Kordell Stewart vs. Curtis Martin – Did the Steelers miss their chance to win Super Bowl XXX: Redrafting 1995

[Steeler Nation]

In this retrospective series, we’ll use 20/20 hindsight to play General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers to review past drafts – focusing primarily on top 2-3 selections – and personnel decisions year-by-year and redraft or implement trades based on the Steelers roster at the time.

General rule: Any “redrafted” pick will generally fall within a 15-pick range and trade propositions being realistic and attainable.



Steelers situation and needs:

• The 1994 Steelers were the best Steelers team that did not win the Super Bowl – Dick LeBeau had crafted the zone blitz scheme to directly match up against the “West Coast” offense and it was at its peak.
• The offense was run first and run heavy, and the passing game was not “dangerous”. Neil O’Donnell only threw 13 TDs vs 9 INTs and an argument can be made that for 2 of the toughest wins of the season (vs Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders), Mike Tomczak sparked the best passing games of the season starting for an injured O’Donnell.
• Barry Foster and Bam Morris combined for 1,678 yards on 4.1 yards per carry and 12 TDs as the battering force for the offense.
• The 1994 AFC Championship was the most disappointing loss in franchise history, when the Steelers failed to beat a team they were clearly superior than and O’Donnell spiked the ball on 2nd and 9 (on the San Diego Chargers 9-yard line) with 1:20 left to go is a loss many of us have never gotten over.

A Very Difficult Draft to Redraft​

Redrafting 1995: 1st Round – #27 Overall; 2nd Round – #60 Overall

The departure of TE Eric Green – who was 2nd to John L. Williams on the team in receptions – but was the most dangerous threat downfield was important to replace. The Steelers were not on the clock long before selecting TE Mark Bruener. Bruener was never drafted to be an offensive weapon as much as a blocker and he literally was as good has having an additional OT on the field every play. He quickly was inserted as the full-time starter and would be a blocking beast for 8 seasons.

The 2nd round pick QB Kordell Stewart might very well have been the X-factor on offense that got the Steelers into Super Bowl XXX. As “Slash” he made big plays from the WR, QB and RB position and provided a huge spark, including a key TD catch in the 1995 AFC Championship. He was the highest drafted QB on the Steelers over a period of 24 years and his QB career was up and down, but personally I don’t think they get to Super Bowl XXX without him.

Grade B​

• 3rd round pick guard Brendan Stai stepped right in and would start the rest of the decade. In effect, the Steelers had 3 rookies on offense in their 3 picks that made valuable contributions – even if 2 were “not sexy” but no less important.
• FA RB Eric Pegram led the Steelers in rushing with 813 yards and 5 TDs as the primary RB and FA G Tom Newberry immediately slid into the other starting guard position, given that neither starter from 1994 returned. While neither had a long stay in Pittsburgh, had Super Bowl XXX not been derailed by 2 untimely INTs, they might have different legacies.
• FA Tim Lester came from the Rams and would soon earn the nickname, the “Bus Driver”, when the “Bus” came to town.
• 5th round pick Lee Flowers would become a starter by the end of the decade and the early 2000s, but was more remembered for trash talking than great play.

Redrafting 1995: Hindsight is 20/20 but…..​

Future Hall of Fame OLB Derrick Brooks was taken at #28 and he is as deserving of the honor as any OLB. However, how would he have fit into the Steelers defense? He was a clone of Jack Ham, not known for his pass rushing abilities and the Steelers had the dynamic Chad Brown who was more of a natural OLB already at ILB with OLB Jason Gildon waiting in the wings. There is no question who the better player was, but was he the right player for the 3-4 “Blitzburgh” scheme? How big a need was OLB for a team on the cusp of a Super Bowl with the best OLB pairing (Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd) in the NFL already starting?

Kordell Stewart had incredible seasons in 1997 and 2001 in taking the Steelers to the AFC Championship and easily forgettable was how he sparked the 2000 Steelers from an 0-3 start to what should have been the playoffs. The NFL sent letters of apology to the Steelers for officials blown calls on 3 separate games which impacted the outcome. Kordell had games of magnificence and games that were just awful – throwing 3 INTs in each AFC Championship. He still has 3 more votes for MVP (2001) than Ben Roethlisberger ever has received. Once again, 20/20 hindsight here is hard, because future Hall of Fame and 1995 Rookie of the Year RB Curtis Martin from Pitt was on the board. The Steelers elected to go with FA a Pegram/Morris backfield.

The big question: Would Martin have been that big a difference maker that could have made a difference in Super Bowl XXX? The Steelers would trade for a future Hall of Fame RB the next year in Jerome Bettis who was of the same caliber as Martin. The key question to ask if the Steelers had Bettis vs. the Dallas Cowboys would they have won Super Bowl XXX? In my belief, the answer is yes on both counts. However, that is speculation and Bettis had a direct impact with the Steelers to win Super Bowl XL.

So, the right call was made…maybe?



Leave a thought or comment below.

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[steel dino]

Just think about it...

Marino and Martin literally in their own back yard balling in High School and College...and you pass on both?!?

Biggest mistakes the Steelers ever made..

 

[steelerscotty]

No, they would not have won that super bowl with Martin. Our running game was working just fine with the backs we had. Then we started getting pass happy and O'Donell choked. With Curtis Martin at RB that game plays out exactly the same, IMO.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I'm in agreeance with steelerscotty as to Martin making a big enough impact to change the out come of that SB and no, I don't think so. Kordell never got the credit he deserved. He was unprecidented in the slash role. He was virtually unstoppable and did things others could not do. He brought life to the STEELERS and his energy was electric. As a QB he had his stegnths but also his weaknesses. Our OC had schemed so that on pass plays kordell only had to vision a 1/3 width of the field thus making things easier (if only last year's OC could have schemed to help players).


AS for Marino, yes he had a great career. Would he have been able to be utalized as well here in th burgh? Don Shula was an inovator and agressive coach in ways of how he used player's stregnth to enhance over team & Player play. Definately a passing QB. The STEELERS were built to run and run they did so much as I wonder how Dan M. woud have developed. Don't get me wrong as I'm sure we would have done much better than the QBs we had in that time frame but I'm not so sure we would have gotten as many SBs as many here think we automaticly would have gotten.



Salute the nation

 

[FSF]

Just think about it...

Marino and Martin literally in their own back yard balling in High School and College...and you pass on both?!?

Biggest mistakes the Steelers ever made..

Not drafting Martin was mitigated by trading for Bettis.

Bettis was the driving factor the team rallied around to win SB XL

Would the Steelers have won Super Bowl XXX with Martin?

 

[FSF]

No, they would not have won that super bowl with Martin. Our running game was working just fine with the backs we had. Then we started getting pass happy and O'Donell choked. With Curtis Martin at RB that game plays out exactly the same, IMO.

I want to agree, but honestly I think that Martin & Bettis were pretty equal in how good they were.

I’ve often thought if we had Bettis in 1995, we win Super Bowl XXX. He was obviously an upgrade to Bam Morris & Pegrams role diminished in 1996 as Bettis took over as the star player.

It’s a hypothetical question of course—as can never be certain. Bottom line is a ring was won with the Bettis (the team rallying around him) and the other is a guess.

 

[FSF]

I'm in agreeance with steelerscotty as to Martin making a big enough impact to change the out come of that SB and no, I don't think so. Kordell never got the credit he deserved. He was unprecidented in the slash role. He was virtually unstoppable and did things others could not do. He brought life to the STEELERS and his energy was electric. As a QB he had his stegnths but also his weaknesses. Our OC had schemed so that on pass plays kordell only had to vision a 1/3 width of the field thus making things easier (if only last year's OC could have schemed to help players).


AS for Marino, yes he had a great career. Would he have been able to be utalized as well here in th burgh? Don Shula was an inovator and agressive coach in ways of how he used player's stregnth to enhance over team & Player play. Definately a passing QB. The STEELERS were built to run and run they did so much as I wonder how Dan M. woud have developed. Don't get me wrong as I'm sure we would have done much better than the QBs we had in that time frame but I'm not so sure we would have gotten as many SBs as many here think we automaticly would have gotten.



Salute the nation

The other side to the Marino coin is we definitely don’t get Rod Woodson and as indicated throughout this series, the Noll vs Art Rooney Jr. divide was every bit as bad as Donahoe & Cowher became.

Outside of Lipps & Woodson—the Steelers drafted for **** from in first round 1980 to 1991 — and especially in the late 80s. In fact, the 2nd round was just as absurdly awful save for Carnell Lake & Dermontti Dawson (after AR jr was gone).

Who’s to what talent Marino would have had to work with. Seriously the team was stuck in neutral until Donahoe got promoted & began having increased influence in 1988.

 

[madinsomniac]

My gosh i wanted the Steelers to land martin so badly that year... i was a city boy and all my friends went to TA for high school and I was about to go to Pitt... I was really familiar with him and you could see he was going to be good... but we traded for the Bus and got a year of Bam morris before that... so it kind of worked out

 

[steelerscotty]

I want to agree, but honestly I think that Martin & Bettis were pretty equal in how good they were.

I’ve often thought if we had Bettis in 1995, we win Super Bowl XXX. He was obviously an upgrade to Bam Morris & Pegrams role diminished in 1996 as Bettis took over as the star player.

It’s a hypothetical question of course—as can never be certain. Bottom line is a ring was won with the Bettis (the team rallying around him) and the other is a guess.

I agree 100% that Bettis was and Martin would have been an upgrade. Bam was killing it though, in SBXXX. To this day I cannot figure out why we came out passing on the drive where we had an opportunity to take the lead. Probably it was OC and Cowher outthinking them selves.

 

[Coach]

Just think about it...

Marino and Martin literally in their own back yard balling in High School and College...and you pass on both?!?

Biggest mistakes the Steelers ever made..

Had Dan Rooney opened up his wallet and kept Neil O'Donnell, the Steelers would have played in another Super Bowl.

 

[steel dino]

My gosh i wanted the Steelers to land martin so badly that year... i was a city boy and all my friends went to TA for high school and I was about to go to Pitt... I was really familiar with him and you could see he was going to be good... but we traded for the Bus and got a year of Bam morris before that... so it kind of worked out

Similar story for me mad...

Peabody High alum...

The Dice and the Body had some pretty good baseball and football games against each other back in t e day ..

 

[steel dino]

Not drafting Martin was mitigated by trading for Bettis.

Bettis was the driving factor the team rallied around to win SB XL

Would the Steelers have won Super Bowl XXX with Martin?

I think it would of been a very good possibility...

We can only speculate.

 

[FSF]

Had Dan Rooney opened up his wallet and kept Neil O'Donnell, the Steelers would have played in another Super Bowl.

I don’t think they believed in O’Donnell — the Kordell Stewart pick speaks to that.

Maybe you’re right—I thought it was foolish move for him to chase the Jets $ and be exposed to the failure he experienced. 5-years, $25M — he was 0-6 & replaced as starter by Glenn Foley on a 1-15 team.

Parcells cut him after 1 season - then rode Vinny Testeverde to AFCCG.

Just sayin’

 

[FSF]

I agree 100% that Bettis was and Martin would have been an upgrade. Bam was killing it though, in SBXXX. To this day I cannot figure out why we came out passing on the drive where we had an opportunity to take the lead. Probably it was OC and Cowher outthinking them selves.

100% — 100% — 100%.

Watched the game multiple times since then. Cowboys D was getting worn out and beaten up.

While I cannot agree that Bam was “killing it” — he was doing well. A Jerome Bettis of that era would have feasted on that tired Defense in 2nd half. He was just so unmatched with his footwork combined with the ability to not take hits but dish them out.....

 

[SteveA]

If I could Re-Draft '95 I'd make a whole lot of changes myself...I missed on way more than the Steelers did that year...