for all you old timers

me and a buddy are all the time arguing over players. I am in my 40's and he is 27. I remember the 70's steelers. I loved them cause of the logo on helmet. my gradfather worked with steel and had that sticker on his welder. I want to ask people who have seen players from both eras play. anyone can chime in of course but I want the perspective of some of the older fans. gonna give a comparison and would ask you just to pick which one you would take. I know the game has changed and its hard to do but just who you think is the better football player. my pick will be the first one and my buddies the second. thanks

franco harris or Jerome bettis
mel blount or rod woodson
john stallworth or hines ward this one I called a push but I like to argue with him
mike Webster or dermonti dawson
troy palamalu or Donnie shell we agreed on this one I just wanted opinions
greg loydd or kevin greene
this is the big one

terry bradshaw or ben rothlisberger he says ben is the best football player if you take away the team awards.

 

ben franco mel stallworth dawson troy lloyd ..but i loved greene

 

I see this pretty much the same way, but would choose Webster over Dawson.

 

really, just curious how old are you? you can estimate of course. ben over terry and dawson over Webster. those are the two me and him go at it the most with. his brother was at Kentucky same time he was

 

I'd go with Franco (Coin flip)
Blount (NFL didn't change the rules because of Woodson)
Hines (his catches weren't as pretty but, CLUTCH!)
"Iron Mike" (loved Dirt but........the nickname says it all)
Shell (Don't recall him ever being out of position)
Avoid LLoyd (slight advantage over Greene)
Ben. (loved Terry but, he threw too many INTs)

Wow, I'm an old-timer.........

 

Franco
Woodson - because of all the TD
Hines
Webster
Troy
Lloyd
Terry

 

Bettis (I hate the Franco dance, sorry, battering ram beats the dancer)
woodson (because of the added return & defensive scoring)
ward & stallworth are tough - pass, I'd take either
webster, hands down
troy or Donnie is also a tough one for me - pass-- scratch that, shell played in 200+ games without missing time! Take shell.
Lloyd & Greene are the same era..... Give me lambert or ham everyday of the week and twice on Sunday!
bradshaw - no contest, 4 rings no sb losses.

 

crap he just reminded me the one that started this post. I wouldn't let him even mention Ike in the same breath as blount so I said Dwayne woodruff was better than ike. he didn't even know who I was talking about. I think woodruff was very underrated

 

Woodruff..... Ike can't catch

 

your right there.

 

All of the new guys please.
Ok, Harris over Bettis. But other than that:

Woodson over Blount. Blount too physical for todays game.
Hines over Stallworth. Push, but Hines is a better leader
Dawson over Webster. Webster is too small for todays game. He'd be a liability.
Troy over Shell. Troy is more versatile.
Roethlisberger over Bradshaw.
Lloyd vs Greene? I thought this was old vs new? Lloyd I guess if I had to pick between the two. This is the tiebreaker:
[video=youtube;UvxLbYrX4Pg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvxLbYrX4Pg[/video]

 

franco, more game winning runs. I loved the bus and his hard running though.
mel as someone said they changed the rules, and he was a mismatch for any receiver. I still think rod sold us out for money and should have stayed.
stallworth as the pure receiver. love hines as the do it all, with a lot less skillset hard nose player.
dermonti , he was a damn good center. I loved iron mike, but he also had more around him.
troy. shell was great as a pure safety. troy does so many things though. if he would have stayed healthy, this wouldn't be close.
Lloyd they never said avoid greene. greene was very good, but Lloyd was just plain mean.
terry, but not by much. they are both tough as nails. they have both had their moments and both had some bad moments. terry called his own plays. plus he has 4 in the case and no 1st losers. ben can still get it done though. he has to have more around him.

 

I agree with you except I take TB over BR but, it is a coin flip to me too. Picked TB because of his humor Think they both were great

 

Franco - Watch the Super Bowl XIII Td run. He was big but he was a lot faster than some think.
[video=youtube;UkKkpU-mtyw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkKkpU-mtyw[/video]

Mel Blount - Maybe the best ever to play the position. Rules were changed because of him.


Hines Ward - Clutch catches, nasty blocker and didn't have the benefit of Swann on the other side.


Dawson- By many accounts he was a better all-around athlete than Webster.


Polamalu- In his prime was one of the biggest game changers ever.


Llloyd- Greene was more of a Fred Dean type DE/LB hybrid pass rusher. Llloyd could do it all.


Bradshaw- He did throw 3 INT's in Super Bowl XIV but he was money when it counted

 

i'm 44 (1969) i became a steelers fan in the 1982 so i watched the 4sb team in video recorded only

 

Bettis,Webster, LLoyd, Blount, Bradshaw
Ward, Troy. All the players in this comparison are also great. Just my personal preference.
I grew up in the DYNASTY years, best football team EVER assembled.

 

I agree withyour buddy on all of the players.
He is a pretty smart guy.

He is dead on about Big Ben

 

I'm 41. I'd choose:

Franco
Blount
Hines as a personality, but Stallworth as a better receiver if I'm being honest with myself.
Webster
Polamalu
Lloyd
Ben or Bradshaw? This one is tough for me, as I grew up loving Bradshaw (had the 12 jersey as a kid, etc), but I'm also a big fan of Ben. My heart says Ben, but my head says Bradshaw.

 

I'll be 72 in 3 weeks, so I'm pretty old, Blount is the best corner that ever played in my opinion, Hines would have fit right in with the 70s team for his tough personality and blocking, Stallworth was a gazelle going down the field and has the edge over Hines as a pure receiver, Franco had a great blocking line and the bus didn't always have that advantage so I put them even as the best backs, Troy in his early years was a top safety, he has digressed of late, he has a tiny edge over shell, Webby was the best blocking center in football hands down, Bradshaw was a good game manager he never had to throw the ball like offenses do today, so I'll place him and Ben as equals, Jack Lambert played with an intensity and mean streak on game day that I haven't seen any other linebacker match since he retired.......

 

I think everyone including the OP are missing the point - a great player is one who can excel even surrounded by bad players (e.g. Barry Sanders). So I take it back a generation and go with Bobby Lane, John Henry Johnson, Dick Hoak, Buddy Dial, Roy Jefferson, Jack Butler, Ernie Stautner, Myron Pottios, Big Daddy Lipscomb - horrible horrible teams from the late 50's into the mid 60's but some of these guys played their hearts out knowing they'd never reach .500 (maybe like todays team?)

 

greg loydd or kevin greene????

They were on the same team. Between the two IDK it depends on what the criteria is.

To me, Kevin Greene was just a pass rush specialist. ... Greene was 'as good' or 'slightly better' pass rusher than Lloyd.

Lloyd was underrated in pass coverage and played the run well too, but he got hurt and his career was cut a few years short.


I never saw Bradshaw play, but I say Ben will be considered the best Steelers QB when he hangs it up.

 

Franco over the Bus
Blount over Woodson ( not even close )
Stallworth over Hines ( very close )
Webster over Dawson
Troy over Shell ( by a wide margin )
Lloyd and Greene push
Bradshaw over Ben
Ditto on the Lambert/Ham over any other LB

 

Some quibbles, Blount over Woodson, not even close, agree. and Woodson was a great player. Troy over Shell by miles,. I don't think Stallworth over Hines is 'very close'. But I undstand that. Lloyd over Greene ever day, Greene could do one thing, he is no HOFer.

But Ben is 10x the QB of Bradsahw. For the first 5 yr of TB's career he was being yanked off the starting line-up, sometimes by a heroin additct. Yup, TB has 4 rings, but he had a HOF center, 2 HOF WRs, a HOF RB, and 4 HOF guys on D. You wanna tell me Ben wouldn't have won in that situation?

 

I'm not even sure it is possible to do most of these comparisons. They are all great players, and I mean all of them.