essentially

view last season as Year Zero because it involved taking inventory and

replenishing the farm system. This season will be more of the same, which

means expectations should be low. 

I’m not going to make any grandiose judgments on what happens this year

but if the team loses 100 games, which is quite possible, then all bets are off

at that juncture. In 2021, however, the trajectory arrow needs to be pointed

upward. I’m not asking for a World Series title. Heck, I’m not even asking

to make the playoffs but I’m asking for meaningful games in August and
September. 

In the meantime, I’m thrilled baseball season is upon us but have a feeling

of resignation about the 2020 season as a Giants fan. If you told any Giants

fan, “You will win three World Series in five years but a few years later, you

are going to be wretched.” Any Giants fan alive would have said, “Where

do I sign?” There are also a large segment of fans that nodded in agreement

that this franchise needs to be rebuilt. However, what happens when the team

is on pace to win 65 games? That conversation goes by the wayside. 

Translation, we like the potential benefits of rebuilding but we don’t like

the headaches that come with it. The Giants are like that house in a good
neighborhood but became a rental that got trashed. You have a house with a

million dollar curb appeal (Los Angeles Dodgers). Then you have a couple

of nice tracked homes (Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies). Then

you have a home that has graduated to move in condition (San Diego Padres).

The Giants, meanwhile have construction crews in front of their house with
wheelbarrows and stacks of two-by-fours in the front yard.