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Watching "America's Team" on 70's Steelers

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by Watt Wack, May 28, 2018.

  1. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    I DVR'd all 4 (Plus the 2005 and 2008 seasons).

    I am have all of them at one point or another, but did re-watch some of them. Certain things jumped out at me, juxtaposing those 70's teams the recent era.

    1.) Noll was smart, and he had little time to coddle or be buddies with his players. He was no nonsense: You either did your job and listened to instruction, or you were gone. No playing word games in the press, no debate - get things done or you were gone. I much prefer a smart coach than one who tries to be buddies with his players but is easily confused and bamboozled on game day. No one got over on Noll. He was keenly aware of everything going on before and during the game. He didn't need to wear cool sunglasses or twirl his headsets around. I would so much love a coach like him again.

    2.) They not only had talent with the starters, but even the 2nd string was full of players who could get the job done. They had a lot of injuries throughout those years, but the backups kept them winning. We lose one ILB last year and the D goes to total crap. That would have not happened to the 70's Steelers.

    3.) Why can't we draft like those teams. Holy cow did they know how to draft great players: Green, Bradshaw, Lambert, LC, Blount, Ham, Rocky, Franco, Webster, Swann, Stalworth and on and on.
     
  2. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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  3. Roonatic

    Roonatic Well-Known Member

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    I dvr'd them also. What I never appreciated before is what a force Franco Harris was for them.
    That dline was the best ever. Was it the coaching or the picks?
    Also, T. Bradshaw could throw it on a rope.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2018
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  4. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    Those old videos are fun to watch. Some thoughts on your post:

    1) Noll was a teacher. He let players do the motivation work.

    2) Someone once commented Steve Furness was the 5th best defensive lineman in the NFL and he was a back up. He’s still 12th on the Steelers sack list.

    3) Before it was as common, they scouted smaller schools like North Texas State, Arkansas Pine Bluff and Kent State.
     
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  5. santeesteel

    santeesteel

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    I watched those and felt all warm and fuzzy
    I really liked watching the 80s 9ers teams too. Anyone who still thinks "Tuck rule" Tom is better than Montana just isn't paying attention, IMO
     
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  6. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    No. 3 is a key point. Nobody can draft like the Steelers did in the '70s anymore. Scouting is too advanced. Every team knows about every top talent. Crap like what the Steelers supposedly pulled with John Stallworth, "forgetting" to share his game film, doesn't work any more.
     
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  7. mcam

    mcam Well-Known Member

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    Anybody that wants to can check out entire games back in the 70s

     
  8. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    This year's draft will be only the second time a team has drafted 4 hall of famers in the same draft. What a coincidence that the Steelers did it both times.
     
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  9. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    Did you watch that all the way through? It glitched and went back to the beginning early in the second quarter and never got any further in the contest.
     
  10. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    I was going to mark this as optimistic, but that would have been like calling Fat Man a firecracker. :good:
     
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  11. troybellringer55

    troybellringer55 Well-Known Member

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    Getting on to your 3.) Point why can't we draft like they did in the 70's.

    No team will ever draft again like that again. At that time the draft didn't have the huge instant gateway to success like it does now days.
    Teams employee way more scouts, with technology, it's hard to find diamonds in the rough. Nobody had the film like they do now days.

    If you look at the 1974 draft.

    1.) Swann- A for sure 1st round pick WR. Played at USC, had a great college career. Everyone know he be great.

    2.) Lambert- Lambert played at Kent State, a smaller (today MAC school) not a well known hot bed of talent. He was also considered by many to be too thin to play ILB. He was 215 LBS at 6'2". He was overlooked for sure.

    4.) Stallworth- Chuck Noll loved Stallworth. It was well know by all the scouts. Noll wanted to take him sooner, but the scouts would say that he would slide, as he played at a small school as well Alabama A and M, and Steelers by Legend had the only copy of his game tape. Which is why he slid to the 4th round.
    5.) Webster- Was also considered by many to under sized for a O-Line. But, he turned out to be one of if not the best center of all-time.


    4 HOF players in one draft will never ever happen again.
     
  12. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    Jack was 6-4, but agree with the rest of your points.
     
  13. rutan74

    rutan74 Well-Known Member

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    I remember this era very well as I was just a young lad at the time but I was old enough to read the paper, listen to the radio etc. Ohh, and attend opening day at Three Rivers. So, I was not that young.

    For the most part, nothing really has changed about the Steeler's draft since then. When they had the first pick and took Joe Greene, most everyone knows that folks had no clue to who he was and the then Pittsburgh Press lambasted the Steeler's for taking an unknown. Heck, the Press was not all on board when Noll was hired from the Colts.

    Next year, they had the no 1 again and took Bradshaw. Noll wanted Robert Newhouse who ended up with Dallas. Bradshaw was again thought of not the greatest pick since few had seen him play. Back in those days, you were very lucky to have 2 games on TV on Saturday and there was no ESPN, so very few had seen any of these guys actually play.

    Then comes Franco. I can remember when he was drafted and few though he was the right pick seeing that Mitchell at PSU was thought the better back and the Steeler's should have drafted him instead.

    Then comes the 74 draft. There was not total agreement with drafting Swan first. No one knew who Lambert was and no one knew who Stallworth was. So that draft was also criticized in the Press.

    Funny, but many loved the pick of Terry Hanratty since he was a sort of golden boy from Notre Dame, but look how that worked out.

    So, as the years have passed, history, at least in the Press continues as everyone in the Press just about hates all the Steeler picks. So really what is new here?

    rutan
     
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  14. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    More sarcasm than optimism to the OP's point #3. What is even more amazing about the 1974 draft is the Steelers were not picking near the top of the draft. Greene was the #4 pick overall; Bradshaw #1 overall; Ham was a high 2nd round pick.

    The story on the comparison between Mitchell and Harris was that Mitchel would try to run through the wall, but Harris would analyze the wall and run where it was the weakest. Franco's football aptitude was amazing. The way Paterno taught him to follow up a play, paid off when he made the immaculate reception.
     
  15. BigBensBigBong

    BigBensBigBong Well-Known Member

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    Regarding your point #1 about Noll qualities. Who nowadays is smart, does not coddle players, no nonsense and says "do your job?" Yep, I hate to even say who it is.
     
  16. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure if you meant that they had the first pick in 1969, but they didn't. They selected Joe Greene in the first round, but it was the fourth overall pick. O.J. Simpson was the top overall pick that year.
     
  17. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    There are similarities to the Warlock: both are no nonsense, very intelligent and very diligent and neither is concerned with trying to be the players' buddy.
     
  18. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    I'm not, in any way, saying the Saint's 2017 draft rivals the Steelers' 1974, but it was damn good. They found a stud RB and fixed a leaky D in just one draft, plus bolstered the O line. That was about as good as it gets in the modern day.

    https://www.canalstreetchronicles.c...s-marshon-lattimore-ryan-ramczyk-alvin-kamara
     
  19. rutan74

    rutan74 Well-Known Member

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    Yea, old age syndrome here. You are correct. My point still stands as there has been a lot of backlash at the Steeler picks throughout their history, even when those picks turned out to be HOF'ers. Time will tell on this particular draft class.

    rutan
     
  20. steelersrule6

    steelersrule6 Well-Known Member

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    I have all the SB on DVD
     
  21. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    I no longer even have a DVD connected to my main tv. Never use it, do everything with DVR, On Demand, Netflix and regular tv.
     
  22. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    All that technology, and you can’t watch a dvd? Dang, and they make fun of me?
     
  23. steelersrule6

    steelersrule6 Well-Known Member

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    I still have mine connected, and my DVD collection I don't watch them as much though. I also have Netflix and a DVR.
     
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  24. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    I can watch them if I choose, have DVD player in bedroom. Fact is, even when I had one hooked up to main TV, I never used it in the past 3-4 years, maybe longer. I NEVER say, "Oh, let's watch a DVD...oh we don't have one hooked up so we can't." That is never stated.
     
  25. Kreighoff

    Kreighoff Well-Known Member

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    Swann was a sure first round pick no question.

    The story I heard on Lambert was a Steeler scout was at Kent State to look at someone else and their field was unusable from a lot of rain. They were practicing in a parking lot or on a baseball infield and some tall skinny LB'r was still going full speed and diving to make tackles on the gravel.

    The lost film on Stallworth is a classic, and could only happen back then and because he was from a smaller school there might have only been one copy of his game film highlights.

    Webster in the fifth might have been a need or best available player who knows.

    After all these years that draft becomes legendary almost folklore. They took Swann where they wanted , played some games and took a risk to let Stallworth drop to them. They might have accidentally stumbled upon Lambert, and possibly got lucky with the career Webster gave them.

    Most of us prefer to remember it as pure Steeler genius that propelled them to 4 titles.

    Even today with all the high tech. stuff and huge budgets for scouting the draft is still a crap shoot, you can't judge a draft until yr 3 when you see how many starters you have and if they are any good.
     

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