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Top 5 steelers per position

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Coach

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Top 5.

This off-season to too long, so I thought I start a top 5 thread on who the best Steelers were per position since the AFL-NFL merger. For Speical teams, the limit is top 3. The gloves will be off when we get to punters. Fans can vote. I'll put up a new position every 2-3 days.

Up first, the offense.

Starting with the Quarterback.

1 ) Roethlisberger
2 ) Bradshaw
3 ) O'Donnell
4 ) Brister
5 ) Stewart

I put Ben #1 because he's the better overall passer. Bradshaw would be a 1B if allowed. O'Donnell to me is the clear #3.

It was close between #4 and 5, but Bubby had a better TD to Int ratio for his career and had the less overall talent to work with.
 
1 ) Roethlisberger
1B ) Bradshaw
3 ) Stewart - More yards than OD('d in the Superbowl) and was more exciting to watch as Slash.
4 ) O'Donnell
5 ) Brister
 
Coach said:
Top 5.

This off-season to too long, so I thought I start a top 5 thread on who the best Steelers were per position since the AFL-NFL merger. For Speical teams, the limit is top 3. The gloves will be off when we get to punters. Fans can vote. I'll put up a new position every 2-3 days.

Up first, the offense.

Starting with the Quarterback.

1 ) Roethlisberger
2 ) Bradshaw
3 ) O'Donnell
4 ) Brister
5 ) Stewart

I put Ben #1 because he's the better overall passer. Bradshaw would be a 1B if allowed. O'Donnell to me is the clear #3.

It was close between #4 and 5, but Bubby had a better TD to Int ratio for his career and had the less overall talent to work with.
Click to expand...

Do other team's modern era list of QBs fall off a precipice when it comes to 4th and 5th best QBs?

And even our #3 best QB was average, nothing more. And once Kordell was allowed to leave, the entire NFL quickly determined that he was horrible. Balt. signed someone off the street instead of allowing him to play there.

And Bubby....he was exceptionally dumb. Remember when he came back (When playing for Denver, I think) and after having spending years in Pgh, he referred to the cold air coming off "the lake...."

The lake? He thought the 3 rivers were a lake?
 
#1- Roethlisberger
#2- Bradshaw
#3- Neil OD
#4- Bobby Layne
#5- Tommy Maddox

We really don't have much after Ben and Terry lol. Neil was good for a year but blew the super bowl by sucking so bad. Layne left but when he came back had a few good seasons. Maddox had one great season and at the time broke records for us. I liked him more than most I know.
 
POP said:
Do other team's modern era list of QBs fall off a precipice when it comes to 4th and 5th best QBs?

And even our #3 best QB was average, nothing more. And once Kordell was allowed to leave, the entire NFL quickly determined that he was horrible. Balt. signed someone off the street instead of allowing him to play there.

And Bubby....he was exceptionally dumb. Remember when he came back (When playing for Denver, I think) and after having spending years in Pgh, he referred to the cold air coming off "the lake...."

The lake? He thought the 3 rivers were a lake?
Click to expand...

Kordell was good enough to be third in passing yardage and was solid as Slash.

You really love to dis Steelers players huh?

SMH
 
slashsteel said:
Kordell was good enough to be third in passing yardage and was solid as Slash.
Click to expand...

I guess that's why no other team wanted him to be their QB after he was booted from Pgh.

And it wasn't because he was old, he was in his physical prime. But no takers.

I wonder why?
 
Yeah, Ben is on his own level at this point. Maybe 5-6 years ago you could make a little argument for Bradshaw but Ben is just head and shoulders better. I for one could never put Kordell Stewart in my top 10 let alone 5. He might have been a rare athlete but he could never read a defense and was always late on his passes and would laser in on Yancey Thigpen every damn play. Once that security blanket was yanked away he just totally tanked. He was a good gadget play guy and could have been a helluva receiver but was never a QB in my opinion.
 
FordFairLane said:
Yeah, Ben is on his own level at this point. Maybe 5-6 years ago you could make a little argument for Bradshaw but Ben is just head and shoulders better. I for one could never put Kordell Stewart in my top 10 let alone 5. He might have been a rare athlete but he could never read a defense and was always late on his passes and would laser in on Yancey Thigpen every damn play. Once that security blanket was yanked away he just totally tanked. He was a good gadget play guy and could have been a helluva receiver but was never a QB in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Granted, he could do some dumb ****,even lost his job once to "Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam" but he had a howitzer for an arm and he led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships and four Super Bowl titles. I know, we had the best defense and Franco but he still got the job done. Don't forget either, in '78 he was named the NFL MVP by the AP. and has 2 SB MVP's, something Ben hasn't sniffed as of yet.
 
POP said:
Watch game tapes of Bradshaw, not just highlights.

He is nowhere near the QB Ben is. It's not even close. If Ben played on those teams, he probably would have won 5-6 rings.
Click to expand...

Completely different era. Few rules protecting the QB and for about half his career you could physically mug the receiver until the ball was in the air. To say player X would or wouldn't be better than player Y from a different era is just moronic speculation. All we could do is evaluate how each player did playing the game with the rules they had at the time, and look at what they did or didn't accomplish. I would list Ben as a better QB, IMO, but to say "it isn't even close" is way off base.
 
I put Bradshaw in the same category as Favre . They both looked great on the highlight reel, but they both did a lot of dumb ****.
 
1. Ben
2. Brad
3. Layne

No one else comes close to these 3 but if had to list two more . . .

4. Stewart (was dynamic but only if the offense was tailored to his strengths)
5. Odonell (got us to a super bowl)
 
POP said:
Do other team's modern era list of QBs fall off a precipice when it comes to 4th and 5th best QBs?

And even our #3 best QB was average, nothing more. And once Kordell was allowed to leave, the entire NFL quickly determined that he was horrible. Balt. signed someone off the street instead of allowing him to play there.

And Bubby....he was exceptionally dumb. Remember when he came back (When playing for Denver, I think) and after having spending years in Pgh, he referred to the cold air coming off "the lake...."

The lake? He thought the 3 rivers were a lake?
Click to expand...

Most other teams don't have two that come close to Ben and Terry, so the fall off wouldn't be as bad

the game was a lot different for Bradshaw, from rules protecting the QB and others making it harder for CBs to the WR

Plus Bradshaw called his own plays
 
1. Bradshaw- 4 rings, never lossed a super bowl. As another poster stated, his era QB's were not protected.
2. Roethlisberger- 15-1 as a rookie, 2/3 in super bowl appearances, he is the modern Steelers man. Cowher got his QB, got his ring the next season. Tough, playmaker, makes Tomlin and Haley look good
3. Stewart- Athletic, maybe not the smartest QB, but he was the Steelers guy for awhile. Gotta admit, the guy was talanted

---that's all for me. Don't have enough knowledge to judge the QB's of the 80's. O'Donnell, I remember somewhat. I was 4-5 years old when he took the team to the super bowl
 
Iron95 said:
I put Bradshaw in the same category as Favre . They both looked great on the highlight reel, but they both did a lot of dumb ****.
Click to expand...

Only difference was Bradshaw won 4 SB and was MVP in 2. I think he also had a few more highlight reels. Don't think he did nearly as much "dumb ****" but keep in mind these are 2 HOF QB's.
 
Interesting picks. It just goes to show how rare excellent QB's are. I'll average out the top 5 ( top 3 for special teams ) to be posted at a later date for all positions. Up next will be the top 5 running backs since the AFL-NFL Merger.

The only real rule is the players had to play after the AFL-NFL merger, which happened in 1970.

I'd prefer to keep the posts confined to this thread if that's okay.
 
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CoolieMan said:
Most other teams don't have two that come close to Ben and Terry, so the fall off wouldn't be as bad

the game was a lot different for Bradshaw, from rules protecting the QB and others making it harder for CBs to the WR

Plus Bradshaw called his own plays
Click to expand...


Mike Webster aided Bradshaw on the play calls.

Bradshaw had a great arm, was extremely mobile and tough. Accuracy was not this thing, but he shined when the Steelers needed him the most in the playoffs.
 
SCSteeler4life said:
He didn't say anything about playing he just said Steeler. And Unitas was a Steeler before he was a Colt just saying. Just threw out there to see who remembered we drafted and cut him.
Click to expand...

In order to be a Steeler you have to make the team, Unitas was never on a Steeler official roster because he was cut before the season began, having never taken a snap even in exhibition.
 
Hobbster said:
In order to be a Steeler you have to make the team, Unitas was never on a Steeler official roster because he was cut before the season began, having never taken a snap even in exhibition.
Click to expand...

I know that. It was a joke. This is not a official contest, this is a message board. Unitas was a Steeler no matter how short of a time.
 
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steelerscotty said:
Completely different era. Few rules protecting the QB and for about half his career you could physically mug the receiver until the ball was in the air. To say player X would or wouldn't be better than player Y from a different era is just moronic speculation. All we could do is evaluate how each player did playing the game with the rules they had at the time, and look at what they did or didn't accomplish. I would list Ben as a better QB, IMO, but to say "it isn't even close" is way off base.
Click to expand...

Bradshaw was inaccurate on far too many throws, and that had nothing to do with rules of the time. He had no touch on short passes, had a strong arm, but sprayed balls all over the place. Ben is much better.
 
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