Most important player in Steelers history

Who, in your opinion is the most important player in Steelers history? Now, use whatever criteria you want. If you feel that most important is also most talented, or best stats, then go with that.

I think Joe Greene is by far the most important player in Steelers history. I wasn't around back then to watch him play, but I have read a lot on the 70's Steelers and it seems like he not only was perhaps the best defensive lineman in the league, he changed the entire culture of the Steelers. I don't have to tell anyone on here that we weren't knowing for winning back then. We were the joke of the league. Based on what I have read, Joe Greene hated losing more than anything on earth, much more so than the average player. It just sounds like he changed the identity of the team. Not to mention that with him being double and triple teamed, that opened up room for the other guys to make plays.

If not for Joe Greene, it's possible that the Steelers would still be a losing team to this day. The success of the 70's Steelers setup the identity that the team has carried to this day. Joe Greene created that identity, in my opinion. Without him, who knows what would have happened. It's kind of like the Butterfly Effect.

 

I am going to go with Franco Harris....didn't one of the Rooneys say something like we didn't win much until he came and after he came we didn't lose too much....if that's the case he is the most important player in steelers history

 

75 Nolls first pick in his first draft. The dynasty started that day.Sure Noll added alot of great players after him but 75 was the foundation.

 

Troy Polamalu!

Just based on his dynamic plays during his career thus far. Without him, our defense struggles.

 

I'm going with Joe Greene also. The undisputed anchor of the Steel Curtain. Besides, to this day, any black and green tuna or marlin jig is known as a "mean Joe Green"

 

There have been so many great Steelers since the 70s, it's hard to narrow it down, but I'd have to agree with those who said Mean Joe Greene. He was still playing when I first started getting into football and became a Steelers fan, and to this day he's still probably my overall favorite player because of how much he brought to the organization.

 

I would have to say defiantly “Mean” Joe Greene. Before Chuck Noll arrived we were perennial losers. Granted tough and local loved, but losers never the less. When Chuck Noll arrived he was clearly stated that he believe you built winning team around Defense and you built great defenses around a great front seven. Noll choose Mean Joe in the 1st round of the 1969 draft to be the guy the he would build the whole team around, a team that would go on to be the great team to ever walk on a football field! Mean Joe was everything Noll could hope for and more. He was a freakish blend size and strength that forced that team double and at time triple team to him. This was not the loveable guy tossing a shirt to the cute kid in the tunnel, who was mellowed by winning and injury (chronic bad back later in his career). No this was a guy how spit in Dick Butkus’s face. A guy who punched and knocked out the game not one, but two Eagle Guards for holding him. He was a hyper aggressive, barely contain mountain of fury that had an almost pathological hated for losing. He truly earned his “Mean” moniker. This fury and refusal to loss, IMHO, became the one key characteristic of those great 1970’s Steelers teams and I think you have to look at “Mean” Joe as the player most responsible for imparting this into the Steelers’ franchise soul. Before him we were lovable losers, after him we have become proud uncompromising winners!

 

Without a doubt...............................................it's Bubby Brister (the day he left the Steelers!)

What really sucks is that he then scored 2 (?) SB rings riding the pine behind Elway.

I picked up a couple Brister fridge magnets many years ago at the (gulp) 99 Cent Only Store. The only reason I bought them was that they said "Buddy" Brister on them with his goofy mug. I thought they might be worth something someday (maybe ($1.25??) because of the typo - you know - like misprint postage stamps and coins.

Seriously - I say it's Terry Bradshaw - not sure we get 4 rings in the 70's with either Hanratty or Joe Gilliam

 

Without a doubt - Joe Green. My favorite Mean Joe story was from one of the books about the Steelers' dynasty of the Steel Curtain, About Three Bricks Shy of a Full Load. A story in the book said that the other defensive linemen used to key the snap by watching Joe Green's reaction, as that was faster for them than watching the ball. He was so fast and instinctive (much like Troy), that he set the tone for years and changed the way the game was played, at least by the Steelers.

 

Greene seems like the runaway winner so far. I was born in the 80s, so I didn't see him play live, but here's my thought...

When Chuck Noll arrived, they started drafting good. Crazy good. I'm not sure if he was the GM (or whatever they had at the time), or if he just had a lot of sway with the GM, or if it's just a coincidence, but that's when they started picking the right guys. Immediately. So if he is due credit for drafting in the early 70s, then he is my choice for most important Steeler.

Joe Greene might have been the foundation for the defense, but does he win any Super Bowls at all without Swann, Lambert, Stallworth, and all those other guys? We've seen phenomenal players go championshipless before due to crappy teammates.

 

This is easy Joe Greene, and coach Chuck Noll and all the talented
scouts that formed the greatest dynasty ever assembled.

 

It is difficult to pick just one from the Noll era. I would go with Greene by default, because he was the first, but it's hard to argue with Harris, Bradshaw, and a ton of others that created a dynasty that has lasted for 40 years.

 

Mean joe green-Defense

Lynn swann-Offense

 

Definitely Mean Joe Green. My first ever Steeler jersey when I was a youngster was a #75...

 

Noll was not the GM. Dan Rooney was president and his brother was GM. He orchrestrated the greatest draft in 74 which set the foundation for the 70's dynasty.

Joe Green was by a mile the Greatest or most important player in history of the Steelers.

Not because he was Nolls 1st draft choice, that would be silly, but because he set the tone of the team being a strong hardnosed fighter. The decades of losing cycle needed a strong personality to break it and Mean Joe set the tone. I watched him play When we sucked. He refused to be a loser. Every member of the steelers then and the ones to come took their lead from him.
Cajun-

 

Joe Greene is my all time favorite Steeler, but I'm going with Bradshaw on this one. I think the defense would have been dominate even without Mean Joe with the likes of Greenwood, White, Holmes, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Shell, etc, etc. But I'm not sure if the offense would have been without TB. Remember, in addition to his passing, Bradshaw called all his own plays which was a huge part of us scoring all those Franco, Swann, & Stallworth TD's which helped bring home all those Lombardis.

 

The 70's players will obvviously get a lot of love for this kind of question. For greatest ever, you look to the winners.

I think there's also something to be said for the guys who kept Pittsburgh competitive, in those in-between years in the 80's, on basically weaker teams but still keeping the Steelers identity. Mike Merriweather, Louis Lipps and the like.

 

i gotta agree. i saw them all play. the whole team had so much talent on both sides of the ball. teams were as afraid of our offense as much as they were afraid of our defense. both imposed they're will on people. bradshaw drove the car, though as lambert drove the truck. man they were fun to watch every week.

 

Ernie Stautner
he was mean joe before we got mean joe
just didn't have the same talent around him

most important steelers player to nfl history
Mel Blount
the no contact after 5 yds rule was introduced because of him
and was the start of the passing league we have now

 

I know he was not a player for the Steelers, but Noll is by far and away the best Steeler. It was his vision and him putting together an entire staff that was able to cull the college ranks for a bunch of great players.

Now, if I had to vote for one player, it would be Greene. Again, it has to start somewhere and it started with Greene. I was around back then to remember when they drafted him and everyone in Pittsburgh said, "who is Joe Greene?" They soon found out.

Joe was not only unstoppable, I think he also set the tempo for players to come. He was so good that all the other guys were trying just to aspire to get to his level. He raised the bar incredibly high as did Noll.

One has to have a cornerstone and that cornerstone was Joe Greene. Of course you also have to have the remaining pieces of the puzzle, but he was the key indivual apart from Noll.

rutan

 

I like this thinking.

Though technically, this could leave it open to claim that Roy Williams was one of the greatest safeties to play the game, ebcause of the introduction horsecollar rule.

 

Joe Greene definitely. Watched them before he was there and ever since. Changed the attitude of the team forever.

 

Bill Shakespeare the VERY FIRST player we ever took in the daft because if not for him there would be no others! lol

 

Joe Greene......period.