The Myth of Terry Bradshaw

[Hawaii 5-0]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

Arians offense was always near the top in the league in TOP - that was always a manufactured problem by the fans.

true, it was Arians' failure to score TDs once we got into the red zone that was the problem.

[wootawnee]

Bradshaw hated Pittsburgh because, in 1970, the city smelled so horrible from all the local steel mills......That would make any normal country boy wanna puke.....It was not as we know it today......

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by TRH

i also concur. You are exactly correct. The fact is - Ben is a better QB than Bradshaw was. I can't even imagine the kind of numbers and victories Ben would have put up with that team around him.
I like the history of Bradshaw here and he's a legend - but all this crying about Terry is ridiculous. He was absolutely hated here - all the way up to and including his retirement.

Bradshaw played 13 seasons. He had the best total defense in 2 of them.

Roethlisberger has played 9 seasons. He had the best total defense in 5 of them.

Roethlisberger has had 9 seasons with a top 10 defense. Bradshaw had 8 seasons with a top 10 defense. Roethlisberger had the better defense.

Bradshaw played 13 seasons. He had a top 10 offense 11 times. Bradshaw led the best offense in the NFL in 1979.

Roethlisberger has played 9 seasons. Roethlisberger has had a top 10 offense twice. He has never had a top 5 offense while Bradshaw led 5.

If you took away the 2 qbs awkward first years Bradshaw has a top 10 offense in 11 of 11 seasons and Ben has a top 10 offense in 1 of 7 seasons.

Keep telling me Ben is better than Terry.

Let's be honest about the talent difference between Bradshaw's teams and Ben's teams- it isn't much!

If you think Harris, Swann and Stallworth are light years ahead of Bettis, Miller and Ward then by all means- shit on the names of the players that brought the Steelers back to glory in SB XL and XLIII... it's what everyone else does... all in the name of Ben.

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by Hawaii 5-0

true, it was Arians' failure to score TDs once we got into the red zone that was the problem.

Haley's offense was better in the red zone. 55% of Steelers redzone possessions resulted in TDs vs 50% last year, 52% year before that and 48% the year before that.

This year the big winners in redzone scoring were GB, NE, and NO. They were 10% better than everyone else and all above 68%- that is a huge margin. I don't know what it is about those teams. They keep popping up over and over at the top of every offensive statistical category. Must be their great coordinators that make all the difference. We should hire those coordinators!

[plenewken]

Originally Posted by Ricco Suavez

Do you even read your own posts. first you state other Qbs sustain drives, yet after 9 games Ben was leading the league in 3rd down conversion, that is sustaining drives.

Leading the league in 3rd attempts to win 10yds means nothing to me, except that we can't move the chains sooner, either due to penalties, poor execution or poor play calling

Originally Posted by Ricco Suavez

So Ben and a team that at one time was 2nd in the league in TOP and 3rd down conversions could not sustain drives(BTW they were 2nd in TOP last year too). You want to down Ben for a lack of run game but you admit we did not have the tools necessary. You on a roll again, sorry I went yo bed, I could of had a field day with this kind of reasoning.

TOP is more an indication of defensive performance than O performance, particularly if TOP doesn't translate into pts scored. This is easily demonstrated by the rankings of the Steeler's O and D.

[steelfury02]

we'd all like to see a more aggressive offense - this requires 3 things

1. The OC has to realize the strengths and weaknesses of his talent
2. The line, TEs, RBs, WRs need to learn and own their roles
3. The QB needs to buy into the system first and foremost. You cannot ask the other 10 players to perfectly improvise and in complete sync with what the QB MIGHT do next .

If you're talking about playing to strengths ,the QB needs to understand that going through progressions is also playing to the strengths of each type of receiver / rb- it is as much about what is going to work for them because he can't throw a pass or hand off to himself. The line can't be expected to block for 7-10 seconds - any line would look awful and get exposed - because the game isn't built for block, turn around and see what the QB is doing next, and try to adjust. You have to have designed plays. If they break down on a regular basis - then its a breakdown of understanding the system and being in sync - not the system itself. It doesn't matter what offense is implemented - it can win you a SB if you are willing to perfect it with all minds involved.

If the QB wants to rely on improv, there is a good chance that someone will not be reading his mind, wondering where he will pull the play out of, and in what direction. There needs to be a belief in a system first, then work on what happens next if the play breaks down. If they want to grow, there has to be a system that you rely on, otherwise, absolutely everything relies on improv - and that flat out doesn't cut it. You cannot win on guts alone for a long, consistent stretch of time. It can get you a big win here or there, but you'll never get a consistent, scoring offense going. That is where we are with this offense.

[Ricco Suavez]

Originally Posted by lloydwoodson

Bradshaw played 13 seasons. He had the best total defense in 2 of them.

Roethlisberger has played 9 seasons. He had the best total defense in 5 of them.

Roethlisberger has had 9 seasons with a top 10 defense. Bradshaw had 8 seasons with a top 10 defense. Roethlisberger had the better defense.

Bradshaw played 13 seasons. He had a top 10 offense 11 times. Bradshaw led the best offense in the NFL in 1979.

Roethlisberger has played 9 seasons. Roethlisberger has had a top 10 offense twice. He has never had a top 5 offense while Bradshaw led 5.

If you took away the 2 qbs awkward first years Bradshaw has a top 10 offense in 11 of 11 seasons and Ben has a top 10 offense in 1 of 7 seasons.

Keep telling me Ben is better than Terry.

Let's be honest about the talent difference between Bradshaw's teams and Ben's teams- it isn't much!

If you think Harris, Swann and Stallworth are light years ahead of Bettis, Miller and Ward then by all means- shit on the names of the players that brought the Steelers back to glory in SB XL and XLIII... it's what everyone else does... all in the name of Ben.

Bradshaw was allowed to take chances, thus his low completion rate, and his 1-1 ratio of TD to INTs, But the biggest reason the offense was so good and its the same thing that has hampered this team for years is the lack of a running game and in recent years the lack of creating turnovers.

Now I will just look at Terrys first 9 seasons(cause we do not know the future of Bens) and since you want to Cherry Pick and eliminate their first two seasons( very fair since Ben was 15-1 as a rookie and lead the team to the Superbbowl the second) of which the 70 and 71 Steelers were 21st and 17th of 26 teams at that time.

Lets look at the rushing we had starting in 72-78
Offense rank# Yards Rush Att. AVG Pass Att
72 #2 2520 497 5.1 324
73 #4 2143 555 3.9 309
74 #6 2417 546 4.4 386
75 #5 2633 581 4.5 337
76 #5 2971 653 4.5 192
77 #7 2258 581 3.9 314
78 #5 2297 641 3.6 368

Wow, just Wow, no wonder we had great teams back then we dominated the OL and had Backs who could get you yards, one year almost 3000 yards and all in 14 game season other than 78. Oh BTW in the 73 season the Steelers attempted 309 passes but Bradshaw only had 180, and the 74 season Bradshaw had 148 attempts , Gilliom and Hanratty were being tried out at times.

Easy to see why Terry LED a team in offense, I mean he called all those running plays and then after that it was 50-50 that it was going to be a catch or miss, or TD or INT. I watched those games every chance i could, I was not in Pittsburgh or in the region to watch every game, but we had papers and the occasionally game, I love Terry but to sugar coat his career to shed bad light on Ben is grasping for straws. TB was part of a great team, But just like today while other QB can do more than Ben it was so in the 70's. When we get a dominate OL and RBs we can return to the glory days of the 70's until then Ben will have to carry the load since there is no running game to speak of. BTW not much difference in Terrys team and Bens is there other than the lack of a run game.

[Ricco Suavez]

Originally Posted by plenewken

Leading the league in 3rd attempts to win 10yds means nothing to me, except that we can't move the chains sooner, either due to penalties, poor execution or poor play calling



TOP is more an indication of defensive performance than O performance, particularly if TOP doesn't translate into pts scored. This is easily demonstrated by the rankings of the Steeler's O and D.

Moving the chains on 3rd down mean nothing to you, that explains it all. This league is about many things but two of the most important(something any coach, player, sportscaster, and I might add knowledgeable fan know) is you convert 3rd downs and stay on the field ,while the defense job is too get off the field by creating TO or stops on 3rd down. Football 101

[VictoryFormation]

Bradshaw hated Pittsburgh because, in 1970, the city smelled so horrible from all the local steel mills......That would make any normal country boy wanna puke.....It was not as we know it today...

LOL... If the mills were still open today, they would have a special wing at the Allegheny Cemetery for all the uppity, bicyclists that got crushed by dump trucks, carrying slag.

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by Ricco Suavez

Bradshaw was allowed to take chances, thus his low completion rate, and his 1-1 ratio of TD to INTs, But the biggest reason the offense was so good and its the same thing that has hampered this team for years is the lack of a running game and in recent years the lack of creating turnovers.

Now I will just look at Terrys first 9 seasons(cause we do not know the future of Bens) and since you want to Cherry Pick and eliminate their first two seasons( very fair since Ben was 15-1 as a rookie and lead the team to the Superbbowl the second) of which the 70 and 71 Steelers were 21st and 17th of 26 teams at that time.

Lets look at the rushing we had starting in 72-78
Offense rank# Yards Rush Att. AVG Pass Att
72 #2 2520 497 5.1 324
73 #4 2143 555 3.9 309
74 #6 2417 546 4.4 386
75 #5 2633 581 4.5 337
76 #5 2971 653 4.5 192
77 #7 2258 581 3.9 314
78 #5 2297 641 3.6 368

Wow, just Wow, no wonder we had great teams back then we dominated the OL and had Backs who could get you yards, one year almost 3000 yards and all in 14 game season other than 78. Oh BTW in the 73 season the Steelers attempted 309 passes but Bradshaw only had 180, and the 74 season Bradshaw had 148 attempts , Gilliom and Hanratty were being tried out at times.

Easy to see why Terry LED a team in offense, I mean he called all those running plays and then after that it was 50-50 that it was going to be a catch or miss, or TD or INT. I watched those games every chance i could, I was not in Pittsburgh or in the region to watch every game, but we had papers and the occasionally game, I love Terry but to sugar coat his career to shed bad light on Ben is grasping for straws. TB was part of a great team, But just like today while other QB can do more than Ben it was so in the 70's. When we get a dominate OL and RBs we can return to the glory days of the 70's until then Ben will have to carry the load since there is no running game to speak of. BTW not much difference in Terrys team and Bens is there other than the lack of a run game.

I don't know why you are tearing down Terry to build Ben up. The poor guy worked within his team doing the best he could to get 4 superbowls and he never consistently had as good a defense as Ben's.

You failed to list the only season where the Steelers were first in scoring and yards, 1979. Terry was second in passing by less than 300 yards to Coryell's famous "Air Coryell" Chargers putting up 3655 yards. The rushing offense added 2603 yards also good for second best. The offense was first in total yards and points with 26 per game.

The only time in Steelers history they have led the NFL in total yards or points and they did it in the same year! The greatest Steelers offense ever! Ter-ry! Ter-ry! Ter-ry!