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Chuck Noll's choice.

C

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It's a very slow time of the year, so I've been binge-watching on the “ A Football Life “ on NFL network.

After Chuck Noll's a Football life ended, I stuck around to see John Madden's a Football life. Madden actually took most of his plays from the other coaches he worked with. A personality as much as head coach, hence his dig at himself for game speeches telling his players " Not to worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon."

Anyway, the news to me was Al Davis badly wanted Chuck Noll as his new head coach. When Chuck wisely selected the Pittsburgh Steelers, the position opened up for Madden to coach the Raiders. Had Al Davis acted sooner or offered a lot more money, you just never know. The Raiders were 12-2 in 1968. The Steelers by contrast were 2-11-1 in 1968. Without Noll the Steelers do not draft as well or win as many super bowls, that is for sure.

As a bonus, there were plenty clips that chronicled how much trouble the 1970's Steelers gave the Raiders, and you better believe the Raiders played dirty football. The ending was ironic, with Madden now being concerned about player safety.
 
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Coach said:
Without Noll the Steelers do not draft as well or win as many super bowls, that is for sure.
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How can you say that? Chuck Noll was a great coach, no need to say it really. But to say that the Steelers do not draft as well or win as many Super Bowls is bullshit. It is an unknown that can never be proven, one way or another.
 
Sarge said:
How can you say that? Chuck Noll was a great coach, no need to say it really. But to say that the Steelers do not draft as well or win as many Super Bowls is bullshit. It is an unknown that can never be proven, one way or another.
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Dan Rooney and Joe Greene said Noll was the most important Steeler. He also had a big say in the draft. Yes, he would be a great coach for any team, but without him I do not think we win four Super Bowls. Some coaches would have pulled the plug on Bradshaw, and not have tailored their team to new rules that favor passing as Noll did. Had Chuck went to the 12-2 Raiders in 1969...I don't want to even think about it.
 
And Madden did less with more. He had talent on both sides of the ball, yet the upstart Steelers bested them every year in the playoffs, except for 76, when it took both RBs being injured to give the Raiders a slim chance to advance. That is their only SB under Madden, and I would have loved it if the Steelers shut his fat *** out of a SB win.
 
Cope said:
And Madden did less with more. He had talent on both sides of the ball, yet the upstart Steelers bested them every year in the playoffs, except for 76, when it took both RBs being injured to give the Raiders a slim chance to advance. That is their only SB under Madden, and I would have loved it if the Steelers shut his fat *** out of a SB win.
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Right. Madden was in the right place at the right time. Earlier in the segment, he went to see Vince Lombardi speak about a basic winged T sweep.

This is the play where the Left Guard pulls all the way around to intercept the Safety, the Right tackle moves forward to get the Outside linebacker, and the Right guard tries to block the cornerback with the running back " running to daylight " The play works best with a Fullback fake up the middle, which is why you don't see it often today. That and the speed of the defense limits the slower developing plays and shooting the gaps at either guard spot can quickly get you a loss of yardage.

It's not that complicated of a play, yet JohnMadden himself said he left the room thinking he knew nothing, and to coach he could not be a phony because people would see through his lack of X's and O's, he had to be himself.

So he was the easygoing guy the players wanted to have a beer with limited rules. That type of stick fitted perfectly with Al Davis outlaw type of image. The other coaches on his staff took care of the playbook, using Vince Lombardi and John Robinson plays, combined with Al Davis orders to go deep.

I will say Madden comes across as an everyday type of guy who's very authentic, a reason he did so well in the broadcasting booth. But noting was his own, not even the all Madden team made up of colorful players ( Someone gave him that idea ) or the turkey legs. Heck, he said be didn't even know what a video game was until they asked him to record audio for it. But like I said, he was so honest about being naïve, you give him a pass.

Had Madden gone to a 2-11-1 Steeler team in 1969 as the head coach, he'd be a quick failure. Noll quickly go rid of the dead weight on the Steelers 1968 team, and built from the ground up. Only a great coach could take a loser for so many years and make them 4 time champions.
 
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I realize it is hard to compare cross era(s) but I wonder how our one and only "cool shades" would have done back in that era of football. My guess is he wouldn't have done very well due to lack of dicipline.

Reality is Chuck Noll did what no other coach before or after has ever been able to do. The Browns are perennial losers yet no coach for them has turned it around (just one sample) and Detroit comes to mind also. Madden at times comes across as a major BLOW HARD but he does know a lot about the game. He reminds me of the modern Holgrem as BOTH don't want to take responsibility for their team's loss on the big stage. I'd take Chuck Noll any day over any coach and that includes the cheater ****** up there in CHEATRIOTSvill.




Salute the nation
 
Cope said:
And Madden did less with more. He had talent on both sides of the ball, yet the upstart Steelers bested them every year in the playoffs, except for 76, when it took both RBs being injured to give the Raiders a slim chance to advance. That is their only SB under Madden, and I would have loved it if the Steelers shut his fat *** out of a SB win.
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Sounds like the current state of the Pens/Caps rivalry lol
 
it was brilliant as how we stole Stallworth by hiding or delaying his game film because between the chief and chuck there was a big discrepancy between taking stalloworth in rnd 1 or swan bc/c swann was a big name and stallworth was a unknown from a small black college. I think they waited until under a minute to draft swann.
 
Cope said:
And Madden did less with more. He had talent on both sides of the ball, yet the upstart Steelers bested them every year in the playoffs, except for 76, when it took both RBs being injured to give the Raiders a slim chance to advance. That is their only SB under Madden, and I would have loved it if the Steelers shut his fat *** out of a SB win.
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I and the Pro Football Hall of Fame disagrees. We had much better talent on both sides of the ball.
 
Sarge said:
How can you say that? Chuck Noll was a great coach, no need to say it really. But to say that the Steelers do not draft as well or win as many Super Bowls is bullshit. It is an unknown that can never be proven, one way or another.
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I think its a pretty easy thing to say. He is recognized by everyone involved as critical to the success that they had. There is no debate about it.
 
CharlesDavenport said:
I and the Pro Football Hall of Fame disagrees. We had much better talent on both sides of the ball.
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I don't disagree. Coach and I were referencing to what he started with talent wise. Noll built the better franchise from scratch. Madden started with a stocked kitchen.
 
Drink IRON City said:
I wonder how our one and only "cool shades" would have done back in that era of football. My guess is he wouldn't have done very well due to lack of dicipline.
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Do you mean off-the-field stuff? Because I've read Noll was laxed about what the guys did off the field, just as long as it didn't affect their play.
 
CharlesDavenport said:
I think its a pretty easy thing to say. He is recognized by everyone involved as critical to the success that they had. There is no debate about it.
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So there is absolutely no chance the Steelers have the same success with a different coach? None. Zero. Zip. Nada. That’s laughable because it cannot be proven or disproven. It can’t. I am not trying to take anything from Chuck Noll. I think he is quite possibly the greatest coach in American football history. All I am saying is that you cannot speak in absolutes about something that you cannot prove or discredit.
 
Noll is THE man! The whole organization changed in his time period. Built from nothing to the best group you will ever see on a football field. I'm glad I got to watch it first hand when I was a kid. I'm happy I ran into Coach Noll and his wife by chance down here in Florida many years ago. One of the few times I've ever been awe struck by any human. Maybe it was from watching him all of those years on t.v. leading a group of guys I saw as larger than life. Ahhh great times.
 
Sarge said:
So there is absolutely no chance the Steelers have the same success with a different coach? None. Zero. Zip. Nada. That’s laughable because it cannot be proven or disproven. It can’t. I am not trying to take anything from Chuck Noll. I think he is quite possibly the greatest coach in American football history. All I am saying is that you cannot speak in absolutes about something that you cannot prove or discredit.
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You're right in there is no way to prove otherwise, however, Bill Austin, Mike Nixon, Buddy Parker, Walt Kiesling, Joe Bach, John Michelosen, and Jock Sutherland didn't.

To be fair, Parker and Sutherland did finish their careers with the Steelers with a winning record.

So I think we can all ASSUME that Emperor Chaz had a great deal to do with turning this franchise around.
 
Steelworth said:
Do you mean off-the-field stuff? Because I've read Noll was laxed about what the guys did off the field, just as long as it didn't affect their play.
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There was OBVIOUSLY enough dicipline to keep them focused for their on the field play. Noll's dicipline was releasing players for NOT holding up thier part of the deal. That fear kept player's diciplined both on and off................ Sorry but coach cool shades hasn't got that kind of dicipline in him.






Salute the nation
 
Sarge said:
So there is absolutely no chance the Steelers have the same success with a different coach? None. Zero. Zip. Nada. That’s laughable because it cannot be proven or disproven. It can’t. I am not trying to take anything from Chuck Noll. I think he is quite possibly the greatest coach in American football history. All I am saying is that you cannot speak in absolutes about something that you cannot prove or discredit.
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By that logic you can't prove many things that are obviously true, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to say they aren't true.
 
ZonaBurgh said:
You're right in there is no way to prove otherwise, however, Bill Austin, Mike Nixon, Buddy Parker, Walt Kiesling, Joe Bach, John Michelosen, and Jock Sutherland didn't.

To be fair, Parker and Sutherland did finish their careers with the Steelers with a winning record.

So I think we can all ASSUME that Emperor Chaz had a great deal to do with turning this franchise around.
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The equivalent is a modern coach taking over the Cleveland Browns and winning four Super Bowls.

The Steelers before I was born were bad.


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Noll was a great coach no doubt about it.
 
Perhaps too much credit give to Noll for his drafting of players and not enough to THE man... Bill Nunn.

It was the genius of Nunn that sought out "nobodies" from small black colleges...Stallworth, Mel Blount, Donnie Shell, LC Greenwood, Ernie Holmes...and not from a black college, but a smaller one Mean Joe was drafted out of North Texas State.

I read somewhere that after Joe Greene was drafted the Pittsburgh paper headline read "Joe who"?

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...teelers-scout-dies-at-89/stories/201405070182
 
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That’s correct Stewey! The headline was “Joe Who?” I remember reading that one.
We had a saying in Pittsburgh back in the day. “Same old Steelers!”. That was in reference to their bungling of the draft, losing seasons, passing on guys who eventually became great players.
It wasn’t always like it’s been the last 40 years here. The first 36 years before Noll this franchise was a joke.

I remember back in the mid sixties as a kid going to Pitt Stadium watching them get their ***** kicked. The one thing they always had though was that tough defense but the losing was a constant back then.

Sent from my iPhone using Steeler Nation mobile app
 
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