The Pittsburgh Steelers won four championships for Art Rooney during the 1970s. The team had offensive stars like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, who were all inducted into the Hall of Fame. The calling card of those teams and the identity of the Steelers since Chuck Noll walked onto a practice field in 1969 is defense.
Joshua Axelrod / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers Head Coach Chuck Noll and Joe Greene.
The Steel Curtain initially was the name for the defensive line consisting of Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene, should-be Hall of Fame defensive end LC Greenwood, Dwight White and Ernie Holmes. Mike Wagner had a different take during the Super Bowl X documentary by NFL Films.
“There is two definitions of the Steel Curtain,” Edwards said. “I think you need to clarify. The front four would say we are the Steel Curtain. I don’t want to offend Dwight, and Joe, and Ernie by assuming we don’t respect their Steel Curtain name, but we all are the Steel Curtain.”
On Tuesday morning, the new version of the Fox debate show Undisputed, featuring Skip Bayless, Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson and Michael Irvin, discussed the comments of the New York Jets defensive back D.J. Reed on HBO's Hard Knocks series. Reed insinuated the Jets could be a historical defense like the 1985 Chicago Bears or the Seattle Seahawks' Legion of Boom.
The panel discussed the comments, and they were met with a mixed reaction. The three former NFL players were okay with Reed’s confidence, but agreed that he was getting ahead of himself. Johnson and Irvin pointed out that great defenses need Hall-of-Fame-level players at every level to be a great defense. The Jets are not in that category yet.
Undisputed / Fox Sports
Skip Bayless interjects 1970s Steelers defenses into dominant defense discussions.
Bayless was the only panel member who brought up the great Steelers defenses in the 1970s. He is often insufferable, turning a national sports show into the Dallas Cowboys daily report. However, the long-time Dallas fan and former beat writer remembers what the Pittsburgh defense did to the Cowboys' precision offense in two Super Bowls during the 1970s.
"By the way, don't underestimate the old Mean Joe Greene defenses in Pittsburgh," Bayless interjected. "Those were in this upper echelon also. They had Hall of Famers like crazy."
The fourth member of the panel, Sherman, who is a shameless shill for his Seattle defense that had a clever nickname and produced precisely one Super Bowl victory in two appearances, decided to chime in. There is an old saying by Abraham Lincoln, 'Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.' Sherman obviously had never heard it.
Undisputed Fox Sports
Steelers 1970s defenses dismissed by critic Richard Sherman in favor of modern defenses.
"Skip, it was a different time," Sherman blurted. "Playing football back then, I wish we could play against those quarterbacks, where you could touch them up a little bit. You could touch the receivers up a little bit. I wish we could play in that day and age, but we have had to play in this day and age where you can't touch them. You can't grab them, you can't hit the quarterback, you got to escort them to the ground, and we were still able to be dominant. They have to be able to play under these set of rules."
Sherman's sheer ignorance of NFL history is stunning. The Steelers defense was so dominant during the Super Bowl IX and X runs that the NFL changed the rules. The 1976 Steelers defense was arguably the best in NFL history. Still, they fell short against the then-Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game when the offense was devastated by injury.
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Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount, a third round pick, was a driving force in the team's success in the '70s.
The Mel Blount rule that Sherman refers to had such a detrimental effect on Blount when it went into effect in 1978, that he made three of the following five Pro Bowls. The Steelers earned two more championship rings in Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV. The league has evolved, but Blount told the All Things Covered podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden last year what he thought of the current rules designed to stop him.
"OK, so you're putting this rule in because you think that's the only way I can play and that it's going to slow me down," Blount says emphatically. "We were so dominant. I didn't really like that rule, but I wanted to prove that there was another gear that I could go to, another level. So we were able to go win two (more) Super Bowls after they changed that rule."
Sherman will probably end up in the Hall of Fame for his play in Seattle. His stunning lack of self-awareness and lack of knowledge about the great defenses of the past is shocking. The 1985 singular championship defense of the Bears dominated the NFL just five years after the Steelers won Super Bowl XIV in the first football game in the 1980s. The 2005-2011 Steelers defenses produced two Super Bowl trophies and a third appearance. Sherman and the rest of the panel completely ignored those teams.
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It is a sad state of affairs on a national debate show that features Bayless when he is the sole voice of reason on the panel. The Steelers should have seven Hall of Fame players from that defense, with Andy Russell and Greenwood joining the already-inducted Blount, Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Donnie Shell. No one comes close if that is the measure of a great defense.
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers royalty Joe Greene, Andy Russell, Lynn Swann and Mel Blount.
Sherman's stunning dismissal of their accomplishments in favor of a Seattle Seahawks defense that produced just one championship is, at best, shameless self-promotion and, at worst, willful ignorance of NFL history. Sherman has a history of unhinged hyperbolic takes as both a player and a broadcaster. Based on his history, I know which choice I am leaning toward to explain his most recent gaffe.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you infuriated by Sherman's dismissal of the Steel Curtain? Please let me know what you think. Comment below or on my Twitter / X: @thebubbasq.
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