Steelers - all time top 5 - CBS Sports

Top 5 Steelers players during the first four Super Bowls

1 Joe Greene
2 Terry Bradshaw
3 Jack Lambert
4 Franco Harris
5 Mel Blount

Top 5 Steeler Players during the last 4 Super Bowls

1 Ben Roethisberger
2 Hines Ward
3 Jerome Bettis
4 Rod Woodson
5 Joey Porter

Tough to nail down a top 5. I eliminated owners and coaches. Cowher, Noll, Dan and Art SR. would take up 4 of the 5 spots on my list.

 

Bill Nunn should be the fifth.

 

You forgot about Polamalu. He has to be before Porter.

 

Love these type of posts. When the Steelers chose Franco over Lydell I was disappointed (13 year old reaction). I had to go back and refresh what kind of career Lydell had, he had some great years and over 9,000 total yards from scrimmage is nothing to sneeze at. That said 4 SB rings and a whole army of followers still Franco him at the top of my list. I also did not realize Franco and Lydell have been in business together for decades, nice story.

 

He must have gone bat **** crazy when the 70's dynasty started after all those lean years. I know I did. As a very young boy in the 60's I was in Pitt stadium (terrible bench seating) with him watching our boys usually getting their ass kicked.

 

I do agree with you but just wanted to throw this out about Franco. It's a what have you done for me lately moment. At the end of his career Franco headed for the sidelines instead of taking the hit. Some fans turned on him seemingly forgetting all the good he had done for us.

 

Little off topic but WWII story reminded me of this. All humans look back at their youth as the time of their life. (these are the good old days) I did the tax return of a couple who met in England during the war and they always said it was the best time in their life. Imagine running to bomb shelters as deadly bombs rained down on you and this was the best time in your life.

 

That seems to be a common occurrence among Steelers fans (and a lot of football fans in general).
As soon as a player runs out of usefulness to the team, you'd think he was never any good to begin with. Including players who were the best at their position during their careers.

 

Actually, Franco was stepping out of bounds early in his career. He usually stepped out of bounds, rather than risk injury for a possible half yard.

 

Not just a common occurrence from Steelers fans. Every fan from every fan base for every sport. Recency Bias is a real issue among the general populous of sports fans that either do not educate themselves enough about the player or outright ignore how human anatomy works in terms of delivering and being dealt punishment from both a physical, mental and psychological standpoint.



Not easy being an athlete by any means.

 

Yes he should.

Probably over thought this one. I left Polamalu off for a few reasons. I didnt want to go double D back, and I already had Rod on my list. I wanted a player that represented the great 90s teams.

I would have put Harrison next, but passed due to his nonsense over the last few years.

That left me with Joey Porter. Peezy never quite gets the credit he deserves. Spiritual leader of the team not only during 05, but also during some great runs in 01, 02, and 04. Porter owned that locker room, and that defense fed off of his energy. I wanted to make mention of a player that deserves to be mentioned among Steeler greats but rarely is.

 

When Franco was closing in on Jim Brown's record with a much younger Walter Payton not far behind, Jim, Franco, and Walter were in an interview together. This was brought up and Brown made some less than complimentary comments about it. I could respect the notion, but never had a problem with how Franco played either. Payton was going to be the eventual all time leader, but Franco could have gotten there first. To me his bigger folly was getting a big head and holding out for more money, then being traded to Seattle with an O that just was not suited for his style of running. While his career was certainly winding down, he had just come off a 1000 yard season, he finished his career unceremoniously in Seattle only rushing for 170 yards his final season.

T