The last time that the Steelers started the season 1-1-1 was...

[teegre]

...1974.

#itsnotover
#firstchampionship
#fourLombardisinsixyears

[Edman]

We better hope that the Defense magically warps into another Steel Curtain, then.

[tube517]

If we go full 1974 then Josh Dobbs will end up starting at QB for a few games and Cam Heyward will gather his stuff after a loss and almost walk out but we win it all so yes I will take it

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[AtlantaDan]

And the tie was the defense getting torched 35-35 and Jefferson Street Joe going 31-50 (!) in Denver - those were two things that were going to change later in the season

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...7409220den.htm

[st33lersguy]

Only problem is the 1974 had loads of defensive talent while the defensive talent on this team right now is scant, especially on the back 8. Also the coaching staff was far and away better in 74

[Fire Goodell]

SUPERBOWL!

[GoSlash27]

1974... Isn't that the season when Mean Joe walked out in the middle of a game and demanded to be traded?

Just asking because some people seem to think that 'drama' is a new dynamic for the Steelers.

[polamalubeast]

Only problem is the 1974 had loads of defensive talent while the defensive talent on this team right now is scant, especially on the back 8. Also the coaching staff was far and away better in 74

Agreed, but for most of the 1974 season, the QB position of the steelers was a big mess and it was a big upset for many when they beat the raiders in the AFC title game.

Bradshaw was one of the worst starters in 1974, but the running game and defense played at a level championship...This is the year after Bradshaw started playing as a HOF QB.

[AtlantaDan]

1974... Isn't that the season when Mean Joe walked out in the middle of a game and demanded to be traded?

Just asking because some people seem to think that 'drama' is a new dynamic for the Steelers.

Good SI oral history of the 74 team and its drama

Mike Wagner, safety: It was a mess in 1974. You go back and think about all that was happening, it was really a mess.

Including the incident you recall

Defensive tackle Joe Greene, the team’s biggest star and the cornerstone of the emerging Pittsburgh Steel Curtain defense, actually walked out on the team in early December, frustrated by the state of the Steelers '74 season in the days following a 13-10 home loss to Houston in Week 12. Even with Pittsburgh in first place at 8-3-1 after that defeat, Greene seethed about the slow pace of the Steelers’ development as a Super Bowl contender. To prove his point, he went so far as to pack up the contents of his locker and announce he was leaving....

Receivers coach Lionel Taylor saw that Greene was determined to quit and caught up with him outside, and the two sat in Greene’s car for a while, letting the emotional sixth-year veteran vent about his impatience with the team’s inability to join the ranks of the AFC’s elite championship contenders like Miami and Oakland. Thanks to Taylor’s timely intervention, Greene eventually returned to the locker room and the team.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/18/pi...4-oral-history

[tube517]

America's Game for 1974 goes into detail about it. Mean Joe talks about it

[st33lersguy]

Agreed, but for most of the 1974 season, the QB position of the steelers was a big mess and it was a big upset for many when they beat the raiders in the AFC title game.

Bradshaw was one of the worst starters in 1974, but the running game and defense played at a level championship...This is the year after Bradshaw started playing as a HOF QB.

Yeah defense was dominant and Franco had another 1,000 yard season in an era where the running game ruled the roost. All they needed was the QB to get his shit together by the time the playoffs rolled around and they were good to go. Here the problem is shitty defense all over, from the coaches down to the players. It is more than just solving the QB position, it is solving an entire defense without capable players or a capable batch of defensive assistants. The only saving grace is a weak as limp noodle AFC, but even with this conference will be difficult to win with this defense

[Craic]

Yeah defense was dominant and Franco had another 1,000 yard season in an era where the running game ruled the roost. All they needed was the QB to get his shit together by the time the playoffs rolled around and they were good to go. Here the problem is shitty defense all over, from the coaches down to the players. It is more than just solving the QB position, it is solving an entire defense without capable players or a capable batch of defensive assistants. The only saving grace is a weak as limp noodle AFC, but even with this conference will be difficult to win with this defense

I keep reading this. It's like an echo chamber where everyone just wants to repeat talking points without every looking at facts. Yes, we had a lot of points hung on us. However, is anyone who is harping about this aware that we also just played two of the top three QBs in the NFL this year when it comes to passer ratings? I mean, it's not like Patrick Mahomes dropped a dozen more points on us than on any other team. He dropped four (4) more points on us. That's it. Ryan Fitzpatrick dropped 48 on the Saints, and only 27 on us and Philly. Yeah, the SB winning, 8th best pass defense in the NFL in 2017 Philly.

And, when, suddenly, has Joe Haden, Mike Hilton, Steophon Tuitt, Cameron Hayward, become incapable of being a NFL player? Along those lines, what makes you so confident to write off Morgan Burnett, Sean Davis (who is playing much better now that he's switched), Terrell Edmunds, and Javon Hardgrave? Of course, then' there's Bostic who looks like he is a good pickup as well. I guess that also means TJ Watt completely sucks and incapable of playing in the NFL ("without capable players).

For all we know, we might just be sitting on the next dynasty and only have need to draft one or two more players on defense. Or, we might need to completely revamp. But, calling all the players I've listed here incapable is devoid of pretty much any reality. Had this been posted two sundays ago after a loss . . . I'd get it. Tough loss, emotional post . . . But to think that every player listed is truly incapable, I can't even imagine.

[FrancoLambert]

1974... Isn't that the season when Mean Joe walked out in the middle of a game and demanded to be traded?

Just asking because some people seem to think that 'drama' is a new dynamic for the Steelers.

The “‘drama” may not be a new dynamic but I’d bet that even if social media existed in 1974, Joe Greene being the leader he was, would not have brought more attention to his actions by broadcasting his dissatisfaction with his team’s performance.

[AtlantaDan]

The “‘drama” may not be a new dynamic but I’d bet that even if social media existed in 1974, Joe Greene being the leader he was, would not have brought more attention to his actions by broadcasting his dissatisfaction with his team’s performance.

Maybe - maybe not

This from the 1975 preseason SI profile of Joe Greene following the SB IX win by Roy Blount, who had developed great sources while embedded with the team to research his book About Three Bricks Shy Of A Load on the 1973 season

What Greene did last year, before the Steelers suddenly went into high gear, was criticize the Steeler offense to the press

https://www.si.com/vault/1994/09/05/...ants-out-there

The issues that team had prior to winning 4 Lombardis in 6 seasons were significant but understandably pretty much forgotten given how well it turned out - like this incident in another Roy Blount article that would cause twitter to explode if AB did something similar today

In '73 Greene was so disgusted with the Steelers' lack of spark against Houston that he took himself out of the game, an action many of his teammates resented. The Steelers fizzled badly in the playoffs.

https://www.si.com/vault/1975/02/17/...rt-of-all-this

[GoSlash27]

The “‘drama” may not be a new dynamic but I’d bet that even if social media existed in 1974, Joe Greene being the leader he was, would not have brought more attention to his actions by broadcasting his dissatisfaction with his team’s performance.

I definitely disagree. Mean Joe was the spirit-animal back in those days. He worked his butt off, he had a maniacal drive to win, he never accepted defeat gracefully... But he was definitely not a leader in his early years, he was a problem child. He hated being a Steeler, hated losing, and was constantly acting out on the field, in the locker room, and yes, in front of the press. There was no social media in those days (except perhaps talk radio), but he *did* broadcast his dissatisfaction with his team's performance in the media and he wasn't shy about it.

Other fun drama from that season (IIRC, could be mistaken) Terry Bradshaw was in full meltdown, had shouting matches with Noll on the sideline, and skipped practices to hide in his apartment because everyone hated him. Joe Gilliam routinely ignored the play calls and was heavily into drugs. In fact, there was a full blown QB controversy in Pittsburgh and it got pretty nasty with the fans. Ernie Holmes was on probation for having fired shots at a police helicopter the year prior.

You see... there were simply no standards for conduct back in those days, no discipline, nothing like what we have today. Mean Joe would never have made it into today's NFL because he literally could not control himself in his youth.