1979 Pittsburgh Steelers post season

On a very cold, grey winter’s afternoon, the Steelers warmed their fans with a performance worthy of the reigning Super Bowl champions. It was a demonstration

In the opening fifteen minutes, the Steelers played what amounted to a perfect quarter of football. That was Vito Stellino’s conclusion and there won’t be many football fans who watched the game who would disagree.

From the opening kickoff return that Larry Anderson ran back 26 yards to start their ensuing drive from their 38, the Steelers controlled the game. After 12 plays, Sidney Thornton, who started in front of Rocky Bleier, began the scoring with a 1-yard trap play through right side with Sam Davis delivering the crunch block.

After the Dolphins went three and out, the Steelers again started from their own 38. Nine plays later, Terry Bradshaw found John Stallworth with an 11-yard pass that Stallworth turned into a 17-yard touchdown reception after he brushed aside one tackler before stiff-arming two others on his way over the goal line. Vern Der Herder blocked the point after attempt.

Overcoming the absence of Jack Ham and Mike Wagner, the Steelers defense played their part in the demolition of their opponents, once again forcing a three and out. The Steelers began their series in good field position from their 44 and took just six plays to add to their score. Under pressure, Bradshaw ducked under the Dolphins right end before finding Lynn Swann alone in the end zone with a 20-yard scoring pass.

After a first quarter monopolised by the Steelers, the home fans had time to catch their breath in the second which saw a defensive battle with no scoring.

Miami struck in the third quarter following a controversial call from the officials. After the Dolphins punted, the side judge ruled Dwayne Woodruff had touched the ball making it live with Miami recovering on the Steelers 11. Television replays established Woodruff had not touched the ball. Bob Griese’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Duriel Harris reduced the Dolphins deficit to 20-7.

The Steelers took no time to reply. On their next drive that began on their 22, Bradshaw’s passes to Jim Smith (14 and 14 yards), Stallworth (18 and 9 yards) moved the chains before Bleier, in for Thornton who had sprained an ankle, punched it in from a yard to restore the Steelers lead of twenty points.

In the final period, the Steelers capitalised on a short field of 43 yards. Their 9-play drive was finished by 3-yard touchdown run from Franco Harris to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 27 points.

A change at quarterback when Don Strock replaced Griese lifted the Dolphins enabling them to complete the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run from Larry Csonka.

“We want Houston!” echoed around Three Rivers Stadium as the fans celebrated their team’s magnificent victory and looked forward to the Steelers seventh appearance in an AFC Championship game in nine years.

The Pittsburgh Steelers 34 vs the Miami Dolphins 14
Three Rivers Stadium December 30, 1979; 50,214

Passing: Bradshaw 21-31-2TD-0INT-230
Griese 14-26-1TD-1INT-118, Strock 8-14-1INT-125

Rushing: Harris 21-83-1TD, Thornton 12-52-1TD, Hawthorne 2-15, Bleier 4-13-1TD, Anderson 1-(-4)

Receiving: Stallworth 6-86-1TD, Swann 3-37-1TD, Thornton 3-34, Smith 4-41, Harris 5-32
The Steelers offensive success was accented by a third down efficiency of 11 out of 14.

AP photo of Terry Bradshaw in the locker room after the game

Terry Bradshaw was a happy quarterback having set a personal best in playoff games with 21 completions from 31 attempts. He is still tied with Cowboys’ Roger Staubach with 26 playoff touchdowns.

“We were outstanding in all areas,” said Coach Noll before adding that the partisan crowd contributed to the victory.

When Joe Greene was asked what set the Steelers apart from the other NFL teams he replied, “Singleness of purpose… that just about covers it.” In reply to being asked where that extra something comes from, Greene was emphatic, “Chuck Noll, it all starts with him. We have a lot of confidence in that man.”

Miami’s coach Don Shula was generous in his praise for the Steelers. “I thought we could come up here and play a good football game, but we didn’t. The Steelers didn’t make many mistakes to speak of. It’s difficult to beat them. Every game they’ve lost this season, they’ve made a lot of mistakes and beaten themselves.

Sure, they remind me of our great Miami teams. They don’t have any weaknesses. They have a great offense, great defense and an outstanding kicking game.”

Larry Csonka was equally impressed. “They played like World Champions today,” he said. “They’ve gotevery right to claim that ring.

For almost a decade, they have called him “Tight Man” or simply, “Tight.” A few of the older Steelers set the tone for the rest. Pull them back down when they get too full of themselves, the way they were before they went to Cincinnati in October and were embarrassed. Pump them up when they need it, the way they did coming back from a thrashing in San Diego six weeks ago.

They are the keepers of the flame. The ones who lead by example and attitude and character, and all of those other coachly virtues. The ones who say in a lot of ways, we have been there, and we are going back.

Tight man. That is what the Steelers call Sam Davis, 34 years of tough, smart, seasoned guard. Tight. L.C. Greenwood who has a penchant for those things, hung the nickname on Davis years ago with the simple explanation, “Tight?... he keeps us together.”

Tight. Do the right thing at the right time. Not too high on the good days, not too low on the bad ones. Tight. The way the Steelers were yesterday when they snatched a reasonably competent Miami team by the neck, cuffed it about at will and then flung it into a corner of Three Rivers Stadium to await the arrival of Houston and Sunday’s AFC Championship game.

“Every game now IS the Super Bowl,” Davis was saying after Miami had been dispatched, 34-14, to a large degree on the strength of an offensive line thought to be badly depleted by injuries. “We have to remember that we can’t live on today. You enjoy it a little better, but next week it all starts again.”

A tone. Not too high. Not yet. Miami had been easy. The Dolphins had been looking for the classic Steeler trap blocking running game. They got helmets in the sternums, were blown off the line of scrimmage early and succumbed more than anything to a Steeler running game that built a 13-0 lead in the first eleven minutes and made Miami so vulnerable to the pass.

“When it counts,” Davis says, “we put it there. You get a taste of money; it makes it more valuable to you. It’s kill or be killed now. You can’t say ‘We’re the champions, we’re here.’ In the playoffs, you prove yourself… and you do it by taking it to them.”
Playing beside and steadying young left tackle Ted Petersen, Sam Davis took it to the Dolphins the way only a 34-year-old, slick, quick, seasoned NFL offensive lineman can take it to the guy on the other side of the football.
Power? On the second Steeler touchdown drive, two of the three pivotal plays were run by Sidney Thornton. Both were over left guard Sam Davis.

Quickness? On the third Steeler touchdown drive, Franco Harris swept left for five yards to keep it alive behind Davis lead block on linebacker Larry Gordon.

Finesse? Dolphin defensive end A.J. Duhe slipped inside a Petersen block and was reaching for Bradshaw. Davis picked him off. Bradshaw launched a pass to Lynn Swann.

Pass-protection? Bradshaw was sacked just once and had so much time to throw early on that at one point, he was 16 for 24 for two touchdowns, and the Dolphins were already dead.

“We fooled them a little,” Davis said, giggling at the thought. “It’s sort of an ego thing. A lot of people think that we can only trap block. People around the league say, ‘Well, they’re either going to pass or trap you.’ We did more straight blocking today.”

Trap blocking is largely deceit. Lure a defensive lineman or linebacker into the backfield, blow him away from the side. Straight blocking is muscle. Fire out, put your hat in his numbers, trample him. The lines which explode get the recognition; the finesse lines get yawns.

“Maybe our line is starting to get some of the recognition,” allows Davis, to whom attention is finally coming after a mere thirteen seasons. “I’ve gotten ticked off about it. We led the NFL in rushing, passing… almost broke the all-time offensive record… and even a player like Jon Kolb gets overlooked.

The Steelers do not overlook Davis. Before Super Bowl XIII, Joe Greene kept saying, “Watch Tight, watch Tight Man, he’s going to be important.” Davis was neutralising Dallas defensive tackle Randy White, considered by many the league’s premier defensive lineman. Later, one magazine referred to Davis and Kolb as the “league’s premier trapping combination.”

“Stability… that’s Tight.” Greene smiled yesterday. “He keeps people together. It’s the way he carries himself, the way he plays the game.”

And the way Davis was playing it in the fourth quarter against Miami, when he steered defensive end Doug Betters wide of Bradshaw on a pass, then slipped back inside to pick off a blitzing linebacker. Bradshaw’s pass led to the final Steeler touchdown.

Sidney Thornton is nursing a wounded ankle and Rocky Bleier is nursing a wounded ego.

Both running backs are expected however to be ready when the Steelers play host to the Houston Oilers in the American Football Conference championship.

Both were effective running with, and blocking for Franco Harris, each scoring from 1 yard out in the 34-14 drubbing of the Miami Dolphins in the playoff semi-final at Three Rivers Stadium.

It did not seem to make any difference whether it was Thornton or Bleier in the backfield with Harris and Terry Bradshaw, but it does, at least to them. They mark their true sentiments, for the most part, which is one of the Steelers’ strengths.

There is talent and depth at most positions, which is what sets the Steelers apart from the pack in the NFL and Chuck Noll never refers to his players as starters or substitutes. “We have to have contributions by all of our 44 of our players,” notes Noll.

Thornton and John Stallworth came limping off the field against Miami. Stallworth, who has some water on his right knee and doesn’t have full extension of his leg, returned to action and is all right. Thornton thinks he’s okay too. “Most definitely, I’ll be able to play,” said Thornton.

“I wouldn’t have come out of Sunday’s game when I did,” said Thornton, who hurt himself earlier than when he exited the game, “unless we had someone like Rocky Bleier ready to go in there. When you have a pro like Rocky, you don’t even think about it twice.”

Thornton said he was told Sunday morning, after the pregame meal, that he would be in the starting lineup. Dick Hoak, the offensive backfield coach, told him so. Until then, it was a big question mark.

There was a report in The Press last Wednesday that Thornton might start, in Hoak’s opinion, while Noll was non-committal on the subject. Jack Fleming, the Steelers’ play-by-play announcer, twisted that news item somewhat and said on his radio show that day that Bleier had given way to Thornton as starter.

Rocky was listening to his car radio when Fleming offered his unsupported comment. Rocky was upset. It was like having your best friend tell you that your girl or wife doesn’t love you any more.

Bleier squawked to Hoak about hearing of his demotion over the radio. Hoak pleaded innocent, which he was, and said the decision would be up to Noll and that it hadn’t yet been made.

“Like anything else, things change,” said Bleier. “In the past, Noll has not changed things that have been working for him.”

Thornton started the first ten games of the season, then sat out the next five with a badly sprained ankle. He replaced Bleier and did exceptionally well in the season finale.

Thornton and Bleier have great respect for each other’s ability, but it is natural that they would both like to be number one at the position.

“I learned a lot from Rocky,” said Thornton, “so I know he can put it to work. If I didn’t have Rocky behind me, I wouldn’t want to stay out. And he feels the same way. He knows I’ll do the job.”

Despite limited duty, Bleier is on the beam when he observes, “I’ve had one of my best years.”

He has played so well, in fact, that he is considering returning next season. He had thought about retiring and he wishes he could approach Noll on the subject.

“I feel I should talk to him and ask him where I stand,” said Bleier. “But I know he wouldn’t help me. He’d say I’d have to take my chances.”

Ever since he signed with the Steelers in 1968 Bleier has been fighting off challenges, so this is nothing new to him. “It’s always been that way,” said Bleier. He wouldn’t know any other way.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Houston Oilers, the black and blue runs deeper than thejerseys.

“I’ve had thirty-one broken ribs during my career. About thirty of them came against Pittsburgh,” says Oiler quarterback Dan Pastorini.

He left his last game here on a stretcher. He returns with an ailing groin muscle that might sideline him when the Steelers and Oilers meet again for the AFC Conference title.

“It’s good clean football, but we’re kind of rough on each other,” says Terry Bradshaw.

On a 1977 trip to Houston, Bradshaw sustained a cracked wrist, backup Mike Kruczek had his shoulder separated and defensive back Tony Dungy finished as the Steelers quarterback.

Make no bones about it, these rivals from the AFC Central division make life tough on one another. But they also share mutual respect, and they’ve even exchanged favours and a few gifts.

“We play hard football and dare the other team to do the same. The Oilers always accept the dare,” says Joe Greene.

“I have thew greatest respect for the Pittsburgh Steelers," says Oiler fullback Earl Campbell, who aims to play despite a groin pull that side-lined him last week.

The Oilers and the Steelers meet twice in the regular season. For the second season in a row, they meet again for the AFC title.

When Lynn Swann was leaving the field in Houston after a Pittsburgh loss four weeks ago, a fan yelled, “We’ll see you in the Super Bowl!”

“That’s not possible because we’re both in the same conference,” Swann noted. “But that’s too bad. It would be a great Super Bowl.”

The Oilers who again placed second to Pittsburgh in the division, battled their way here as a wild-card by beating Denver and upsetting San Diego – despite the absence of Campbell and Pastorini.

Had Houston lost in San Diego, the Steelers would have had to travel to the West Coast to meet the Chargers. So, the Houston victory was welcomed here.

“Not because we’ll be playing Houston, but because we’ll be at home,” says Bradshaw.

Pittsburgh has won fifteen straight at home. But the last loss was to the Oilers, the only AFC Central team to win here. The teams have split the series the last three regular seasons.

The rivalry had a special twist the last weekend of the 1977 season when Houston beat Cincinnati to assure Pittsburgh the division title – a favour for which the Steelers sent each Oiler an attaché case.

The visit of the Oilers to play the Steelers fulfilled a prophecy Oilers Coach Phillips made early in the season. “You’ve got to go through Pittsburgh to get to Pasadena. No way you can get there without going through Pittsburgh.

AP photo of snow clearing at Three Rivers Stadium in preparation for Oilers game

When the Steelers put their minds to it – and it seems they always do at this time of year – they appear to be playing in a higher league than the rest of the world.

By acclimation the NFL team of the 1970s, the Steelers are heavily favoured to beat Houston in the AFC Championship game at Three Rivers Stadium, then destroy their NFC opponents in Pasadena to capture their fourth Super Bowl in six years and get a leg up toward becoming the team of the ‘80s.

Ten Steelers were selected to the Pro Bowl, but perhaps even more impressive is the depth of the team’s talent. It was suggested to veteran defensive end L.C. Greenwood that the best Super Bowl matchup would be Pittsburgh’s first team against its second. Greenwood smiled at the thought and replied, “You might be right.”

Consider the Steelers’ rout of the Dolphins. Two young offensive linemen, Ted Petersen and Steve Courson, played in place of the injured Jon Kolb and Gerry Mullins, yet the Pittsburgh line continued to rip open big holes and protect Terry Bradshaw like the treasure he is.

Lynn Swan pulled a hamstring, so young Jim Smith – Jim who? – came into catch four passes for 41 yards in the second half. Rocky Bleier is starting to look long in the tooth, so young Sidney Thornton and his five-yard-a-game regular-season average started in Bleier’s place and ran over and through a Dolphins’ defense that statistically had been the stingiest in the AFC.

On defense, Pro Bowl safety Mike Wagner and All-Universe linebacker Jack Ham were out with injuries, yet there was no noticeable loss when J.T. Thomas and Dennis Winston stepped in. Winston is called “dirt,” short for “dirty,” which is how he played the game as an undergraduate at Arkansas. The Dolphins were not stronger than Dirt.

First or second string, special-team members and kickers, all 44 Steelers have one thing in common: all are home grown, original draft choices of the Steelers.

“None of our players have ever worn another NFL uniform. This is the first marriage for all of them, and I believe we’re the first team in the NFL to make the playoffs with only home growns,” said Art Rooney Jr., son of the club’s founder and owner and, as the man behind one of the greatest drafting records in NFL history.

The Steelers were the team of the seventies because they were the talent scouts of the seventies. Gil Brandt and his computers in Dallas get more publicity, but he and they have not outdrafted Pittsburgh. Starting in 1967, the year the Steelers made the basic decision that the way to build a winner was through the draft, Rooney has had an incredible record of success.

Here’s a rundown of the year and round each current Steeler starter – or replacement for an injured starter – was drafted (three were signed as free agents):

1967 guard Sam Davis (free agent)
1968 Rocky Bleier (16th round)
1969 Joe Greene (first), Jon Kolb (third), L.C. Greenwood (tenth)
1970 Terry Bradshaw (first) Mel Blount (third)
1971 Jack Ham (second), Gerry Mullins (fourth), Dwight White (fourth), Larry Brown (fifth), Mike Wagner (eleventh)
1972 Franco Harris (first), Steve Furness (fifth)
1973 J.T. Thomas (first) Loren Toews (eighth)
1974 Lynn Swann (first), Jack Lambert (second), John Stallworth (fourth) Mike Webster (fifth), Donnie Shell (free agent)
1975 John Banaszak (free agent)
1976 Bennie Cunningham (first), Ray Pinney (second)
1977 Robin Cole (first), Sidney Thornton (second), Ted Petersen (fourth) Steve Courson (fifth), Dennis Winston (fifth)
1978 Ron Johnson (first), Craig Colquitt (third)
1979 Matt Bahr (sixth)

The worst drafting year the Steelers had was 1975, though four of their selections wound up playing for other teams.

Rooney thought he was losing his touch. “We thought the bubble might have burst,” he said. “We had a number of good years in a row, and when you do, you always start wondering if you are doing it with mirrors or if it’s because you have a good system and good people operating it.

In ’75, we had some second thoughts, but we decided to stick with our system.”

Rooney says the Steelers system is to look for “good, tough, smart, aware athletes who like the game.” Those criteria evolved, and are still evolving, over the years, ever since 1967. That year, Art Rooney Jr. and his brother Dan, the club president, sat down for a heart-to-heart over the direction the Steelers were headed and the direction they ought to go.

At that point, the Steelers had been in the NFL 34 years without so much as a division or conference championship to show for it.

“Our coach was Buddy Parker and he was the George Allen of his day,” Rooney said. “He believed in bringing in veteran players and trading off draft choices. He brought in Big Daddy Lipscomb, Bobby Layne, Tom Tracy, Ed Brown and others. They had been fine players but were about over the hill when we got them.”

The Rooney brothers studied how the Los Angeles Rams had succeeded in building a team through the draft, and how the Dallas Cowboys were in the process of doing the same. They said count us in too, but it took three coaching changes to get the coach who agreed with them and had the talent to make it work.

When Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, the Steelers had suffered five consecutive losing seasons with a combined record of 18-49-3. They promptly finished 1-13 in Coach Noll’s first season, but there was fire in the ashes and plans being laid.

“We all agreed on using the draft to build a team, and we agreed that we should draft the best available athletes because they had to help,” Rooney Jr. said. “We didn’t have many quality players so any superior athlete would help.

Two years later, Noll suggested adding intelligence as a standard for talent selection, “to get away from the great athletes who keeps jumping offside on crucial third-and-one- calls,” Rooney said. So Rooney and his scouts began to sift through transcripts as well a clock seniors in the 40.

“But that’s the computer approach,” he said. “The guy’s grades might be great, but was he football smart? Is he tough? Does he really enjoy football? Is he highly motivated?

As predicted, this game was a hard-hitting clash between two teams fighting to prise an opening between in mortal combat.

The Oilers struck first after the game’s opening possession saw Terry Bradshaw’s intended pass to Bennie Cunningham picked off by Vernon Perry and returned for a 75-yard touchdown.

Bradshaw made amends on the Steelers third drive of the game when on a third-and-fourteen, finding no one open, he took off down the right sideline for a 25-yard gain that produced a first and goal on the Oilers four. Houston’s defense held Pittsburgh to a 21-yard field goal.

The Oilers replied with a 21-yard field goal in the second quarter before the Steelers began take control. Bradshaw’s passes of 17 yards to Lynn Swann, 8 to Rocky Bleier and 11 to Swann for first downs moved the chains to enable Bradshaw to air a pass into the end zone for Bennie Cunningham to pull in for a 16-yard touchdown and with Bahr’s successful extra point tied the game at 10-10.

Houston turned the ball over when Mike Renfro fumbled a catch which Mel Blount recovered at the Houston 49. Bradshaw hit Franco Harris for 15 yards on a swing pass, Harris ran left guard for 12 and a first down on the Houston 20. Bradshaw finished the short drive finding John Stallworth crossing through the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown giving the Steelers a seven-point lead at halftime.

Craig Colquitt contributed punts of 47 and 66 yards to keep Houston at bay in the third quarter, but as it came to a close, Pastorini lofted a high lob deep into the corner of the end zone. Mike Renfro outjumped Ron Johnson to haul in the ball which if ruled complete, would have tied the score with the point after. The side judge waved the touchdown off, but the reaction of the players encouraged the officials to discuss the call, but it stood as called, incomplete and the Oilers had to settle for a 23-yard field goal.

The Steelers continued to control the game adding a field goal from 39 yards. As the Oilers were desperately playing catchup, Guido Merkins fumbled after being hit by Blount and Johnson. Donnie Shell recovered to give the Steelers a short field of 45 yards. Bleier contributed a spectacular 20-yard catch as the Steelers moved the ball to give themselves a first down on the five. Harris twice attempted to get the ball into the end zone but met stiff resistance before Bleier succeeded from the four behind Steve Courson and Thorn Dornbrook paving the way.

The Pittsburgh Steelers 27 vs the Houston Oilers 13
Three Rivers Stadium January 6 1980; 50,475

Passing: Bradshaw 18-30-2TD-1INT-219
Pastorini 19-28-0TD-1INT-203, Nielsen1-1-9

Receiving: Swann 4-64, Stallworth 3-52-1TD, Bleier 3-39, Harris 6-50, Cunningham 2-14-1TD, Thornton 1-(-1)

“In the beginning, and in the middle, and in the end, I thought they showed they wanted it badly,” acknowledged Coach Noll. “We had respect for the Oilers going into the game and it’s no less now.

We’ve accomplished our first two goals; first to win the division title and second the conference title,” said Coach Noll. “We have only one more to go. Hopefully, we can make it three for three.”

“We failed to do the things we could do,” admitted Houston’s coach Phillips, “and that’s not taking anything away from the Steelers. We’re proud of ourselves, but we are also proud of the Steelers.”

“We want to become the first team to win back to back Super Bowls twice,” said Lynn Swann. “We truly want to make Pittsburgh the City of Champions.”

“They had all the gaps covered,” Dan Pastorini said. “I should have started passing sooner. This WAS the Super Bowl as far as I’m concerned. Pittsburgh is going and they’re going to win.”

At his weekly press conference, Coach Noll indicated the controversial call in the third quarter of the AFC Championship game against Houston wasn’t the pivotal factor in the Steelers victory as many had suggested.

The officials ruled Houston’s touchdown by Mike Renfro as incomplete because he was juggling the ball as he went out of bounds and the Oilers had to settle for a field goal. Television replays were inconclusive, and Coach Noll said the same about the game film he had watched.

“It showed he had two feet inbounds. It didn’t show whether he had possession or what,” Noll conceded before adding. “But the official was in good position to see it.”

The Steelers coach suggested his team’s ability to run the football with a 4.5-yard average a carry was the big difference in the game. That and the fact the defense held the Oilers to an average of 1.1 per rushing attempt.

Pittsburgh’s advance to their fourth Super Bowl would see them face the Los Angeles Rams who had squeezed passed Tampa Bay with three field goals. During the regular season, the Rams lost seven games and would be playing in their first championship game as 10-point underdogs.

“We have a great deal of respect for the Rams,” admitted Coach Noll, whose teams were 0-3 against Los Angeles in the previous decade. “They have the ability to make big plays and they get it done on defense,” he added.

Three of Noll’s former assistants - Bud Carson, Dan Radakovich and Lionel Taylor - were now on the Rams coaching staff.

When asked if that would provide an advantage to their opponents, Coach Noll replied with a laugh, “It may be an advantage to us. We looked at some of the films and we were familiar with the defenses and offenses they’re using. It may end up being like an instrasquad game.”

The Philadelphia Eagles coach Sid Gillman suggested only the Pittsburgh Steelers can beat the Pittsburgh Steelers before noting that the Rams were the strongest opponent available to face them.

“The Rams are the best team in our conference,” Gillman said. “They have the best talent. I suppose Dallas is next.” Admitting that he didn’t plan on watching the game because “the Steelers will win even if they come into the game fat headed. But Chuck Noll won’t let that happen. His team won’t just stand around the way the Eagles did when they lost to Tampa in the playoffs.”

Gillman said of his team’s loss, “Our players weren’t even thinking about Tampa. They were looking ahead to the following week and asking if they were going to train in Palm Springs.”

Gillman spoke highly of Noll, who spent six years as his assistant in California with the Chargers. “Chuck’s my boy,” enthused Gillman. “He’s done a great job and some day people are going to find out about him. They talk about Tom Landry and Don Shula with awe, but Noll is going to be remembered as a great coach. His concept is the best in the game.”

The Steelers will find themselves cast in the role of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"* in the AFC Championship game.

The defending champions have become the bullies on the block in pro football. They have won so often that they are as popular around the country as your friendly neighbourhood Shylock. Rooting against the Steelers has become as American as apple pie.

As if that was not enough, they find themselves trying to spoil the most heart-warming story since “The Sound of Music” in their next game against the Houston Oilers.

The Oilers came to town last night with a modern-day Will Rogers spouting homespun lines and leading a team that captured the hearts and minds of America’s football fans last week.

It was thought the Oilers had a one-man team until they went out to San Diego and shocked the Chargers without Earl Campbell, Dan Pastorini and Ken Burrough. The sportswriters were falling over themselves trying to find enough cliches like courage and guts and hearts and character to describe their unexpected victory.

As the Oilers coach Bum Phillips drawled, “You hear a lot about games being character builders. This was a character finder.”

It is now being said the Oilers are still a one-man team, but that one man is Phillips. He likes to joke that the only four things in life that he knows about are pickup trucks, gumbo, cold beer and barbecued ribs.

But Bum knows just a bit about football. He has coached five playoff games and he has been the underdog on the road in four of them. Yet, he still has a 4-1 playoff record with the only loss coming here in last year’s title game. Bum may squeeze more out of his talent than any coach in the league.

The ultimate factor in the game could be the weather. Playing the Steelers in January in Pittsburgh is like playing the Russians at Stalingrad.

“I don’t like to live in it,” says Donnie Shell, who lives in South Carolina, “but I like to play in it.” Steve Courson adds, “I love to play in the snow because the offensive linemen can get better footing against the defensive linemen.”

Bum has proved he can win without his stars, but he has not proved he can win in bad weather. The Oilers lost in Cleveland just last month. “You can’t practice being miserable,” Bum like to say. When the Oilers left the field the day before last year’s game, Bum cracked, “Let’s get out of this weather that I keep saying won’t make any difference.”

The Oilers seemed beaten the next day when Bum walked out with a plastic covering over his Cowboy hat. The weather was too tough for both his hat and his team. The snow arrived last night just in time to make the Oilers miserable.

Joe Greene objects to the notion the weather was a factor last January when the Steelers won 34-5. “That was a beautiful performance by the Steelers and all that anybody wrote about was the weather. If we’d had to play in scuba gear, we would have won that day,” Greene said.

Regardless of whether the weather was or not a factor, the problem for the Oilers is that the Steelers are almost as tough as their weather.

* Note: The poem “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is about the Christmas loving people of Whoville and a 'Grinch' who hated Christmas for no known reason.

Coach Noll is an enigma – to reporters, to his players, perhaps even to himself. He does not fit any of the stereotypes of football coaches that men like Vince Lombardi (Green Bay Packers) and Bear Bryant (University of Alabama) and Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys) have engraved upon the minds of Americans.

At 47, he still has the bearish build of the football guard, the position he once played for Paul Brown in Cleveland, but he dresses like and moves with the grace of a middle-aged golfer.

He has all the physical traits of the sturdy German peasant stock settled around the corners of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania known locally as the Tri-State area: blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, big indelicate hands. But he has the mind and burning curiosity of an academician, with interests ranging from flying to oenology (winemaking) to classical music. He says the best football coaches are not really coaches but teachers.

He refuses opportunities for endorsements and commercials: he once explained he’s rather his players get those contracts since they have fewer years in which to benefit from professional football than he does.

Football excites him, not for the thrills and chills and physical contact that have made it America’s number one pastime, but because it is a “living, growing thing” and “a great learning experience.”

“You can learn so much about life from football… like how important basics are,” he says. “You learn from so many people, and if you have good teachers – and I think I have – what you learn is subtle.”

Anecdotes about his nonconformity to coaching’s stereotypes are handed down from one rookie class of Steelers to another like cherished family heirlooms.

Tackle Jon Kolb still remembers the fears and shame he felt when as a rookie he was told to report to Noll’s office, although he was told not to bring his playbook, as all about-to-be cut players are instructed. And Kolb still laughs at the astonishment he felt when he discovered all Noll wanted to do was share some photos of birds with a fellow birdwatcher.

Another time, according to legend, Noll walked in on three players shooting the breeze in a training camp dormitory room, picked up a guitar leaning on a chair and strummed a tune and sang along. Then put the guitar down and walked out without speaking one word to any of them.
Yet Chuck Noll’s team is more difficult to characterise than Chuck Noll himself.

Somehow, over the years, men as diverse as troubled former Steeler tackle Ernie Holmes, free spirited receiver Lynn Swann, the retired flamboyant running back Frenchy Fuqua and the also retired but totally business-like linebacker Andy Russell have blended together to perform with the intelligence and efficiency of a computer.

The current team include a bike racer and businessman; farmers and financiers; a poet, a potter, amateur photographers and a rancher who occasionally plays around in politics.

In fact, it became apparent one day as Noll talked about what he looks for in players, that one of the only characteristics common to all current Steelers, besides the fact that none has ever played for another NFL team, is an ability to get along with people different from themselves.

“A lot of scouting combines come in and say guards should have such and such dimensions and linebackers other dimensions,” Noll said. “We’d probably be sub-standard in most of the areas. I mean, they’d say tackles are supposed to be at least 6-foot-4, and we’ve had a lot of tackles about 6-2.”

“We don’t have dimensions like that. We look for somebody who stands out, somebody who has something special.”

Noll mentioned how Steve Courson had caught the scouts’ eyes with a vertical jump of about 34 inches, incredible for a man of his size; Jack Lambert impressed everyone with his aggressiveness and determination.

“But,” Noll continued, “we also look for guys who fit in with one another, and that takes time to find out. That’s one reason why it’s difficult to make decisions on them so quickly. One of the worst things the league did was to shorten the times we have to look at people before we trim the roster… you can’t change people – wives sometimes try to change their husbands and they find out it doesn’t work. You have to be able to accept people for who they are."

“We are looking of course for athletes – that’s number one. We’re looking for people with speed, quickness, agility, strength. But we’re also looking for people with the ability to learn.

I think all our football player also have a sense of responsibility. They know they have to be at their best because the guy next to him is busting his butt to do his best.

And we’re after people who want to be the best, not necessarily the best paid, but the best at their positions. Some guys just want to work hard enough to become the highest paid and then they rest on their laurels. But we want guys who just care about being and remaining the best.”

Noll said he also keeps in mind the fact that football players like other human beings and like the game of football, change.

“You change every year, subtly,” he says. “You grow with the game. The game is a growing, living thing and you grow with it.”

Those players who do not grow with the game and with the Pittsburgh Steelers, or those who grow in different directions than their teammates and coaches – men like Holmes and the brilliant but undiscipline Joe Gilliam – are sent away.

Other players, equally distinctive but more in tune with the goals and needs of the whole team, take their places.

The first thing to remember is that it is just a price. “It’s a good price,” said Bob Martin, Las Vegas oddsmaker. “But I’m not trying to pick a winner.”

Martin is the oddsmaker who sets the national line on pro football and his decision to make the Steelers the heaviest Super Bowl favourites for ten years has caused quite a stir in pro football circles.

It has certainly stirred Ray Malavasi, the Rams coach, who resented the implication that the Steelers are making the trip to Pasadena simply to pick up the Lombardi trophy. Malavasi claims the people who think the Rams are such big underdogs do not know anything about football.

“I read in the Los Angeles paper that Malavasi is furious,” Martin said. “But the money makes it 10 points. It is what the public thinks. If some sports book tried to make the game even money, it would be 10 points before the day was over because the money makes it that.”

Martin opened the line with the Steelers a 10-point favourite. The early money was on the Steelers, pushing the odds to 10.5. “I don’t think it will go any higher than 11,” he said. “We’re starting to get some Ram money now.”

The last time a team was such a big favourite was in the fourth Super Bowl, when the Vikings were an 11-point choice over the Chiefs. The biggest favourite in Super Bowl history was the Colts, who were an 18-point choice over the Jets in Super Bowl III. The Vikings and Colts not only did not cover the big spreads but lost the games.

But Martin is not one of those observers who thinks the Steelers are going to blow the Rams out by 25 or 30 points.

“Malavasi’s right that his team matches up pretty well with the Steelers,” he said. “The offensive lines are about equal, and the Rams match up well on defense, especially now Jack Ham is out. But the Steelers have a far superior quarterback, a decided edge in wide receiver, and a slight edge in the kicking game.”

Martin could not resist a gibe at Malavasi. “Why don’t you ask him how the Rams are going to score?” he asked.

Martin said it, “may be a low scoring game,” but added, “The one question in the minds of most people is whether the Rams can score.”

When he was asked why the line was not higher, he said, “The Steelers have lost all four on the road, they’re playing the Rams on grass and the Rams are the home team, so their home life won’t be disrupted, although the Steelers have been through all that before.”

Martin doesn’t really care whether a game is close to the spread. “It doesn’t have to hold true,” he says. But the one thing he hopes is that the game is not a replay of last year’s Super Bowl.
He opened the line with the Steelers favoured by three over Dallas and that may have been a bit low. “The first onslaught was Steeler money,” Martin says. The result is that the spread went up to 4.5. At that point, a lot of late money came in for the Cowboys.

When the Steelers led 35-17, with seven minutes left, it looked like they would cover with no problems. But then they went into their prevent defense and Dallas scored two late touchdowns to cut the margin to four points.

That was the worst thing that could happen to the Las Vegas sports books. They had to pay the people who gave the Steelers with three and the fans who took the Cowboys with 4.5. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, many fans were giving 4.5 or five points and lost out.

But Martin figures Las Vegas was the real loser last year. “It was a disaster area for the sports books,” he says. “We were thinking of calling President Carter and asking him to declare this a disaster area,” he joked.

If the oddsmakers are right about their spread this year, it could be the Rams who are a disaster area when it is over.

Super Bowl tickets have turned to gold or silver. One would think so anyhow, judging by the money they are commanding this week, and the way their value is soaring.

The price printed on the glossy silver-and-blue ticket is $30 for each of the 105,000 seats at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where the Steelers will be seeking their fourth championship against the local favourites, the Los Angeles Rams.

But they are being peddled, swapped and scalped for $75 to $150 per ticket in this town, and in California tickets are being offered at $150 to $175 – for seats behind the goal posts. They are getting – can you believe this? – as much as $350 for a seat on the 50-yard line.

It’s all perfectly legal in L. A. There is no Californian law that makes scalping illegal. One Hollywood ticket broker reports that tickets for Super Bowl XIV were the hottest items in his 30 years in the business.

Dan Rooney, who watched practice in a parka, says the problem of dispensing the team’s ticket issue has not been as sticky this time as it has in the past, mainly because of the distance and the difficulty in getting to the game site this year.

“We did not get as many off-the-wall requests as we’ve had in the past,” related Rooney. “No one was offering $500 for a pair of tickets as they were when the game was in Miami.

When the Steelers take the field for Super Bowl XIV, Cliff Stoudt will take his familiar place on the sideline of the Rose Bowl, his trusty clipboard and pencil in hand.

He’ll chart plays, toss the football a bit, small talk a bit, lead the cheers for his teammates and try to pretend he doesn’t feel badly that he didn’t help them reach next Sunday’s battle with the Los Angeles Rams.

Unless the Steelers are victimised by a horrendous turn of events as they fight for their second consecutive NFL championship and fourth in the last six years, Stoudt won’t play.

Stoudt’s routine for the Super Bowl will be no different than it has been for his previous 52 games as a pro quarterback. He has yet to take a snap from center in a game.

That’s right. In his three years, he has never appeared in a game that counts. He needs only three more regular-season games in uniform to qualify for an NFL pension without having played.

As the Steelers celebrated their AFC championship over Houston, Stoudt tried hard to be convincing when he said he’s happy to be Super Bowl bound again. But Stoudt’s no actor – the more he talked, the more evident the hurt became.

“I have mixed emotions about it, really,” he said. “It’s great to be going again. It’s great to say I’m on the greatest team in the world. But I just can’t feel like I’ve done anything to get us there.”

Four years ago, Stoudt finished a college career – one full of offensive records – at nearby Youngstown State University. But since he was drafted fifth by the Steelers in 1977, he’s only been a student learning quietly, waiting behind star Terry Bradshaw and a capable number two man, Mike Kruczek.

“I don’t want to go any place else,” Stoudt said. “I guess it just gets depressing at this time of the year. This is when people come up to you and say ‘You’re drawing a pay cheque. That’s all that counts.’ But I want to contribute. Guys retire because they can’t help anymore. I can contribute. I can”

“I just wish I could say just once, I’ve helped by doing this,” he said. “Hey, all these guys get to play sometimes. They’re all on speciality teams, used as subs or something. I could even hold for the placekicker, but out punter does that.”

The only time Stoudt has broken his idle streak was early in November in a lopsided victory over the Redskins. Kruczek played the second half while Bradshaw recuperated from a first half injury. With the game out of danger and thirty minutes of football to go, it seemed fair to give Stoudt his chance.

“I broke my helmet on that wall over there,” Stoudt confessed of his feelings after that game. “No one knows it, but I did.”

In spite of it all, Stoudt continues to insist he wants to remain a Pittsburgh Steeler. He figures once he gets over the Super Bowl blues, he might someday be able to make sense of his situation.

“Three years and nothing to show for it,” he said. “There must be a reason for it. Everybody has a reason for being here.”

He searched his mind for the right word. He rejected the word “nervous.” That did not convey the right meaning.

He paused again and came up with the proper word – “anxious.” Yes, anxious. That was the best way to describe his mood a year ago when the Steelers went to Miami for the Super Bowl.

Ron Johnson was the only rookie in the Steelers lineup a year ago and a Super Bowl trip was all new to him. He knew he could end up in a precarious position. He was attempting to become the first rookie to start at cornerback for a Super Bowl champion. He has met the challenges all year long. The Super Bowl against Dallas would be the last one.

“I was overanxious to get to it,” he said. “It had never been done before, and I wanted to prove I could do it.”
He met that last test. He did not get burned in the biggest showcase game of them all and the Steelers were champions. That is why it was a different Ron Johnson who travelled with the Steelers to their Super Bowl headquarters ready to play the Rams.

He is a veteran now. He has been through it all. He knows what to expect. He also finds himself in an enviable position. He has another chance to make a niche in pro football’s history books.

He is attempting to become one of the few players ever to start a Super Bowl in his first two years in the league. Jack Lambert is the only other Steeler to do it.

There was still disquiet in the Los Angeles team from being made 10-point underdogs against the Steelers. “People still keep badmouthing us,” sighs the Rams guard Dennis Harrah. “But we have twice the team Denver had when it was in Super Bowl XII. The people who think the Steelers are going to walk all over us have another thing coming.”

Joe Greene added fuel to the fire by suggesting he was wanted to face Dallas in the Super Bowl. “I’m disappointed that Dallas lost. We’re the best and we wanted to play the best.”

See, voice the Rams. “We’ll show them,” retorts Rams defensive tackle Larry Brooks. “We have a lot of confidence that we can beat the Steelers.”

“Usually, teams are very humble when they prepare to meet us,” acknowledged Dwight White. “The Rams are different. They’ve got some kind of inner strength. That’s why we’re going to spend the week talking about how good the Rams are.”

I can’t get a feeling for this game. Last year, I had the feeling we were going to blow Dallas out, win going away. I got it early in the week and, as the game got close, that belief got stronger. I knew we were going to beat the Cowboys.

What the sports writers call Super Bowl hype is growing strong here, and I read what the Rams are saying, but I still don’t have a perspective on the game, what’s going to happen.

I don’t have a bad feeling, but I don’t have the sort of feeling I did before the Dallas game last year. But it’s early in the week. I think Chuck Noll has taught us to build as the week goes along. That’s the way I do it. Agnes (Greene’s wife) is here, and the kids are coming out. The first three days, I always devote time to them. Thursday, Friday, Saturday of this week it’s all business. I put everything else aside. Agnes has been a football wife for a long time. She knows me, she knows what I have to do to get ready, and she shields me.

There are a lot of demands on us here. Friends, some guys have business associates. There are always people you want to see. It’s fun time now. A writer asked me yesterday if it was old hat to the Steelers. I asked him, “Do you get tired of covering it?”

How can this be old hat? Hey, this is the Super Bowl. This is what it’s all about. Fans think football is fun. What’s fun are the games. The rest is work. Training camp, the heat, being so tired you can’t think, getting hurt, that’s not fun. This is.

Doesn’t sound like it’s much fun for the Rams though. The secret to all this pre-game talk is to enjoy it. It shouldn’t really bother you. It used to be that the Steelers didn’t get a lot of attention. Now, we’re veterans at it. That’s what the Rams have to find out about the Super Bowl. That all the talk doesn’t mean much.

But I know their coach, Ray Malavasi must be tired of hearing how they don’t have a chance against us. We’ll see. For us, it’s always been the bigger the task, the better. We like to think we always rise to the occasion. But it’s too early for much intensity. It will build up as the game gets closer. Actually, we’re probably further ahead in our preparations than we’ve ever been going into a Super Bowl.

Other years, the weather was always so cold when we practiced at home the week before the game that it slowed us down. But we’ve already had some good work.

We had the usual picture day yesterday and then our first real work here. Afterwards, there was some talk among the players that the Rams are probably getting hot the way the talk is going. That’s the way it worked the last couple of Super Bowls. We get most of the attention from the media and the other teams get angry.

I’m not so sure the carnival atmosphere is good for the game, but there’s no denying it’s part of the Super Bowl. What the media don’t seem to understand is that any one of maybe five teams could’ve been in this game. Us, the Rams, San Diego, Houston and Dallas. We got here and so did Los Angeles, and it’s going to be a good football game.

Their older guys will understand that, know that talk is just talk. But it may get to their mature players. We’ve been through it. We’re too good of a football team to let anything bother us. If the pregame talk can get them pumped up enough to beat us, what does that say about the Pittsburgh Steelers?
We respect the Rams, but if we play as well as we can, we should beat them.

Maybe that’s the best way to describe how I feel about the Super Bowl. At least, right now.

First down is the big key to stopping the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense and on first down they are a 50-50 team – 50 percent pass, 50 percent run. It is important for a defense to come up with a second down and 10 or second and 8 or 9 yards to go. Then on second down, the extra defensive back can come in and the defense will have the edge.

On second down and long yardage, most teams pass. But not the Steelers. With their great trap blocking, they will often run on such a second down, doing the opposite of what is expected. They ran on second-and-long against Houston in the AFC Championship game and kept the Oilers off balance.

Nevertheless, percentages are in the defense’s favour when Pittsburgh has second-and-long yardage. After all, the Steelers rushing attack averaged 4.6 yards a play, their highest since 1972.
But if it comes up second down and five or less, then the defense is at Pittsburgh’s mercy. The play can be run or pass, or play action and pass, and away they go.

Formations are unimportant. The Steelers line up in the normal pro set, backs split, and they have all but abandoned the I formation. They are in effect saying, “We’re not here to beat you with trickery, like a Dallas. We’re here to execute our plays to the best of our ability.”

And they have plenty of ability. From the pro set they do it all – pass or run – to the strong or the weak side. They trap block all over the field. If there is a frequency to pass inside the opponent’s 30-yard line, its target would be Lynn Swann. That is who Terry Bradshaw will be looking for.

Near the goal line, they will trap block again, which very few teams try to do because it gets so crowded on the scrimmage line. But the Steelers can trap there, and they put a terrible burden on the defense. The Rams have not played anybody with as good a trapping game as the Steelers.

Another way the Steelers will pressure the Ram defense is with three wide receivers. Jim Smith coming in to replace a tight end. John Stallworth and Swann will line up on the same side, likely the left side, with Swann in the slot, and Smith on the other side. It takes three great cornerbacks to combat that.

The Steelers will run any kind of pass pattern from that formation and also run from it occasionally, using the trap series again. The threat of the trap blocking slows down the pass rush. It has almost replaced the draw and the screen pass as an antidote to the pass rush.
Wide Receivers

The Rams must try to cover Stallworth and Swann with two men each in every passing situation. Expecting a defensive back to cover either one alone would be asking an awful lot. This will be one of the most interesting parts of the game, seeing what the Ram cornerbacks, Pat Thomas and Rod Perry, can do with Swann and Stallworth. All four can jump, but who can jump the highest?

Here is where the Steelers again proved to be a great football team. They started the season with relatively new people, Ted Petersen and Steve Courson, playing left tackle and right guard respectively, because Jon Kolb and Gerry Mullins were hurt. Kolb and Mullins came back, then were hurt again so Petersen and Courson finished the season.

If Petersen is matched against Fred Dryer, the Steelers might have a soft spot. The Steeler center, Mike Webster, is the premier one in the game. The left guard, Sam Davis, is fine, while Larry Brown the right tackle, is excellent and underrated. Jack Youngblood will need both his legs against Brown. If Youngblood has lost a fraction of speed, he will not be a factor in the game.

Bennie Cunningham and Randy Grossman are both fine receivers. Cunningham is the stronger blocker because he weighs 247 to Grossman’s 217. In a double tight-end situation, Grossman will line up as the wingback and then come across and trap block. It doesn’t seem fair.

Terry Bradshaw had another great season. He does not run much anymore, but that does not mean is unable to run. He made two key runs, one against Houston and one against Cleveland in overtime to set up scores. He could make that kind of big play in the Super Bowl, the kind that cuts the heart out of a defense.

He has great physical abilities, but his play calling is average in that he is not going to come up with any surprises. The Rams do have something going for them in that three of their coaches – Bud Carson, Dan Radakovich and Lionel Taylor – were Steelers coaches and they know Bradshaw.

They will put in some things to try to get him off balance and when Terry is off balance, he can make mistakes. He is human. Mistakes will keep the Rams in the games.

Franco Harris has lost nothing. He still can run outside and he just a great football player. He is not as physical as he used to be, but he sees what is happening and has a fine feel for what to do at all times.

The Steelers feel comfortable with either Sidney Thornton or Rocky Bleier as the second running back. Thornton would be more susceptible to a fumble than Bleier.

It would be a mistake to assume Bleier comes in mostly on passing downs. Expect him to start and the Steelers to play conservatively in the beginning and Thornton coming on later. He is a little bigger and faster.

The Steelers are extremely difficult to run the ball against. They gave up only nine touchdowns on the ground in sixteen games. So, the key to doing anything against them offensively is to put the ball in the air. The only team that ran against them was the Oilers in the second of their games and Earl Campbell took a terrible beating to get his 100 yards.

The Pittsburgh pass rush is good, but not the great, super, pass rush it used to be. The Oilers Dan Pastorini completed 19 of 28 pass attempts in the playoff game which was a high percentage for him.

The Rams are unlikely to move the ball on the ground with any consistency. A big-play man like Billy Waddy is their best shot.

The quartet is somewhat new with John Banaszak and Gary Dunn playing on the right side. The Pittsburgh line is paying more attention to technique now than four or five years ago when it was awesomely physical as it overpowered the opposition. L.C. Greenwood is still L.C. Greenwood and Joe Greene is still Joe Greene. It is obvious that Greene is playing better because he is unselfish. He now has the team concept in mind. That becomes true of all good pros as they get older.

Again, the Steelers showed their depth. After Jack Ham was hurt, Dennis Winston was ready to step in and he is an above average linebacker. The same with Robin Cole on the other side. Teams that have been up there for a long time, like Minnesota, Miami or even Dallas, cannot make replacements like that.

When the Rams run Wendell Tyler wide to the outside, Jack Lambert will be there to meet him at either sideline. The Rams’ I formation will not bother Lambert at all.

The Steelers beat the system again. They replaced an All-Pro free safety Mike Wagner, who was hurt, with J.T. Thomas, a former cornerback. Thomas missed last season because of illness but could not get his job back because Ron Johnson became established on the corner.

Mel Blount, the other cornerback, has been around for years and still is a potent force. Donnie Shell, the strong safety, helps to make this the most physical secondary in the league. Yet it might have some trouble with Waddy.

Again, through the use of the draft, the Steelers replaced their kickers in two seasons. Craig Colquitt for Bobby Walden and Matt Bahr for Roy Gerela and they have improved their team. Bahr gives them an edge because of his consistency with field goals.

On the special teams, the Steelers use a number of regulars, which is something else distinctive about them compared to other teams. The regulars are the better athletes, which makes the special teams so good.

The above was the scouting report on the Steelers prepared by Ed Biles, assistant coach and defensive coordinator of the Houston Oilers, who lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. The report was coordinated by William N. Wallace of the New York Times.

Albert M Herrmann Jr Press photo of Rocky

Dick Hoak has a difficult decision to make this Sunday. The Steelers offensive backfield coach must choose between Rocky Bleier (pictured left at practice) and Sidney Thornton to start alongside Franco Harris in Super Bowl XIV.

It is a prestigious assignment. There will be more than 100,000 fans in attendance at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and there will be more than 100 million viewers watching it on television, or what figures to be the largest audience ever to watch a sporting event.

So, it’s not like trying to decide whether to have bacon or sausages with your eggs at breakfast.

Both Bleier and Thornton are healthy and eager to go, and Hoak cannot go wrong no matter who gets the nod. But it could be crucial to the Steelers Super Bowl chances too. So, it has given him and Coach Chuck Noll considerable anguish.

“It would even be more difficult if Rocky and Sidney weren’t such great team players,” said Hoak.

Hoak has a way of cocking his head and angling his pitch-black eyebrows that suggests a jeweller appraising diamonds. It’s appropriate in this case – choosing between Bleier and Thornton.

It will probably be Bleier in the lineup come Sunday. Hoak will come to him after the pre-game meal, as is the ritual, and tell him so. Bet your mortgage payment on it.

Bleier might not, but then his mortgage payment on a $400,000 house in Fox Chapel is a little steeper than most of ours. It also provides him with incentive to keep on truckin’ in these big games. The winner’s Super Bowl share is $18,000 per player, while the loser’s share is $9,000.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” said Hoak. “We’ll see how they practice and if anybody gets nicked up. They both play.”

Bleier believes he will start. “That’s my gut feeling,” he said. “Of course, I felt that way before the first playoff game with the Dolphins and I didn’t start. But I have a stronger gut feeling this time.”

Thornton started against the Dolphins and did well but reinjured a sprained ankle which caused him to miss five games late in the season. Bleier started against the Houston Oilers and was one of the heroes as the Steelers won the AFC Championship.

“Having both of them, we’ve gotten an awful lot out of that halfback spot,” said Hoak. “The two guys combined for over 1,000 yards rushing and caught 50 passes. They average close to 5 yards a carry. You can’t do much better than that.”

Thornton was second to Harris in rushing, gaining 585 yards on 118 carries for a 5-yards-per-carry clip scoring six touchdowns on the ground. Bleier rushed for 434 yards on 92 tries, or 4.7 a crack, and had four touchdowns. Their combined total was 1,019 yards, or 4.9 a try with 10 touchdowns. That compares favourably with Franco Harris’ 1,186 yards on 267 carries for a 4.4 average and eleven touchdowns.

Harris caught a career-high 36 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown while Bleier had his best season with 31 catches for 277 yards and Thornton improved on his pass-catching ability tremendously, snagging 16 for 231 yards and four touchdowns.

“Both would like to start,” said Hoak. “But it’s not a problem because both accept whatever we decide. It’s a team thing. Sidney gives you some things Rocky doesn’t, but that works both ways.
Bleier doesn’t make mistakes. And I’ve seen him come through so many times. On Sunday after Sunday. He’s always prepared, and he’ll make the big play. He’s not the greatest practice player, but he’s a winner.”

And right there, without meaning to tip his hand, Hoak gave the best reason for starting Rocky this Sunday. Sidney will have his day in some other Super Bowl.

“I just wish Rocky would quit talking about retiring,” volunteered Hoak, who put in ten years as a running back with the Steelers before calling it quits. “If he keeps talking about retiring, Chuck will tell him to quit. I wish he would keep quiet about that. He hasn’t talked to me, and he hasn’t talked to Chuck about it.

Even if he didn’t start for us next season, he could be so valuable. Him not having to play all the time has helped him this year. There were times before when he was hurt, and he had to play because we had no one else to turn to.

Even banged up, Rocky was better than anybody else we had. We’re fortunate now to have Sidney. And if Greg Hawthorne was healthy and with Anthony Anderson around, we’re deeper than we’ve ever been in the backfield. If I told Rocky he had to play fullback, he could do that too.”

There are some who believe Bleier is too involved in outside business interests, but he doesn’t meet a beat once he puts on his uniform. “Rocky studies the game,” said Hoak, “and he forgets all those outside interests. This is still his main interest. He’s had a great year all things considered, and I don’t know why he’s even talking about retiring.”

Then Hoak turns his attention to Harris, his prize stallion and one of the greatest big-game players in NFL history. There was concern early in the season about Franco, and Hoak has to admit he was among those who wanted to see Franco find the holes and 15-yard gains instead of going from sideline to sideline.

“Everybody was making a big deal about it,” said Hoak, “and I was a little concerned, yeah you had to be. But he’s gone through that every year. He’ll have four or five bad games. It just stood out so much because it was at the start of the season.”

Chuck Noll is busy the week before Super Bowl XIV dodging all the questions comparing the Steelers with the great teams of the past.

When he was asked the questions at his press conference, he gave his usual answer, “I have trouble comparing teams.”

When one reporter said, “Thanks for not answering the question,” Noll tried again.

Noll then told about seeing a film of the highlights of the 1950 championship game between Cleveland and Philadelphia and he said it was a different game then. “The only contact was when Marion Motley ran over somebody.” He finally conceded, “the proof of the film was that they wouldn’t be on the same field (with today’s teams). Today’s athletes are bigger, stronger and faster.

But he added that if those athletes had the advantage of today’s diet and training, they would be different.

Steve Eller showed up at the Steelers hotel and it reminded Rocky Bleier of his Vietnam experience, and how lucky he has been to come back from that bad experience and why the Super Bowl, no matter the build-up and hype is still simply a game.

Eller, who is 30, is a big fellow with a red beard and a bad back and moves stiffly through the hotel hallways. He too was wounded in Vietnam, much more seriously than Bleier, and spent a year in Irwin Hospital in Manhattan, Kansas as a roommate of Bleier.

This will be the first Super Bowl Eller has ever attended. Bleier got him and a friend of his their tickets.

Eller spent six more months than Bleier in that hospital and is worse off, though he says he can play tennis, bowl, and do just about anything. He just can’t stand up too long without feeling pain. His back was broken in Vietnam, he was shot in the knee and shoulder, and he cracked his other shoulder.

He was a mess, and his morale stunk when Bleier showed up in the next bed in the Kansas military facility. Even so, when Eller weighed 290 pounds, way too much for his 6-3 frame, he could still outrun Bleier in those nightmarish days.

Eller, down to 200 now and in much better spirits recalled Rocky’s attitude about losing to him all the time in a footrace. “He used to holler at me, ‘All you do is lay around all day and drink beer and chase women, and you still beat me!’

But Bleier wouldn’t quit. “He had such self-determination,” explained Eller. “Lots of times he wanted to give up, but he just couldn’t do it. He would work out every day, and his foot still killed him, and he stumbled along.”

“I’d tell him, ‘Don’t give up. You’ve got too much at stake.’ The next day he’d work harder. He once told me the Army doctors got him to where he could walk, and the Pittsburgh doctors got him to where he could run.”

The Steelers were patient and Rocky has not forgotten that. He still owes them one as he sees it.
“My job at the hospital, because I could get around, was to give everybody else a job. I gave Rocky a job of printing name tags for everybody. It was an easy job. We did him a lot of favours, even hiding his medical records so he could get out early to go to the Steelers training camp.”

“I don’t know how much longer Rocky’s going to play,” said Eller, “and I’ve never been to a Super Bowl before, so I though I better go and see one before it’s too late. He was great against the Oilers in the AFC title game, and I bet he’s even better this Sunday.”

A special niche in the history books awaits the winner of Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl.

For the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers, a victory would bring them an unprecedented fourth Super Bowl championship and confirm the contention of many of their supporters that the club is the finest ever assembled in NFL history. No other team has won more than two Super Bowls and a victory would give Pittsburgh four in the last six years.

For the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams, who enter the game as 11-point underdogs, a victory would rank among the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. Only the 16-7 victory by the New York Jets, who were 17-point underdogs over Baltimore in Super Bowl III and possibly a 23-7 victory by Kansas City over 13-point favourite Minnesota the following year, could match it.

Pittsburgh earned its fourth Super Bowl berth by winning the AFC Central title with a 12-4 record and then defeating Miami 34-14 and Houston 27-13 in the playoffs.

Los Angeles gained its first Super Bowl berth in the team’s history by closing strong for a 9-7 record and overtaking New Orleans for the NFC West title. The Rams then upset defending NFC champion Dallas 21-19 and downed Tampa Bay 9-0 in the playoffs.

The Steelers are favoured primarily because of their balance. Pittsburgh’s offense gained 6,258 yards, just 13 short of the NFL record, and led the NFL by averaging 391 yards total offense per game. Pittsburgh’s 416 points were the highest in the league and they scored 30 or more points five different times.

Terry Bradshaw became the first Steeler to pass for 3,000 yards and threw for 26 touchdowns. Pittsburgh’s 52 touchdowns tied for the league lead with San Diego.

Defensively, the Steelers held nine regular season opponents to under 100 yards rushing and their average of 3.4 yards a carry was the lowest figure allowed in the NFL. Only one runner – Houston’s Earl Campbell – gained more than 100 yards and the nine touchdowns permitted were the fewest in the NFL.

The Steeler defense was particularly awesome in the playoffs as they held Miami and Houston to a total of 49 yards rushing.

The Rams strength lies in their defense. Los Angeles set an NFL record by holding Seattle to minus seven yards total offense earlier in the season and completely shut down Tampa Bay to win the NFC title.

The Rams problems are on offense where young quarterback Vince Ferragamo has been a starter for less than half a season. Regular quarterback Pat Haden suffered a broken hand and will not be available to play.
The Rams lost starting running back John Cappelletti and wide receivers Ron Jessie and Willie Miller for the season with injuries.

“Most people talk about the Rams and their defense, but they have a good offense too,” noted Chuck Noll. “Vince Ferragamo is a young quarterback with the ability to throw the football long as Dallas found out in the playoffs. They have the ability to hit the home run pass. They can ground it out if they have to and we’ll approach this game from the same defensive standpoint that we approach all games – that first we must stop the running game.”

Their offensive line really came on in the last few games. I saw against the Buccaneers how much time they gave Ferragamo to throw the ball. I also saw the Buccaneers against Baltimore and thought they had a tremendous pass rush. The Rams offensive line has been doing a superb job for the last half of the season.”
Disagreeing with the 10-point spread established by the bookmakers, Noll acknowledged, “We respect the Rams. We have not beaten them since I can remember. They beat us 10-7 here last year. The Rams are a good football team. and I think it will be a close, well played, exciting football game.”

Rams coach Ray Malavasi, who had to survive rumours of his dismissal all season, becomes incensed when talk turns to the Rams role as underdogs.

“We are not as bad as you guys are making us out to be and Pittsburgh isn’t as good as you’re making them out to be,” Malavasi has been telling reporters. “I think our guys are tired of hearing how bad they are. All season long they’ve been putting up with that garbage and now we make the Super Bowl and we’re still hearing it, stuff like we don’t belong here. That’s a lot of garbage.

We’ve had a lot of adversity. It was tough on the staff and on the players. We felt a lot of pressure. We knew we could win but we also knew it would be a tough job. Our veteran players did a great job. They gave us leadership when we were down and out and most of all, they gave a younger players a winning attitude.”

Rocky Bleier comes up to his buddy Jack lambert and poses a question for the Steelers’ middle linebacker, who was recently named the season’s outstanding AFC defensive player.

Lambert shrugs his broad-beamed shoulders and says, “We’re ready. We’ll do our job. You guys have to do yours.”

As Rocky reads the picture, Lambert’s bullish posture is a good sign for the Steelers. Lambert is one of the big keys, one of the Steelers who Bleier believes the most when he makes a confident observation about an upcoming game.

The Steelers are favoured by 11 points over the Rams. The Steelers are even more confident of their chances and Bleier points to Lambert, Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw as the best indicators of the club’s confidence that it will win its fourth Super Bowl title in as many tries.

There are other tip-offs, or things to look for, which Bleier offers exclusively to the Press as the kickoff nears for the final and biggest pro football game of the year.

If Jon Kolb gets sick to his stomach before today’s game, that’s a good sign, says Bleier. Kolb expects to start at left offensive tackle – his first start after being sidelined the last three games and he’s ready to block for Bradshaw & Co.

Other good signs would be Franco Harris pacing the clubhouse at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Mel Blount talking about how’s he’s going to shut out Preston Dennard and Billy Waddy, the Rams’ young receivers, and that Lynn Swann hasn’t gotten sunburned from being under the harsh lights of TV interviews back home, where he once starred at Southern Cal.

Bleier brought a major-league looking movie camera, a gift from his wife Aleta, here to California. He’s been kidded about that. Some insist he’s filming the “Rocky Bleier Story” for TV on his own. But Bleier does have an ability to bring the Steelers scene into sharp focus. This is his eleventh season with the Steelers, his fourth Super Bowl, and he knows the team as well as anyone.

Lambert mystifies most people by his behaviour, but he is a hero to Bleier, a neighbour in Fox Chapel. Lambert is one of the most visible of the Steelers here, discoing the night away. Bobby Layne never spent more time at a bar, but Bobby wasn’t usually as well-behaved as Lambert has been at the team’s hotel.

“Maybe he’s a throwback,” observed Bleier. “He’s a player first. Nothing will affect his play when he’s on a football field. Whether he had a bad night the night before, or a bad week. You know he’ll be there. He’s so consistent so people don’t care what he does off the field.

Jack has a unique make-up and relationship with some of our players. He’ll call people anything that comes to mind, and some of it feels rough, and he says things to the black ballplayers that nobody else could get away with it, but he does. He pulls no punches with anybody.”

Bradshaw dresses near Bleier in the clubhouse and Rocky regards him as the single most important player on the Pittsburgh team. “If he’s going to be good, we’re in great shape, if he’s not, we’re in trouble,” said Bleier.

“When Terry’s nervous before a game and has some difficulties sleeping the night before and he worries, well those are good signs. On the day of the game, if he’s confident and loose, it bodes well for us.”

The Steelers in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in six years will face the Los Angeles Rams, the surprise winners of the NFC, in the Rose Bowl in a game that might decide conclusively that Pittsburgh is, indeed, the team of the seventies.

This is the first time a team has ever played in a Super Bowl in its own territory, although it is the Steelers, not the Rams, who have been designated as the home team this year.
Because the home team designation alternates from year to year between the National and the American conferences, the Steelers got the choice of uniforms and Coach Noll has decided to dress the Steelers in their black and gold.

Ironically, the game matches the Steelers, who along with the Chargers, had the best record in the NFL at 12-4 during the regular season, against the Rams, whose 9-7 performance was the worst of all the teams to make the playoffs.

It poses the question of just how good the Rams are. Are they really as tough as they appeared to be in sweeping to six victories in their last seven games? Or are they the stumbling, inefficient crew that lost four of the five starts at one stage of the season and threatened to drop out of the playoff picture?

Ray Malavasi, coach of the Rams, sees an optimistic side to that mid-season slump. That the Rams survived it he maintains, gave the team “character” and pulled it together.

Coach Noll agrees with the first assessment. It shows, he said, that the Rams were powerful enough to overcome the adversity. If there is one distinguishing characteristic to this game, it is the meeting of the quarterbacks. Terry Bradshaw (age 31), of the Steelers and Vince Ferragamo (age 25), the understudy who was pressed into service when the Rams lost their starter, Pat Haden.

For Bradshaw, it will be his fourth Super Bowl and eighteenth playoff appearance. Ferragamo, a Los Angeles area youngster who went to school at the University of California and then transferred to Nebraska, will be starting only his eighth game as a pro. Yet there are those who think the quality of the Los Angeles offensive line, which give the quarterback plenty of time to pass, will dissolve the disadvantage of inexperience.

That line, clearly, is the key to the game. If the Rams interior linemen can contain the Steelers Curtain, the Rams may make a game of it.

The Rams, however, are not expected to rely too heavily on Ferragamo’s passing. The game plan, by Malavasi’s own admission, is to establish a running game early – a tactic that has failed time and again against the Steelers – and hope for a 100-yard effort from either Wendell Tyler or Cullen Bryant, the bullish 235-pound fullback.

Not many runners have 100-yard games against the Steelers. The last three to do it in the past five seasons were O.J. Simpson, John Cappelletti and Earl Campbell.

The famed Steel Curtain – a term that once referred to the Steelers four down linemen – has been expanded. It now consists of seven men who are interchangeable, with the development of four younger linemen – John Banaszak, Steve Furness, Gary Dunn and Tom Beasley – and veterans Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White. The team’s defense is a problem to opposing offensive linemen.

Another problem for the Rams, who think they can go outside with Tyler’s speed, are the Steelers’ quick, powerful cornerbacks, Mel Blount and Ron Johnson, who are instinctive enough to force on the run or tail a wide receiver. Both are extremely difficult to beat outside.

Even if they don’t move the ball as they expect to, the Rams figure their defense is the equal of the Steelers and they look for it to keep them in the ball game through four quarters.

They do this with a multiple front platoon – a basic four-three that can switch instantly into a five-two or six-one. In passing situations, the Rams sometimes have gone with seven backs in the secondary.

Pittsburgh can run an offense that features straight-ahead blocking, as they did in overpowering Miami and Houston, or they can execute traps that leave the defensive linemen wondering where all the blockers are coming from. Depending on how physical the Rams want to be, the Steelers will respond to it.

Offensively, the edge certainly goes to the Steelers. In sheer talent, the Rams haven’t the personnel to keep pace with the Steelers in the skill positions. There is a vast difference between Bill Waddy, Preston Dennard, Ron Smith and Drew Hill and the Steelers’ wide receivers Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Jim Smith and Theo Bell.

A similar gap exists at running back, where the Rams’ heavy-duty men, Tyler, Cullen Bryant and Lawrence McCutcheon lack the straight-ahead power of Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier and Sidney Thornton.

The Steelers have been established as 11-point favourites. The consensus among the Terrible Towel waving set is that the Black and Gold will cover that spot easily.
Most of the Super Bowl IX team have departed

The Steelers will be appearing in the fourth Super Bowl in six years, but more than half of the players who suited up for the first one in 1975 are no longer on the roster:

Jim Allen, Ed Bradley, Jim Clack, Richard Conn, Charlie Davis, Steve Davis, Rick Druschel, Glen Edwards.
Reggie Garrett, Roy Gerela, Joe Gilliam, Gordon Gravelle, Terry Hanratty, Reggie Harrison, Ernie Holmes, Marv Kellum.
Frank Lewis, Ray Mansfield, John McMakin, Preston Pearson, Dave Reavis, Andy Russell, Ron Shanklin, Bobby Walden and Jim Wolf.

Also missing are three assistant coaches: Bud Carson, Dan Radakovich and Lionel Taylor.

The Steelers will justify their ranking as one of the greatest teams ever put together by beating the Rams 34-13.

They have too many offensive weapons. They also have been there before. The pressure of a Super Bowl appearance is extreme – the intense buildup for the entire preceding week, the hoopla of the game itself, with a TV audience of more than 100 million joining those inside the Rose Bowl.

The superiority of Pittsburgh will manifest itself in the second half when their experience in the big games will enable them to maintain their normal tempo while the Rams, unable to maintain a consistent attack, wilt.

A Super Bowl record crowd of 103,985 packed the Rose Bowl for Super Bowl XIV and they were not to be disappointed with a football game worthy of a championship contest.

It began slowly as the Rams went three and out and the Steelers were content with a 41-yard field goal on their first possession. It then transformed into a battle of two teams determined to prove they were the best in professional football.

Having put three points on the scoreboard, Matt Bahr attempted an onside kick to put the Rams on the back foot. His lobbed kick was hauled in by Rams’ George Andrews to give Los Angeles excellent field position on their own 41.

Starting in only his eighth pro football game, Vince Ferragamo shrugged off any nervous tension and led his team to a touchdown drive. Wendell Tyler was the main contributor with a catch of 39 yards as the eight-play drive finished with Cullen Bryant’s 1-yard scoring run.

Steelers’ Larry Anderson, weaving between the Rams special teams’ players and avoiding tackles, returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards. With a 53-yard field to cover, Terry Bradshaw complemented his short passes with the team’s ground game to reach the end zone as the game entered the second quarter. Bradshaw used nine plays finishing with a 1-yard touchdown run from Franco Harris.

After the Rams replied with a 31-yard field goal to tie the game, Anderson produced another excellent kickoff return of 38 yards. The Steelers were unable to capitalise and went three and out as did the Rams on their next series.

On the Steelers’ possession, Bradshaw threw his first interception and the Rams accepted the gift. Despite losing ten yards on the first play when he was sacked by Robin Cole, Ferragamo moved the chains with five straight completions. After a second sack, this one by John Banaszak, the Rams settled for a 45-yard field goal. The ball skimmed the inside of the right upright to edge them 13-10 in front at the half.

Anderson received the second half kickoff and added another good return of 37 yards. On the fifth play of the series, Bradshaw launched a bomb over the middle. As he was speeding through the Rams’ secondary, Lynn Swann collected the ball and continued his run into the end zone. His 47-yard touchdown completion put the Steelers back in front.

Los Angeles hit straight back. Ferragamo found Billy Waddell with a pass of 50 yards before connecting with Ron Smith for a 24-yard touchdown. Their point after attempt failed wide left but the Rams had regained a slender lead.

After Bradshaw threw another interception, the Steelers defense forced a Rams’ three and out. The Steelers were pressing again after moving the ball to their opponents’ 16. Bradshaw’s intended pass for Stallworth was intercepted as the game progressed into the final period.

A Steve Furness sack stopped the Rams’ drive and after the punt, the Steelers began their possession from their own 25. With a third down and Lynn Swann side-lined with a concussion, it was time for Bradshaw to throw a bomb to Stallworth.

Bradshaw dropped back and launched a pinpoint pass which Stallworth pulled in at the 32 before galloping over the goal line for a 73-yard touchdown. The score saw the Terrible Towels in the stadium create a whirlwind as they gyrated in the glare of the stadium lights.

The teams then exchanged possessions before Jack Lambert stamped his mark on the game with an interception he returned 16 yards to halt the Rams’ threat.

Stallworth would play a major part in the Steelers’ next score with a 45-yard completion on third down to ensure the drive kept its momentum. A controversial pass interference call placed the ball on the one before Harris punched it over for the touchdown and a 31-19 lead.

A sack contributed to the Rams going four and out on their final possession when the Steelers found themselves Super Bowl Champions for the fourth time.

The Pittsburgh Steelers 31 vs the Los Angeles Rams 19
Orange Bowl, January 20 1979

The Steelers once again produced the goods in the fourth quarter. During the regular season they had outscored their opponents 145 to 48.

Terry Bradshaw was named the MVP for the second year running and admitted, “This is my most satisfying Super Bowl ever. I felt more pressure than in any other previous year because we were playing in LA and we had never beaten the Rams.”

Rocky Bleier, who had contemplated retiring, indicated after the game that he would return next season. “This was not my last season,” he acknowledged before adding, “Unless they don’t pay me or unless they say, ‘don’t come back.’ That would be a different story. We won the Super Bowl again. I feel good and I feel I should play another year.”

“The Rams played good football,” said Joe Greene. “They probably got tired of hearing how good the Pittsburgh Steelers are. Well, now they know.”

As usual Coach Noll was philosophical. “We’ll savour the title tonight, tomorrow, next week… then it’s an antique.