#1 Most Underrated Steeler

[Stewey]

After reading this, I have no doubts.

Perhaps most underrated in the NFL, but that would be very hard to determine.
Don't know who the underrated players are because well, they're underrated. lol

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/steelers-aaron-smith-had-a-rare-agreement-with-afc-north-rival-willie-anderson-when-it-came-to-the-pro-bowl/ar-BB1qhpVm?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Looks like he could play today.
Let Cam go. lol

 

[BLITZ]

Yeah him or Limas sweed

 

[slashsteel]

Yeah him or Limas Sweed

I started reading this in the process I dropped my phone.

 

[ZonaBurgh]

When I saw the thread title, that was the first name that came to mind.

 

[BLITZ]

joking aside. Smith is certainly the most underrated. LC Greenwood would be another.

 

[SteelerSask2]

Bigger issue of not having a true Nose. Can't use a guy like Smith hybrid edge/DT with length. Need more beef playing essentially a 42- Nickle.

 

[SteelerFan448]

From the broad NFL point of view, yes. From a Steelers fan, I don't think because he is constantly mentioned as the most underrated Steelers player--at least with the generation of fans who grew up watching those defenses. Along with Smith, I do wonder how many younger fans recognize how good guys like Casey Hampton and James Farrior were as well. Those defenses were loaded and everyone played their role to perfection.

 

[MTC]

Aaron Smith
Dan Krieder
If my memory is sharp. Carlton Haselrig was a stud.

The Cowher era had a bunch of studs. Too bad Tomlin couldn’t eek out at least 2 super bowls with that group

 

[MTC]

From the broad NFL point of view, yes. From a Steelers fan, I don't think because he is constantly mentioned as the most underrated Steelers player--at least with the generation of fans who grew up watching those defenses. Along with Smith, I do wonder how many younger fans recognize how good guys like Casey Hampton and James Farrior were as well. Those defenses were loaded and everyone played their role to perfection.

I grew up with the 90’s and 2000’s Steelers. So guys like Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, James Farrior were appreciated. Especially if you played the sport you realize just how cerebral they were.

The Steelers 3-4 definitely thrived off the fact Hampton could eat up the bulk of the opposing offensive line which allowed the Steelers linebacking core to be creative with their blitzes.

Watching as a fan from a tv view doesn’t look like much but there is a reason why quarterbacks had a hard time with the Steelers 3-4 defense before the rules catered to offenses.

On field it was fast and confusing. Those same creative blitzes allowed Polamalu to do his thing

 

[madinsomniac]

Aaron smith tops my list of Steelers who are getting into the HOF when they are eligible for tge veterans committee... who are way more apt to judge guys on technical prowess than the dipshit media voters...

The guy was probably the finest technical 3/4 DE there was.. he was a lot of tge reason LB behind him were so effective

 

[SojournerSteel]

Carnell Lake was way underrated. With all the difficulty the John Lynch-Whisperer has had with the secondary in 18 years save Troy and Ike, imagine if we had a swiss army knife like CL on the roster today?

 

[Stewey]

joking aside. Smith is certainly the most underrated. LC Greenwood would be another.

I can see that, but L.C. may not be what you would call underrated. I remember back in the day he was heralded around the league as being one of the best.. except that the morons on the HOF committee that never got the message. Seems every time Joe Greene's name was brought up, LC would soon follow.
Maybe just too many Steelers in the HOF.

Start talking about Aaron Smith and the reaction would be "Aaron who"?

 

[ZonaBurgh]

Ed O'Neill deserves some consideration.

 

[Stewey]

Aaron Smith
Dan Krieder
If my memory is sharp. Carlton Haselrig was a stud.

The Cowher era had a bunch of studs. Too bad Tomlin couldn’t eek out at least 2 super bowls with that group

Tell me about it.
We shoulda beat the Cowboys. We were on the verge.

Up to then the NFC had handed out a string of blowouts in Super Bowls until the Steelers showed up.
Everyone thought it was gonna be another NFC blowout.

LOL...I overlooked that you said TOMLIN.
Cowher should have had another SB with the talent he had.

 

[BLITZ]

I can see that, but L.C. may not be what you would call underrated. I remember back in the day he was heralded around the league as being one of the best.. except that the morons on the HOF committee that never got the message. Seems every time Joe Greene's name was brought up, LC would soon follow.
Maybe just too many Steelers in the HOF.

Start talking about Aaron Smith and the reaction would be "Aaron who"?

Apologies I was thinking this to mean who do today's fan under value.

It is shocking how many current steeler fans let alone NFL fans do not know who LC is.
For those that became fans due to guys like Ben, Hines and Troy I would guess most know Mean Joe and Lambert. But not many know LC. Kinda sad

 

[SojournerSteel]

Ed O'Neill deserves some consideration.

Certainly right up there with Roethlisberger in terms of cultural impact.

 

[MTC]

Tell me about it.
We shoulda beat the Cowboys. We were on the verge.

Up to then the NFC had handed out string of blowouts in Super Bowls until the Steelers showed up.
Everyone thought it was gonna be another NFC blowout.

LOL...I overlooked that you said TOMLIN.
Cowher should have had another SB with the talent he had.

Cowher should’ve had a couple as well. He always seemed to lack the franchise QB though. He burned through the likes of Kordell, Graham, Tomzack. Yet remained competitive. He finally got over the hill with Roethlisberger

 

[warriors42]

Carnell Lake was way underrated. With all the difficulty the John Lynch-Whisperer has had with the secondary in 18 years save Troy and Ike, imagine if we had a swiss army knife like CL on the roster today?

Lake was one of my favorites. Woodson gets hurt no problem we can move Lake from safety to a corner island and hell he get get into the pro-bowl from there

 

[Stewey]

Apologies I was thinking this to mean who do today's fan under value.

It is shocking how many current steeler fans let alone NFL fans do not know who LC is.
For those that became fans due to guys like Ben, Hines and Troy I would guess most know Mean Joe and Lambert. But not many know LC. Kinda sad

No apologies needed! It's only fooball talk. lol

Yeah, back in the day it felt like LC was as big a name as Greene or Lambert or Ham. But like you said, not today.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I grew up with the 90’s and 2000’s Steelers. So guys like Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, James Farrior were appreciated. Especially if you played the sport you realize just how cerebral they were.

The Steelers 3-4 definitely thrived off the fact Hampton could eat up the bulk of the opposing offensive line which allowed the Steelers linebacking core to be creative with their blitzes.

Watching as a fan from a tv view doesn’t look like much but there is a reason why quarterbacks had a hard time with the Steelers 3-4 defense before the rules catered to offenses.

On field it was fast and confusing. Those same creative blitzes allowed Polamalu to do his thing

Great post MTC, thank you.!!!

A.Smith is the 1st to come to mind, but Kreider And Bettis’ FB (name ?) come to mind as well.

Ben ROETHLISBERGER was under appreciated, NOT under rated. The league stole much from him in accolades, similar to what the league is doing to TJ WATT.


Salute the nation

 

[slashsteel]

Apologies I was thinking this to mean who do today's fan under value.

It is shocking how many current steeler fans let alone NFL fans do not know who LC is.
For those that became fans due to guys like Ben, Hines and Troy I would guess most know Mean Joe and Lambert. But not many know LC. Kinda sad

 

[Shane Falco]

Definitely an unsung hero. But at least he was properly used. Now Dri Archer…

 

[Punxsutawney]

From the broad NFL point of view, yes. From a Steelers fan, I don't think because he is constantly mentioned as the most underrated Steelers player--at least with the generation of fans who grew up watching those defenses. Along with Smith, I do wonder how many younger fans recognize how good guys like Casey Hampton and James Farrior were as well. Those defenses were loaded and everyone played their role to perfection.

Yeah, I think Steelers fans fully appreciate how important Smith was to those teams that reached all those AFC title games and Super Bowls in the 2000s.

To me, his best season was easily the 2004 15-1 season, not only because that was his only Probowl season, but because he picked up the slack and anchored things up front after Casey Hampton had a season-ending injury early on.

Bill Belichick said in an interview before the 2004 AFC title game that he thought Smith might have been the best DL in the league that season.

I can rarely see Smith mentioned without thinking of Tom Donahue and his last draft with the Steelers. It is most remembered for Donahue pushing to draft Troy Edwards over Jevon Kearse, creating friction between him and Cowher that ultimately resulted in Donahue being fired.

However, he and Cowher more than compensated for passing on Kearse by drafting Smith and Joey Porter in the middle rounds.

 

[Stewey]

If you do the math...

.... 6-time pro bowler
... 5-time All AFC
... 2-time All Pro
....1 tied NFL fumble recovery record
+ 6-time Steeler sack leader
= Not in the HOF

It just doesn't add up.

 

[Stewey]

Cowher should’ve had a couple as well. He always seemed to lack the franchise QB though. He burned through the likes of Kordell, Graham, Tomzack. Yet remained competitive. He finally got over the hill with Roethlisberger

Except that Big Ben had one of the worst performances in his career in that SB. It was among the worst performances of a QB in SB history. His QB rating was a record low and it may still stand.

I'd bet Neil O'Donnel had better stats vs the Cowboys.