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Greatest Steeler Defensive Back EVER

Ike,
Your thoughts on Donahoe? Good, bad etc. I knew the man briefly. I have high regard. IDK how he was as a GM of player personnel.
 
What about perry? Perry had 32 interceptions and eight fumble recoveries for 40 takeaways during his Steelers career.
 
I think sometimes the safeties reap the benefits of having shut down corners.. Shell with Blount. Perry with woodson.
 
Cope said:
I disagree. Rod Woodson was the single best athlete the Steelers have ever had. Probably the fastest player we had. Was an elite corner, and returner. Whether it was returning kicks, punts, ints, or fumbles, he was taking it to the house.

The only player to come back from an ACL tear in the same season.

Ended his career as the #3 all time interception leader, and is the all time league leader in defensive touchdowns.

He's clearly my #1 DB to ever play for the Steelers.
Click to expand...

No doubt Cope...Rod playing Corner was THE prototype for the “new generational” player at the position. Forget Sanders, who played the game like flag football.

Also Cope wasn’t Woody faster? I recall it being discussed on NFL Network when Rod was on there, he said he ran a 4.3 at his combine?
Heck, he was an qualifier for the US Olympic Track/Field team.


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Ike Kelly said:
No doubt Cope...Rod playing Corner was THE prototype for the “new generational” player at the position. Forget Sanders, who played the game like flag football.

Also Cope wasn’t Woody faster? I recall it being discussed on NFL Network when Rod was on there, he said he ran a 4.3 at his combine?
Heck, he was an qualifier for the US Olympic Track/Field team.


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Click to expand...

yes he was a hurdler.
 
I know I was pissed!!! at the Steelers management for YEARS for how they dissed Woodson. He isn't done. He isnt done. He isnt down was all I could say. And then lo and behold....he wasnt done. That and the Korky love about drove me to drink. Idiots.
 
Steelin said:
I know I was pissed!!! at the Steelers management for YEARS for how they dissed Woodson. He isn't done. He isnt done. He isnt down was all I could say. And then lo and behold....he wasnt done. That and the Korky love about drove me to drink. Idiots.
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Thing is I don’t think they dissed Rod. They offered him a contract in 96 and balked at it. That contract was higher than the two contracts he received in three years from SF and Balt combined.

He could have had more money in the same amount of years.

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Ike Kelly said:
Thing is I don’t think they dissed Rod. They offered him a contract in 96 and balked at it. That contract was higher than the two contracts he received in three years from SF and Balt combined.

He could have had more money in the same amount of years.

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Click to expand...

They let him go. Dissed imo.
 
slashsteel said:
Inbox me when you are intown.


God speed on a full recovery for you. I hope it all goes good for you.
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Thanks for the well wishes Things went well with the operation. My heart rate had dropped as low as 28 on Saturday. Pacemaker installed this afternoon. Feeling better already and can drive again in a week.
Guess I can start on that passport paperwork.
 
Cope said:
And yes, we're splitting hairs ranking Hall of Famers on our own team, at the same position!
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A lot of teams claim HOFers who have played on their teams, even if for just a short moment or just made the roster. Both 49'ers and Baltiwhore claim rod's HOF status but we as STEELERS fans have more true career HOF'ers than anyone. I like the fact that we can actually compare and rank those HOF'ers, it also kind of relives their tale. Let's us blast from the past so to speak, while eating popcorn.






Salute the nation
 
Baltimore tried to claim anything tied to us. That organization was born as a Steeler, jock sniffing organization. Which is why I can’t stand them. They were born copying us. They had to have black as one of their main colors for example. Woodson is a Steeler... period.
 
Steel Maniac said:
Baltimore tried to claim anything tied to us. That organization was born as a Steeler, jock sniffing organization. Which is why I can’t stand them. They were born copying us. They had to have black as one of their main colors for example. Woodson is a Steeler... period.
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He claims more than one team though if I remember correctly.
 
Ike Kelly said:
The writer of that article, Thomas George, was a sports columnist, not a team beat writer. Never set foot in a Pittsburgh locker room to interview players and quotes from Mr. Rooney were sourced picked. Obviously slanted to Rod’s POV and shows his pride was indeed stung. But the circumstances at that time dictated Pitt be very frugal in their contracts because they were still at TRS and did not have the revenue stream as the clubs with state of the art stadiums. It’s true the trade for Bettis did have a big impact on their salary cap status as he was the number 1 priority for the direction Chin wanted the offense to go.

As for Rod’s comment the Steelers didn’t contact him after the season, that was a flat out fabrication. I’ve mentioned before about Rod during the ProBowl on live national TV complaining about his contract. An insult to Mr. Rooney, who would not say a word about it. But Tom Donahoe would. If I were able to find the article that occurred after the pro bowl by one of the sports writers (Smizik, might have been Cook) it detailed that Donahoe set priorities for the contract talks among the pending free agents and they would offer Rod a fair deal, and Mr. Rooney wanted him to retire a Steeler, but he wasn’t Rod of 1990-94 and both sides had to be realistic.

The contract mentioned in the article actually wasn’t a bad contract from the Steelers, considering Rod, A: lost a step from the ACL, B: wasn’t to return punts anymore, C: had his lowest tackle numbers since he was a rookie. Interestingly Rod took less money on a one year contract EXPECTING the 49ers to extend him. He even states it in the article. However after that year they didn’t. So he didn’t measure up to what Rod wanted either. Ironically, he then went to Baltimore and ended up converting to Safety, something Tim Lewis wanted him to do before he went to SF, but refused because it would have devalued his contract demands as a Corner.


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I dug and dug, but that's all I could find.
Unfortunately I have a job and an 8 year old I need to tend to.
I know we all remember things differently, and as we get older our memory fails us, and two people have different accounts of the same incident.
I guess I'm getting too old and/or misremember the actual reasons for Rod's departure.
 
fedderone said:
I dug and dug, but that's all I could find.
Unfortunately I have a job and an 8 year old I need to tend to.
I know we all remember things differently, and as we get older our memory fails us, and two people have different accounts of the same incident.
I guess I'm getting too old and/or misremember the actual reasons for Rod's departure.
Click to expand...

I have started to say if I remember correctly more often. Because damn getting old is a *****.
 
fedderone said:
I dug and dug, but that's all I could find.
Unfortunately I have a job and an 8 year old I need to tend to.
I know we all remember things differently, and as we get older our memory fails us, and two people have different accounts of the same incident.
I guess I'm getting too old and/or misremember the actual reasons for Rod's departure.
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Perhaps Fedderone.....Lord knows eight year olds are time consuming. LOL. I had a 6 and a 8 y/o at that time, so I understand your point. I’ll try to find the sources as at that time as I blamed Deion and his traveling me me me tour.


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Cope said:
And yes, we're splitting hairs ranking Hall of Famers on our own team, at the same position!
Click to expand...

That's a pretty nice debate to have.
 
Cope said:
I disagree. Rod Woodson was the single best athlete the Steelers have ever had. Probably the fastest player we had. Was an elite corner, and returner. Whether it was returning kicks, punts, ints, or fumbles, he was taking it to the house.
Click to expand...

Blount was bigger, more physical, and was so dominant they had to change the rules because of him.

I thought about Woodson's return skills - remember the game where he simply dominated Buffalo's receivers, and then won the game with a punt return for a TD? - but the thread is about the Steelers' best defensive back. I don't think return skills play a role there.

Cope said:
The only player to come back from an ACL tear in the same season.
Click to expand...

Pretty amazing, no doubt, but again does not play into the question of who is the best defensive back.

Cope said:
Ended his career as the #3 all time interception leader, and is the all time league leader in defensive touchdowns.
Click to expand...

Good points ... but he did a huge percentage of that with the Raiders, Ravens, etc. More than half his TD's came with other teams, and more than 45% of his interceptions.

Career Steelers comparison

Woodson: 38 interceptions, 5 TD's on defense
Blount: 57 interceptions, 2 TD's on defense

One issue is that the NFL did not keep track of tackles during Blount's time.
 
Steeltime said:
Blount was bigger, more physical, and was so dominant they had to change the rules because of him.

I thought about Woodson's return skills - remember the game where he simply dominated Buffalo's receivers, and then won the game with a punt return for a TD? - but the thread is about the Steelers' best defensive back. I don't think return skills play a role there.



Pretty amazing, no doubt, but again does not play into the question of who is the best defensive back.



Good points ... but he did a huge percentage of that with the Raiders, Ravens, etc. More than half his TD's came with other teams, and more than 45% of his interceptions.

Career Steelers comparison

Woodson: 38 interceptions, 5 TD's on defense
Blount: 57 interceptions, 2 TD's on defense

One issue is that the NFL did not keep track of tackles during Blount's time.
Click to expand...
Blount also won 4 Lombardi's with the Steelers. There is no doubt that Woodson is one of the greatest to ever play the position but, IMHO Blount was the greatest to ever play the position for the Steelers.

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This alone makes Mel the GOAT. I've watched so many clips of him just destroying WRs, I was actually starting to feel bad for them. Envy those of you who got to watch that monster in person.
 
My only comment, now, is for Ike (Kelly)...

I understand the dislike for the Cowboy organization - they haven't won anything in a while - so, they're not as bothersome to me anymore; BUT...

Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson, both in their prime, is a very interesting debate. I wasn't too lazy to look it up - I found this:

https://www.quora.com/Who-was-a-better-corner-Deion-Sanders-or-Rod-Woodson


Rod Woodson:
71 Interceptions (3rd all time)
1,483 INT Return Yards (1st all time)
12 INT Return TDs (1st all time)
20 Forced Fumbles
32 Fumble Recoveries (1st all time, defensive players)
1050 Tackles
17 Total non offensive TD (2nd all time)
6 Time First Team All Pro
11 Time Pro Bowl
7256 Kick/Punt Return Yards
13.5 Sacks
One Defensive Player of the Year Award

Deion Sanders:
53 Interceptions (22nd all time)
1,331 INT Return Yards (3rd all time)
9 INT Return TDs (3rd all time)
10 Forced Fumbles
13 Fumble Recoveries
492 Tackles
19 Total non offensive TD (1st all time)
6 Time First Team All Pro
8 Time Pro Bowl
5,722 Kick/Punt Return Yards
1 sack
One Defensive Player of the Year Award

Deion Sanders is by universal acclaim the best cover corner of all-time.

But Rod Woodson may have been his equal as an all-around player; the disparity in run support shows up in Woodson's 2-to-1 edge in tackles for their careers. And in the return game, Woodson remains vastly underrated.

My only argument (for Deion) would be - you can't interceptions if the QB's don't throw it to your side of the field. It has been documented, tremendously, that nearly every QB stayed away from Deion - lest he take it back for a pick 6.

A very interesting debate indeed...
 
Interesting. Deion has only 2 more career INTs than Donnie Shell, who was a more in-the-box SS while Glen Edwards was the FS on the 70's Steelers teams.
 
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