Your 8 best Steelers

[Kodiak]

So we have all the greats and HOFers in the All-Time 53 thread. But this is the salary cap era, and realistically you can only have 8 of them. If you ignore QB, we will generously allow you 10.

Not necessarily the "best" since we need some balance on both sides. In the end, I decided 3 guys (Miller, Lambert and Faneca) for 1 Ben/Terry is not a good trade. That's a tough call, because even with a stud team you still need at least a competent QB.


OL: Webster, Faneca

TE: Miller

WR: Stallworth, AB

DL: MJG

LB: Harrison, Lambert

DB: Woodson, Blount

[Jobu]

Wow...there’s some hard choices here.
I’d put Ham over Harrison.
One could make a legit argument for Dawson over Faneca, and I think you have to find a spot for Troy somewhere...he was freakishly great.

With QB(8)
QB- Ben
OL- Webby
WR- Stallworth, AB
DL- MJG (no brainer)
LB- Ham, Lambert
DB- Blount, Troy

Without QB(10)
OL- Webby, Faneca
WR- Stallworth, AB
DL- MJG
LB- Ham, Lambert
DB- Blount, Troy, Woodson

Noticeable by their absence...
Terry, Franco, Swanny, Dirt, LC, Stautner, Shell, Bus, JH92, Russell, Heath...

[fractalsteel]

Ham was a first ballot HOF inductee. Possibly the greatest cover LB in league history. At least in the top 3. Played the run as well as the pass.
He wasn't exciting to watch except that he played the game almost perfectly.

[swissvale72]

Ham was a first ballot HOF inductee. Possibly the greatest cover LB in league history. At least in the top 3. Played the run as well as the pass.
He wasn't exciting to watch except that he played the game almost perfectly.

Jack Ham was the perfect football player; I take him over Lambert.

My 10:

LB: Ham, Lambert, Harrison

DL: Mean Joe

DB: Blount, Troy

RB: Franco

WR: Swann, Stallworth, AB

[fractalsteel]

Ham was a first ballot HOF inductee. Possibly the greatest cover LB in league history. At least in the top 3. Played the run as well as the pass.
He wasn't exciting to watch except that he played the game almost perfectly.

Jack Ham was the perfect football player; I take him over Lambert.

My 10:

LB: Ham, Lambert, Harrison

DL: Mean Joe

DB: Blount, Troy

RB: Franco

WR: Swann, Stallworth, AB

Ham's play in the 1974 AFC championship game was stellar. The catalyst(game) to the GREATEST team in one era in NFL history.

[jebrick]

This is hard

No doubt in my mind:
MJG
Blount
Stallworth

Make the cut after some thought:
Woodson
Ham
Polamalu

Soul searching part:
Aaron Smith
Webster

I get two more!!
Fanica

This last one is hard. If AB had not left in such a bad way I would put him there. Got to go with Bradshaw

[jewelsongs]

From The 70s - Mean Joe, Franco, Ham, and Webster
From the 80s - Woodson, Lipps
From the 90s - Farrior, Dawson
From the 2000s - Troy, Faneca

If I had to choose a QB, it is Ben, and then I take off Lipps and Webster

[JackLambert58]

I'm no good with this salary cap stuff, so I'm only going to give you my top 8 Steelers without QB's:

1. MJG
2. Lambert
3. Blount
4. Franco
5. Woodson
6. Webster
7. Troy
8. Ham

Allowing for QB's, insert Ben at #4 and Brad at #7 after Woodson.

[Steelersfan]

Mean Joe
Mike Webster
John Stallworth
Troy Polamalu
Aaron Smith
Donnie Shell
Jack Ham
Jack Lambert
James Harrison
Jerome Bettis

1st Alternate
L.C. Greenwood

[rooneytunes]

Terry>Ben


Lol. I know. Probably not. I'm biased though.

The Real TB is my alltime favorite athlete

[JackLambert58]

Terry>Ben


Lol. I know. Probably not. I'm biased though.

The Real TB is my alltime favorite athlete

I love Terry Bradshaw but Ben's worst seasons are nowhere near as horrible as Terry's worst. Different eras, I know.

[SteelerDayTrader]

Joe
Ben
Terry


Franco
Mel


after that it gets difficult....lol

Shell was a better SS but Troy really was maybe THE key defensive piece on his great teams

Not sure there has ever been too many Steeler offensive players more clutch in big games than Santonio.......but longevity and overall numbers ??

after giving it some thought....my top 7 are

Joe
Ben
Terry
Franco
Mel
Troy
Santonio

number 8 is just insanely tough.....lol ....so many great players.....Ham Lambert Harrison Rod Webster Dirt Levon Swann Stallworth LC

Ive narrowed it to LC Swann Stallworth Ham Lambert Harrison

Harrison at his peak was as good as any player ever....longevity/pain in the ass at the end ??
Stallworth at his peak was as good as any WR ever..... we dont win 14 without that catch as good as any ever.....Swann made more big plays
Lambert was just such a Steeler in every great possible way.....


LC Swann and Ham....Im not sure those teams get 4 if you subtract any one of those guys..... but i think id put Ham and LC a tick above Swann


Who decided 8 ??? Fuck this Im going with 10.....lol

Joe
Ben
Terry
Franco
Mel
Troy
Santonio
LC
Ham
Swann

[MJG75]

I'll keep it best rather than favorite.

Without question:

Mean Joe
Franco
Mel
Ham:agree with the comments posted above. Ham was picture perfect. And came up huge in what I consider the most important game in Steelers history-1974 AFCCG. Alternately, we missed his presence in SB XIV when he was out with an injury suffered late in the season.

After those 4, it can get difficult to winnow it down as we have had so many great players over the years.

Brad. No doubt Ben has had better seasons even taking into account the different eras and rules. In this case I'm going with performances in big games. Brad was a two-time SB MVP (though Stalls could have been co along with Larry Anderson in XIV), and made huge throws in every SB game often late in the game and the outcome in the balance.

Ernie Stautner
Jack Lambert
Iron Mike
Swannee/Stalls


Man, left out so many--Troy, Woodson, Deebo, Ben, Tone, Lloyd, Dirt, Andy, The Torpedo...we could be here all day. Which is one of the things to cherish about being a fan of this team.

[COR-TEN]

Man, left out so many--Troy, Woodson, Deebo, Ben, Tone, Lloyd, Dirt, Andy, The Torpedo...we could be here all day. Which is one of the things to cherish about being a fan of this team.

Yeah. Eight is a weird number. Maybe starting O an D, as opposed to the 53. 22 players max. And yes again. Steeler fans, as has been highlighted numerous times, have been fortunate.

[Jobu]

Man, left out so many--Troy, Woodson, Deebo, Ben, Tone, Lloyd, Dirt, Andy, The Torpedo...we could be here all day. Which is one of the things to cherish about being a fan of this team.

Yeah. Eight is a weird number. Maybe starting O an D, as opposed to the 53. 22 players max. And yes again. Steeler fans, as has been highlighted numerous times, have been fortunate.

It’s just a discussion of who fans/posters believe were the 8 or 10 best Steelers of all time. It doesn’t need to be definitive. We could make it 20/30 or whatever number, there will still be a difference of opinion on some players. I think it’s a good topic and good off season discussion point.

[Kodiak]

It’s just a discussion of who fans/posters believe were the 8 or 10 best Steelers of all time.

I don't think people read the OP. The reason it was 8 is you couldn't have all those greats on one team in a salary cap era. If you didn't take Ben or TB, given QB's make about 2-3X what most other guys can get, then you picked 10.

[COR-TEN]

Man, left out so many--Troy, Woodson, Deebo, Ben, Tone, Lloyd, Dirt, Andy, The Torpedo...we could be here all day. Which is one of the things to cherish about being a fan of this team.

Yeah. Eight is a weird number. Maybe starting O an D, as opposed to the 53. 22 players max. And yes again. Steeler fans, as has been highlighted numerous times, have been fortunate.

It’s just a discussion of who fans/posters believe were the 8 or 10 best Steelers of all time. It doesn’t need to be definitive. We could make it 20/30 or whatever number, there will still be a difference of opinion on some players. I think it’s a good topic and good off season discussion point.

Eight just seems like an arbitrary number with no relation to anything whatsoever. But I'll play. . .

Joe Greene. Single handedly changed the mindset of the franchise, and was an exceptional player as well. Although Noll was instrumental, his presence in the locker room accepting nothing less than excellence was instrumental.

Bradshaw. He excelled in high pressure situations. I don't think the steelers achieve what they did without his athleticism, talent, and balls. BR hasn't reached his level of success just yet, but has the same balls as brad. Bradshaw was an elite QB in the 70's among Griese, stabler, tarkenton, staubach. And won 4 titles. BR has two, among equally good competition in brady, brees, manning, and rivers. And now we have a phenom in mahomes.

Swanee and Stallworth. Both of those guys rose to the top when it counted. I can't really think of many of the era that did what they did. Cliff Branch, Fred Biletnikoff , Isaac Curtis, Charmichael, Pearson, Warfield, etc, were all great WR as well. But none of them were instrumental in winning 4 SB.

Troy. That guy was something special. Nuff said.

Lambert. He changed the complexion of every game he played in. Although Ham was perfect, Lambert did his job and made the opponents think about his physicality. He was intimidating before the ball was snapped. I'll add James Harrison as a backup because he had much the same effect.

Jerome Bettis. He's #8 on the all time rushing list. Franco was great, danced too much and avoided contact, and had the luxury of an elite o line as well as two all pro HOF WR's. Bettis was a fucking beast. Speed, burst, power, size, agility, vision. He was the steelers version of earl campbell. And also had a great o line.

Mel Blount. Well, not much to say other than he changed the rules of the game as a result of his stellar play. Dude was a force in the secondary.

But too many left out. Lloyd, faneca, woodson, blah blah blah. Too many others to recognize. Current players, IMO, are mostly left out because their careers are yet to be defined.

Geez, steeler fans are lucky.

[K_C_]

Yeah. Eight is a weird number. Maybe starting O an D, as opposed to the 53. 22 players max. And yes again. Steeler fans, as has been highlighted numerous times, have been fortunate.

It’s just a discussion of who fans/posters believe were the 8 or 10 best Steelers of all time. It doesn’t need to be definitive. We could make it 20/30 or whatever number, there will still be a difference of opinion on some players. I think it’s a good topic and good off season discussion point.

Eight just seems like an arbitrary number with no relation to anything whatsoever. But I'll play. . .

Joe Greene. Single handedly changed the mindset of the franchise, and was an exceptional player as well. Although Noll was instrumental, his presence in the locker room accepting nothing less than excellence was instrumental.

Bradshaw. He excelled in high pressure situations. I don't think the steelers achieve what they did without his athleticism, talent, and balls. BR hasn't reached his level of success just yet, but has the same balls as brad. Bradshaw was an elite QB in the 70's among Griese, stabler, tarkenton, staubach. And won 4 titles. BR has two, among equally good competition in brady, brees, manning, and rivers. And now we have a phenom in mahomes.

Swanee and Stallworth. Both of those guys rose to the top when it counted. I can't really think of many of the era that did what they did. Cliff Branch, Fred Biletnikoff , Isaac Curtis, Charmichael, Pearson, Warfield, etc, were all great WR as well. But none of them were instrumental in winning 4 SB.

Troy. That guy was something special. Nuff said.

Lambert. He changed the complexion of every game he played in. Although Ham was perfect, Lambert did his job and made the opponents think about his physicality. He was intimidating before the ball was snapped. I'll add James Harrison as a backup because he had much the same effect.

Jerome Bettis. He's #8 on the all time rushing list. Franco was great, danced too much and avoided contact, and had the luxury of an elite o line as well as two all pro HOF WR's. Bettis was a fucking beast. Speed, burst, power, size, agility, vision. He was the steelers version of earl campbell. And also had a great o line.

Mel Blount. Well, not much to say other than he changed the rules of the game as a result of his stellar play. Dude was a force in the secondary.

But too many left out. Lloyd, faneca, woodson, blah blah blah. Too many others to recognize. Current players, IMO, are mostly left out because their careers are yet to be defined.

Geez, steeler fans are lucky.

If you believe Jerome Bettis was a better player than Franco Harris, you never saw Franco Harris play (outside of maybe YouTube highlights).

Bettis was a regular season warrior/postseason PUSSY. Harris was a regular season warrior/postseason warrior....and a winner in the biggest way imaginable. Also, Bettis was never fast (speed? ) and couldn't catch a fucking cold out of the backfield.

Franco's biggest postseason play is legendary (he had several). Bettis' biggest postseason play? Ask Roethlisberger, who saved Jerome's fat ass.

[COR-TEN]

I didn't say bettis was better than franco. And I watched ten years of franco. especially the 158 yards in the SB against the vikings. No doubt he was great.

And speed for bettis is directly proportional to his size. He was game speed faster than he should have been as a 252 lb back. Franco is #15 all time rushing yards. Bettis is #8. Franco had 4 SB runs to pad his post season stats. How many did bettis have?

I made a choice. . .

[K_C_]

I didn't say bettis was better than franco. And I watched ten years of franco. especially the 158 yards in the SB against the vikings. No doubt he was great.

And speed for bettis is directly proportional to his size. He was game speed faster than he should have been as a 252 lb back. Franco is #15 all time rushing yards. Bettis is #8. Franco had 4 SB runs to pad his post season stats. How many did bettis have?

I made a choice. . .

Bettis couldn't score a TD from the fucking 1 yard line with multiple opportunities in the Super Bowl (Ben had to do it himself, by a cunt hair) and couldn't get a goddamn first down when it mattered late in the game. He was utterly pathetic in the Super Bowl.

Even funnier, Bettis himself tried his DAMNDEST to make sure the Steelers didn't play in that Super Bowl and if Ben Roethlisberger literally doesn't make a fucking shoestring tackle, Bettis is remembered VERY, VERY DIFFERENTLY in the Steel City.

[COR-TEN]

I didn't say bettis was better than franco. And I watched ten years of franco. especially the 158 yards in the SB against the vikings. No doubt he was great.

And speed for bettis is directly proportional to his size. He was game speed faster than he should have been as a 252 lb back. Franco is #15 all time rushing yards. Bettis is #8. Franco had 4 SB runs to pad his post season stats. How many did bettis have?

I made a choice. . .

Bettis couldn't score a TD from the fucking 1 yard line with multiple opportunities in the Super Bowl (Ben had to do it himself, by a cunt hair) and couldn't get a goddamn first down when it mattered late in the game. He was utterly pathetic in the Super Bowl.

Even funnier, Bettis himself tried his DAMNDEST to make sure the Steelers didn't play in that Super Bowl and if Ben Roethlisberger literally doesn't make a fucking shoestring tackle, Bettis is remembered VERY, VERY DIFFERENTLY in the Steel City.

Watch the replay again. If BR doesn't make the tackle, Heath Miller does five yards downfield.

[K_C_]

I didn't say bettis was better than franco. And I watched ten years of franco. especially the 158 yards in the SB against the vikings. No doubt he was great.

And speed for bettis is directly proportional to his size. He was game speed faster than he should have been as a 252 lb back. Franco is #15 all time rushing yards. Bettis is #8. Franco had 4 SB runs to pad his post season stats. How many did bettis have?

I made a choice. . .

Bettis couldn't score a TD from the fucking 1 yard line with multiple opportunities in the Super Bowl (Ben had to do it himself, by a cunt hair) and couldn't get a goddamn first down when it mattered late in the game. He was utterly pathetic in the Super Bowl.

Even funnier, Bettis himself tried his DAMNDEST to make sure the Steelers didn't play in that Super Bowl and if Ben Roethlisberger literally doesn't make a fucking shoestring tackle, Bettis is remembered VERY, VERY DIFFERENTLY in the Steel City.

Watch the replay again. If BR doesn't make the tackle, Heath Miller does five yards downfield.

Oh, I've seen a shit ton of replays. If you believe Heath (who likely didn't make a single tackle that season) is a shoe-in to stop a super fast DB with designs on the end zone, I have a bridge to sell you in the one of the five boroughs.

Bettis was a postseason choker. Nothing more.

[K_C_]

Oh and I just watched another replay. Heath Miller drove his man into the end zone on the play.

The only TE with a chance to make a tackle 20 yards downfield would be Jerame Tuman.

[El Kabong]

super fast DB with designs on the end zone,

I think I remember something about Nick Harper's wife having stabbed him prior to the game, so we probably also lucked out that he wasn't as fast as he would have been otherwise.

[955876]

Ball security might be my #1 pet peeve because it is something absolutely within your control.

Sure there are times a perfectly placed hit can jar it loose.

However, a majority of times a ball is knocked out starts with poor ball security. Carrying in the wrong hand, carrying like a loaf of bread, swinging it out wide to expose it to all.

All things that the call carrier has 100% control of

Bettis should have had both arms on that ball with his head down and plowing forward.

That turning to the side bullshit was bad.

[K_C_]

super fast DB with designs on the end zone,

I think I remember something about Nick Harper's wife having stabbed him prior to the game, so we probably also lucked out that he wasn't as fast as he would have been otherwise.

Good point about Harper's wife but if you watch the replay and Ben doesn't grab his toe, I think Harper's going to outrun a stiff like Tuman 10/10 times.

[K_C_]

Ball security might be my #1 pet peeve because it is something absolutely within your control.

Sure there are times a perfectly placed hit can jar it loose.

However, a majority of times a ball is knocked out starts with poor ball security. Carrying in the wrong hand, carrying like a loaf of bread, swinging it out wide to expose it to all.

All things that the call carrier has 100% control of

Bettis should have had both arms on that ball with his head down and plowing forward.

That turning to the side bullshit was bad.

It was ABSOLUTELY IDIOTIC Bettis didn't have 2 hands on the ball and was protecting it with his life. I said at the time and I still claim to this day that Bettis thought the Colts had quit and he was going to have an easy path to the end zone. No one will convince me otherwise. If Harper scores on that play, Bettis would be a JOKE today. A punch line.

[Kodiak]

It was ABSOLUTELY IDIOTIC Bettis didn't have 2 hands on the ball and was protecting it with his life.

[PennyBacker]

QB: Ben
WR: AB, Holmes, Wallace
DL: A. Smith, Heyward
LB: Kirkland
DB: Troy

[K_C_]

QB: Ben
WR: AB, Holmes, Wallace
DL: A. Smith, Heyward
LB: Kirkland
DB: Troy

Mike Wallace?

Top all time Steelers?

Excuse me while I jump off this buildling.