Your favorite, underrated Steeler of modern era

I got to get his auto on a hat. The steelers played a preseason game against the patriots at neyland stadium in 82 i think it was. I was 10. I had a cheap steelers hat on. He signed it along with bennie cunningham and robin cole. I had it for years and the signatures faded away.

 

I don't feel he was ever hated on, and he won us a ring. Fast Willie Parker. But good call to mention him for most underrated.

 

Great story, bro. Enjoyed it.

 

Yancy Thigpen and Aaron Smith. IMO if either of those guys were on a different team in a different style of offense/ defense they'd be HOF'ers. How Smith was only given 1 probowl season is ridiculous. He was unblockable. Thigpen had 2 - 1300 + yard seasons in an offense were our QB's could barley touch 3000 yards passing and there were no other WR's on the team. If he was playing in another era , like now, he'd be among the elite WR's in the league.

Not sure how to define "under rated" for your post. I think we could include a lot of greats in there. Hines Ward and Heath Miller come to mind. Not sure if you can call them under rated when I'd say they will go down as Steeler Greats...but many don't think Ward is a HOF WR ...and there weren't many other HOF wr's that I'd rather have then Ward. Heath was a great blocker and had great hands...he was as clutch as they get. Not many TE's out there with the whole package like Heath was. Sure he wasn't an elite pass catcher because of lack of speed but he did everything else perfectly.

 

There are many I could choose from. Hard to pick just one.

 

Stai, Legursky, Hartwig.

 

Louis Lipps

 

Underrated is difficult to quantify, but this is a pretty good list.

Definitely a lot of players on the 80s teams who get forgotten in the 'top whatever' lists. Lipps is the prime example. I'm not sure that makes him underrated, but certainly easily overlooked, especially when it comes to drawing up the all-time teams etc.

Mike Merriweather, Merril Hoge and Woodruff are also great calls already made on the thread.

I'd add:

Deshea Townsend
And in line with your selection of Roye, I'd go for Wee Willie Williams as well.

 

The Crusher!

 

how good was smith? I saw him play but didn't notice anything standing out.

 

Aaron Smith for me. The lunch pale was brought every game. And he brought it! Overlooked because he wasn't a sack guy. Please...

 

Hines Ward. He was severely underrated by the sports media... but Steelers fans knew he was great.

Jeff Hartings at Center was another great player who is overlooked. Hartings was better then than Pouncey is now, IMO.

 

Is this a joke?

 

Man I miss that Defense.

 

no, it's not lol. I am asking because I am not football savvy as some of you guys are so I tend to look at stats. When I was watching the Steelers back then with Smith I didn't have forums to educate me like now lol

 

fair enough. DTs in the 3-4 base just don't rack up stats becuase their job is to take up space and engage blockers with out being moved. Just look at our defensive rankings back then. Smith's ability to hold his ground created an impossible situation for opponents , especially running the ball. It took 2 blockers every time to block Smith. He collapsed the pocket with regularity as well. So he made the D-line better and he made the LB's better. I remember seeing a stat that listed our Yards per rush with and with out Smith...it was crazy. Wish I could find that stat but when he was playing healthy it was like 2 yards per carry vs 4 yards per carry. Because of Smith teams often just used the other side of the field. Ask Dick Lebeau who was the best players he ever coached and I guarantee you he says Smith as his top 3.

 

love this thread. For me the modern era includes the 70s - because I am old enough to remember that time vividly so it must be modern cause I'm not that old...

So, to name some new names- and these are just a few off the top of my head

Gerry Mullins and Jon Kolb- both huge factors in the line for the Super Bowl teams, and you can throw Sam Davis in there as well.

Dennis "Dirt "Winston- who was a great reserve LB and started in the playoffs for the 79 team.

Frank Lewis- made some huge catches in the playoffs in the two Colts games

Randy Grossman- a self made player who caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl

Ernie Mills- go look at his playoff stats, and you will see he consistently had monster games for the Steelers in the post season, year after year.

Nate Washington and Cedric Wilson- like Mills, made huge plays in the post season.

Aaron Smith was a Pro Bowler, so I don't consider him overlooked or underrated- but he WAS great. One game I attended in person I decided to keep my eye on him for a few series, and it was amazing to see him clear out the line.

And my boy in the avatar- Jimmy Allen, who just celebrated his 66th birthday- made more than his share of plays for the Steelers in 74-77 as a backup ad special teams player. The punt block in SB X by Reggie Harrison doesn't happen without Jimmy making a strong outside rush that forced the Dallas punter to step right in front of Reggie Harrison (also underrated).

To finish- and I think I will probably remember more names - the hallmark of all great Steelers teams has been depth, and unsung, footnote players, making big plays.

 

sucks he never got the flashy stats but then again 3-4 DE's rarely do. I compared him to kiesel and he was better statistically for sure.

 

I hear you. But I think it's mighty hard to get noticed as a 3-4 DE, bc they will never put up #'s due to the nature of their position (3 DL men going against 5 OL men). And when Yancy was healthy he was a top 5 WR, only problem was that only happened about every other season.

 

I loved Barry Foster. Short career, but he was fun to watch.

Mark Bruener was a great blocker.

 

I think we could say being "underrated" could come in two forms: unserrated by the Steeler fans or underrated by football fans and media in general. Or, maybe both. I was kind of leaning towards underrated by us fans I guess. For instance, I listed Frankie Pollard....of course non Steeler fans would underrate him; I challenge anyone to find a non-Steeler fan who even knows who he was if asked, other than his family.

 

The biggest problem I had with Abercrombie was his name. Go Abercrombie Go, just doesn’t roll off of the tongue.

 

Purely because he played in the era of Gates, Gonzalez, Gronk, Graham, Witten etc... Heath Miller never got a mention from anybody despite being the most reliable 'safety blanket' in the league BAR NONE

 

Frank Pollard was my power back in electronic football in the mid 80's. Abercrombie was my scat-back.

Weegie Thompson and Louis Lipps at WR.

I used Lipps as a KR. Dude could fly.

 

I remember Howard Cosell referring to Abercrombie as "the gifted one", which stuck at least with me.