www.skoter.se

[chenyan94]

of Pittsburgh Steelers history never to win a title. In the final round James Washington Jersey , who do you consider the "Best of the Rest" between the 1976 Steelers and the 2010 edition?"BTSC continues to search for the best and most-memorable Steeler team to not win a title. Last time around, you narrowly voted the last Steeler team to play in the Super Bowl in 2010 over the 1994 team that faltered three yards shy of victory in the AFCCG against the Chargers. Here are the results.No. 6 Seed: 1994 (12-4) Not Quite 60-Minute Men - 46%No. 5 Seed: 2010 (12-4) Slipping on the Stairway to Seven - 54%As we head into the final matchup of the “Best of the Rest” bracket, the No. 5 seeded 2010 team that fell behind 21-3 to Green Bay before mounting a furious comeback that fell short battles against the team that started slow and ended dominant untill injury damned them in the AFC Championship. Be sure to vote for the team that remains the most memorable to you or the one you feel is simply the “best of the rest”. Your choice. Be sure to wax poetically in the comment section below. No. 8 Seed: 1976 - The Steel Curtain Defense at their highest level After winning their first two titles the previous two seasons, it seemed likely that the Steelers could three-peat as an even stronger unit. However, Chuck Noll’s team shockingly started off as a disappointing 1-4. To make matters worse, QB Terry Bradshaw was injured in a Week 5 loss in Cleveland. Bradshaw sustained the injury after the infamous Joe “Turkey” Jones slamdown. Fortunes would turn with Mike Kruczek behind center, as the rookie set a NFL record (later broken by Ben Roethlisberger in 2004) for wins to start a career. Bradshaw would return intermittently throughout the remainder of the season, but most of the Steelers success was due to a suffocating defense (five shutouts and a mere 28 points surrendered in those final nine games) and the rushing tandem of Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. Harris (1,128 yards/14 TDs and Bleier (1,026 yards/5 TDs) were basically the entire offense, as the leading receiver (Lynn Swann) had a mere 516 yards and three scores. On a defense that included five All Pros, Mel Blount and Glen Edwards led with six interceptions a piece and Jack Lambert had two picks and six fumble recoveries. In the playoffs, the Steelers pounded Baltimore 40-14. Bradshaw threw three TD passes, two of them to Swann and Reggie Harrison had two rushing scores. Harrison was in due to injuries in the game to Harris and Bleier. Unfortunately, No. 46 and the Steelers weren’t as productive without the pair of 1K rushers the next week in the AFC Championship against Oakland. The Raiders went on to play Minnesota in SB XI, while Steeler Nation saw one of their best teams in franchise history wonder what might have been.Pro Bowlers: Mel Blount Stephon Tuitt Jersey , Terry Bradshaw, Glen Edwards, Joe Greene, L. C. Greenwood, Jack Ham, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, Andy Russell, Lynn Swann and Mike WagnerFirst-Team All Pros: Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Glen EdwardsSecond-Team All Pros: Joe Greene and Mike WagnerTeam MVP: Jack LambertNo. 1 Draft Pick: Bennie CunninghamNo. 5 Seed: 2010 (12-4) Slipping on the Stairway to SevenPhoto by Nick Laham/Getty ImagesPittsburgh’s dynastic chances took a hit in 2009 after the Super Bowl victory in the 2008 campaign, but 2010 was supposed to be the chance to rectify that. It started off very unlikely in the offseason when Santonio Holmes, who was suspended for the first four weeks of the season because of substance abuse, freaked out on a plane and was subsequently traded to the New York Jets for a fifth rounder. Ben Roethlisberger received a six-game ban (later reduced to four) for an alleged sexual assault in Milledgeville, GA in which he was not charged. 2010 also saw the departures of RB Willie Parker, CB Deshea Townsend and S Tyrone Carter and the return of LB Larry Foote, CB Bryant McFadden and WR Antwaan Randle-El. The team’s biggest performances came courtesy of Ben Jesse James Jersey , Mike Wallace (1,257 receiving yards/10 TDs), Rashard Mendenhall (1,273 rushing yards/13 TDs), James Harrison (10.5 sacks), LaMarr Woodley (10 sacks) and Troy Polamalu (7 INTs and NFL Defensive Player of the Year). The season began with Dennis Dixon behind center in a victory vs. Atlanta. It was won when Mendenhall galloped 50 yards in OT for a score. The next week saw Charlie Batch take over for Dixon in a win that saw Antonio Brown take the opening kick 89 yards for a score. After a 3-1 start, Ben returned in Week 5 and went 9-3 in the final three quarter of the campaign. The signature win came in Week 13 against the team that they battled neck-and-neck for the division all year, the Baltimore Ravens. No. 7, booted-up with a broken foot, suffered a gruesome nose break in the game. Trailing 10-6 late in the fourth, LaMarr Woodley and Troy Polamalu teamed up with a sack and recovery of Flacco. Roethlisberger found Isaac Redman for a nine-yard score and the win. In the playoffs, they came from behind 14 points vs. Baltimore to win 31-24. In the AFCCG, the Steelers bested Santonio Holmes and the Jets to reach the Super Bowl. In their eighth SB, Ben threw an ugly pick-six and Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson were one step ahead of the secondary and shot the Pack out to an 18-point lead in Q2. But the Steelers mounted a furious comeback and were driving for the lead late in the fourth. However, Rashard Mendenhall fumbled and (after a GB FG) a last minute comeback was suffocated by the Green Bay defense and the Steelers fell in their most-recent SB.Pro Bowlers: James Harrison Ryan Shazier Jersey , Brett Keisel, Troy Polamalu and Maurkice PounceyFirst-Team All Pros: James Harrison and Troy PolamaluSecond-Team All Pros: Maurkice PounceyTeam MVP: Troy Polamalu No. 1 Draft Pick: Maurkice PounceyRookie of the Year: Maurkice PounceyBoth teams had fantastic and forceful defensive units. One team made it to the big game, while the other lost two 1K-yard rushers and squandered an epic defense before the AFCCG. Who will be named the “Best of the Rest”? Please vote and comment below. I don't know if you have heard, but this off season for the Pittsburgh Steelers has gotten off to a rather tumultuous start. No need to revisit all the hoopla of the last few weeks as it has no bearing on this article. I will say that there has been alot of speculation concerning what the Steelers roster will look like going into next season, especially at the wide receiver positions. That got me reminiscing about all the great receivers who have donned a Steelers uniform. This years tandem of Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith Schuster was the best in the league, but not the best tandem in team history. That distinction still belongs to Hall of Famers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. When I started to identify the most underrated receivers in team history my mind immediately recalled the 1995 Super Bowl team and their impressive receiver group. They were a diverse collection of talent and they went five deep. That is what made them so special, their depth. There hasn't been a team since that could match it.The group was lead by Pro Bowl stud Yancey Thigpen. Thigpen was the complete package, everything you could want in a receiver. He possessed size, speed, strength, and a excellent set of hands. He could over power a defender who attempted to jam him on his release, and he had enough speed to make them pay on the deep ball. Thigpen had a lot in common with Louis Lipps, another talented Steelers receiver who played about a decade earlier. The only thing that hindered them from ranking even higher on the list of Steelers greats was the shoddy play of their quarterbacks. I would have loved to have seen them play with a QB the caliber of Bradshaw or Ben. The other starting receiver was a more fluid situation. It could change from week to week, often based on the opponent and the corresponding game plan. If the team was going to utilize a run heavy scheme, per usual, they would start youngster Charles Johnson due to his superior blocking skills. If the game plan called for a more aerial attack Mel Blount Jersey , they would start KR specialist Ernie Mills for his ability to stretch the field.Charles Johnson was the Steelers first round pick in 1994 from Colorado and obviously was expected to be the next Steelers great. While that plan never came to fruition, he was a solid professional who developed into a well rounded receiver. He was the poster child for a player who could do a lot of things well, but no one thing great. Although he was never quite able to justify that first round selection, he was a tough and durable competitor. High character teammate as well. Made more than his share of clutch catches during his Steelers career.Ernie Mills was a former third round selection in 1991 out of Florida who had been a classic underachiever up till the 1995 season. He had always flashed more potential than production, but that season he found his groove. He displayed a nose for the football, a knack for getting over the top of the defense, and a tendency to find himself open in the endzone. Ernie caught 8 touchdowns on only 39 receptions. That was by far the best season of his career and it couldn't have come at a better time for the Steelers. He never approached those numbers again in his career, but he was a difference maker that season.The fourth receiver on the Steelers depth chart was a third round selection in 1993 out of Georgia named Andre Hastings. He was a possession receiver who did his best work out of the slot. He was an accomplished route runner who excelled on third downs. Not blessed with great speed, he was a shifty runner who racked up yards after the catch. This ability also allowed him to be a effective punt returner. He could have been a WR2 on alot of teams at that time, especially those who relied on a more aerial attack, and he would go on to prove just that later in his career. That season he was the consummate professional and always produced when called upon. His contributions that season should not be overlooked.That is an impressive group of receivers right there, but what makes this group really stand out as the greatest group in Steelers history, maybe league history, is the player who didn't even want to be a receiver. A player so physically talented he could excel at multiple positions on the football field, even if he had never played the positions before in his collegiate career. His name was Kordell Stewart, but everybody called him Slash. He had been drafted in the second round of the 1995 draft out of Colorado as a QB. He had made it known he only wanted to play QB Mike Webster Jersey , but consented to being utilized as a multi purpose weapon to attack opposing defense due to his intense desire to see the field. Slash took the NFL by storm. Slash wasn't just a great athlete playing QB. He had a great throwing arm, the size and running ability of a RB, and the speed and agility of a WR. The threat of his mere presence on the field scared defensive coordinators to death and opened up the complete playbook for the Steelers. Slash would eventually give way to Kordell as the Steelers honored their promise to play him at QB, but I have often wondered what would have happened if he would have stayed at WR, or as the one and only Slash. As we are all too aware, that 1995 season ended in utter disappointment for our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers and all of Steelers Nation. I will forever hold a certain level of disdain for one Mr. Neil O'Donnell and picture him in my mind sitting in a secluded cabin somewhere deep in the woods, laughing fiendishly, all the while tossing obscene amounts of money into the air he received from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. I apologize for getting off point, forgive me. The pain is real, brothers and sisters.I believe the 1995 Pittsburgh Steelers assembly of wide receivers is the best in team history and is underrated and underappreciated. They may just be the best group ever. What do you think? If not, who do you think was better?