Steelers Ryan Clark Echos Jack Lambert and He is Right To...

“Quarterbacks should wear dresses.” – Jack Lambert, early 1980’s
“They might as well just take us off the field and see how many points you can score on offense in 60 minutes.” – Ryan Clark, August 2013

Ryan Clark might lack Lambert’s brevity, but his criticism of the NFL as equally accurate as it is damming.

• When it comes to hypocrisy, the NFL knows no limits.

Fear not, this is no column decrying new NFL safety rules to reduce the threat of head trauma. Such rules, absent medical break throughs and/or a clearer understanding of what is causing so many former NFL players to lose it up stairs when they’re in their 60’s, 50’s or even 40’s, are needed.

But like a spoiled child, the NFL wants to have its cake and eat it too.

This is nothing new. In the early and mid 1970’s there was an opposing defender who was so physical with receivers downfield that the NFL had to modify its rules, preventing defenders from touching receivers beyond 5 yards.

That defender was of course Mel Blount, and Chuck Noll took advantage of the rules changes to unleash Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Bennie Cunningham and Super Bowls XIII and XIV followed.

The NFC Titan’s of the 1980’s followed suit Bill Walsh and Joe Montana and Joe Gibbs and a trio of quarterbacks dominated a decade.

• But as happens, NFL defensive coordinators did what they do – they adapted.

And the way you adapt to making it more difficult to cover downfield is to increase pressure on the quarterback upfront. Pass rush specialists like Lawrence Taylor emerged. Others developed schemes to bring pressure from unique angles – you may have heard of Dick LeBeau and the Zone Blitz.

• Of course increase pressure resulted in more injuries to quarterbacks.

So the NFL began legislating to protect its prized primiadonnas – nary a consideration was given to the root cause of the issue.

The same thing is repeating itself today. The NFL is rightly attempting to protect players, both defensive and offensive, from head injuries. So defensive backs adjust their technique to avoid the head and neck.

• The result is that players like Dustin Keller suffer knee injuries as a result of a hit by D.J. Swearinger.

And of course the NFL steps in. Nothing is illegal. Yet. But we will investigate.

And the one doing the investigating is none other than the Steelers old friend Ray Anderson….

…Ray Anderson who made a similar “not illegal now but…” statement after Hines Ward devastating block of Keith Rivers. Ray Anderson who singled out James Harrison while turning a bind eye to questionable hits on Ben Roethlisberger…. (Click here for more on the Steelers and Anderson)

Yeah, Ryan Clark is right to call out the NFL.

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Fans Name James Harrison's 99 Yard Pick Six as Steelers Favorite Super Bowl Moment

All things must eventually draw to a close and in the case of this blog that includes our “Steelers Favorite Super Bowl Moment” poll.

Born during the Steelers 2010 playoff run, the poll got deleted by mistake after the Steelers 2010 AFC Championship victory over the New York Jets when it had at least 500 votes.

The poll immediately went back up, and was kept after the disappointment of Super Bowl XLV as sort of a rallying cry.

However, in the fall of 2012 Google Blogger’s polling function ran into problems, and votes began disappearing from polls. While Blogger fixed it, the patch did not seem to apply to older polls, as this one had close to 1000 votes on it in October, and it closed at 800 and change.

So its time has come.

James Harrison's 99 Yard TD Tops List

And what was the favorite Super Bowl moment of the Steel Curtain Rising faithful? See for yourself:

There’s little wonder why. |

James Harrison made one of the most dramatic game-changers in the history of the Super Bowl. Ben Roethlisberger’s final drive in Super Bowl XLIII comes in second on this list. The only other two moments to get any real “love” were the Lombardi Trophy presentation to Art Rooney Sr. following Super Bowl IX and Lynn Swann’s acrobatic catches in Super Bowl X.

Thanks to all who voted. Steel Curtain Rising is always running a poll of some sort, so if you found this page via Google and have read this far, please scroll up and vote!

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Watch the Steelers vs. the Raiders in the 1975 AFC Championship

Missed seeing Bradshaw, Lambert, Franco, Greene, Swann, Blount and Stallworth in their primes?
(Scroll down for the video.)

Fortunately those you too young to remember or those who remember but were too young to appreciate get a second chance thanks to Dan Gigler’s Blog ‘n Gold over at the Post Gazette.

Gigler’s Blog and Gold, long a supporter of this site, is a veritable trove of treasures from Steelers Nation. Dan’s schedule for updating the site is irregular, but when he does update it he always delivers.

This time he’s out done himself by securing a copy of the 1975 AFC Championship game between the Steelers and the Raiders.

You can watch a commercial free, edited version of the game here (available as of 6/17/12):

Folks, this has been up since October 2011 but its unlikely the NFL’s lawyers will allow YouTube to keep this up for much longer. So watch it while you can, it’s a good investment of an hour.

Steelers vs. the Raiders – a Legendary Feud that Defined a Decade

The Patriots and Colts of the ‘00’s can have their rivalry. Compared to the Steelers vs. the Raiders, theirs is a high school popularity between opposing pretty boys who fear dirtying their hands.

• The Steelers and the Raiders fought a grown up fight. And they played for keeps.

No one ever uttered the words “criminal element” following a Patriots-Colts match up.

This game featured the first of several illegal George Atkinson close line tackles of Lynn Swann  that prompted Chuck Noll to level the "criminal element" charge.

• The Steelers and Raiders dueled in many an epic battle in the ‘70’s but this game perhaps more than any other defines the rivalry.

Winter is bitterly cold in Pittsburgh and the Steelers had tarpped and heated the surface of Three Rivers Stadium the night before the game. But winds whipped in off of Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohiotore open the tarp, creating slick spots throughout the field, but especially on the sidelines.

Al Davis had (allegedly) watered down the field in Oakland to give his slower running backs an advantage. Davisreflexively assumed that all NFL owners were as unscrupulous as he, and accused Dan Rooney of intentionally icing down the field to stifle his sideline passing game.

The Californian Davis failed to realize this game was simply played as January football is meant to be played: in an open air stadium in single-digit temperatures in front of over 50,000 rabid fans.

Both Ken Stabler and Terry Bradshaw made some impressive throws to give Dave Casper and John Stallworth breakout moments.

• But defense defined this game.   

Monte Johnson and Jack Tatum notched three interceptions for the Raiders, while Mike Wagner had two picks, including one that was downright Troy Polamaluesque. 

Chuck Noll declared that the game featured some of the hardest hitting he had ever seen. He was right, there were 9 fumbles in this game, including three recovered by Jack Lambert.

Breaking Down the 1975 AFC Championship Game, the Steelers vs. the Raiders

While the editing on this video does make for some disjointed viewing at times, watching the raw, NBC footage allows you to enjoy the flavor of the moment in a way that NFL Films, for however much they’ve immortalized key moments in the game, misses.

Seeing the original Steel Curtain Joe Greene, Dwight White,Ernie Holmes and L.C. Greenwood play snap-by-snap in front of greats such as  Jack Ham, Andy Russell and Mel Blount lets you understand just how great they were.

It gives you a chance to appreciate things that don’t show up on the stat sheet nor make it into highlight reels, such as the way the RayMansfield, Mike Webster, and Sammy Davis kept Terry Bradshaw clean.

• The video also offers some important reminders. Yes, the Hall of Fame contingent of the Super Steelers made them great, but they were only a necessary, and not a sufficient element in the Championship runs.

Watch the AFC Championship game video and you’ll see players like J.T. Thomas and Glen Edwards make fumble forcing hits or guys like Larry Brown and Frank Lewis coming up with key hits.

• It’s also good to see guys like Franco Harris get stuffed, repeatedly by the Raiders defense.

That might sound strange, but it’s true. Franco had a hard day against the Raiders and his partly 79 yards on 27 carries shows that.

For most of the day, John Madden’s defense left nowhere for Franco to run. Nowhere at all until he ripped off 25 yard burst that ended in the end zone with Pittsburghclinging to a 3-0 lead early in the 4^th quarter.

Seeing Franco struggle then soar underscores the oft forgotten fact that the Super Steelers weren’t gods – instead they great athletes blessed with the On the Field Presence necessary to step it up and make plays when the game was on the line.

Enjoy.

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Al Daivs, Steelers Nemesis, 1929-2011

Al Davis, long time Steelers nemesis, has passed away at age 82, as the Oakland Raiders have announced and numerous sources have confirmed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have enjoyed their share of rivalries during their 79 years of existence, from their historic rivalry with the Browns, from rivalries in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s with the Oilers and Bengals, to the inter-conference rivalry with the Cowboys, and of course their current rivalry with the Bengals.

But with the Raiders it was different. Certainly the Steelers other rivalries have had their heros and vilians. But no one, not even someone as arrogant as Brian Billick or as obnixous as Jerry Glanville could personify the entire rivalry.

With the Raiders, it was different. Different because it was personal at its core, and it all came down to Al Davis. Davis didn’t like Pittsburgh, didn’t like the Steelers and make no secret about it.

In his book, My Steeler Odyssey, Andy Russell talks about how when he got drafted by the Chargers of the AFL and the Steelers of the NFL, Al Davis attempted to entice him not by selling him on the Chargers, but rather by bad mouthing the Steelers organization and the city of Pittsburgh.

From the Immaculate Reception to the Criminal Element

The 1970’s gave Al Davis the perfect opportunity to channel his hatred of the Black and Gold onto the field – to the delight of NFL Fans every where.

It was against Al Davis’ Raiders that Franco Harris made the greatest play in NFL, if not sports, history, the Immaculate Reception. In a single play, the fortunes of a franchise changed.

Five more times the Steelers and Raiders would meet in titanic clashes in the playoffs during the 1970’s. The Steelers would get the better of their West Coast rivals 3 times.

Davis simply refused to accept the Steelers were in fact the better team, never tiring of making excuses, questioning the legitimacy of the Immaculate Reception, or complaining that the Steelers have iced down the field prior to the 1975 AFC Championship game.

It was during that game that Lynn Swann suffered such a tremendous illegal hit at the hands of George Atkinson that Chuck Noll labeled him part of the NFL’s “Criminal Element.”

At Al Davis’ prodding, George Atkinson sued Chuck Noll for libel. Although Davis recruited rising political star Willie Brown to try the case, the California jury exonerated Chuck Noll. Still, the case was tried in the summer, disrupting the Steelers training camp and the rest of their season.

Al Davis may have won the battle, but he lost the war. The Steelers closed the decade with 4 Super Bowls to the Raiders 1.

Al Davis and The Rooneys

Al Davis relationship with the Rooneys saw its ups and downs. Art Rooney Sr. went out of his way to comfort Davis when his wife Carol suffered a stroke. Davis was sure to send flowers to Dan Rooney after a car accident in 1980.

Yet Dan Rooney fought Al Davis tooth and nail as Davis thumbed his nose at the league, not to mention the fans in Oakland, in establish the awful precedent that allows NFL to abandon their fans in search of a new home.

Davis, publicly and falsely castigated Rooney for “…flagrantly cheating on the salary cap” in 2001, to which Dan Rooney defend himself by calling Davis a “lying creep.” (Quotes as reported by Jim O'Brien in Art Rooney.)

In the end, it appears that Rooney remained true to his Catholic faith and made his peace with Davis, saying good things about him in his autobiography Dan Rooney, but reminding readers that “Al is Al,” and upon learning of Davis’ death, Rooney issued the following statement:

Al Davis was a good man and we were friendly rivals. He was a football man and did a lot for the game of football. I had a lot of respect for him and he will be missed throughout the entire NFL.

How much the rest of the NFL will “miss” Al Davis is an open question. But neither the NFL nor the Steelers-Raiders rivalry will ever be the same.

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