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Your Best Ever Steeler Defense

CoolieMan

CoolieMan

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Anyone from any era, build your best defense...you pick 3-4 or 4-3

yes I'm bored and it is the offseason

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - really wanted to say Elandon Roberts
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell
 
DITTO

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - Hardy Nickerson
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell

Jack Ham in a 4-3 system
Dwight White in a 4-3 sytstem


Have to add NORM JOHNSON, because of his devastating kick off tackles.



Salute the nation
 
I’m assuming that 70s players would have access today’s training advantages and be able to play at higher weight levels than they did then. Since you did 3-4, I’ll try 4-3.

DE - TJ Watt
DT - Joe Greene
DT - Cam Heyward
DE - James Harrison
OLB - Jack Ham
MLB - Jack Lambert
OLB - Andy Russell
CB - Mel Blount
CB - Rod Woodson
S - Troy Polamalu
S - Carnell Lake

Hard leaving guys off (A. Smith, Snack, Holmes, Shell, Farrior, Greenwood, etc.), you could legit build two dominant defenses.
 
CoolieMan said:
almost went Lake instead of Shell

Hard to leave guys like Russell and Ham off much less Mike Wagner or Ike
Click to expand...

Another thing to factor in is rules and supporting cast. I remember Mike Wagner talking about a game where the front seven was so dominant, he didn’t have to do anything.

“I never fell down"

Lol.
 
WindyCitySteel said:
I’m assuming that 70s players would have access today’s training advantages and be able to play at higher weight levels than they did then. Since you did 3-4, I’ll try 4-3.

DE - TJ Watt
DT - Joe Greene
DT - Cam Heyward
DE - James Harrison
OLB - Jack Ham
MLB - Jack Lambert
OLB - Andy Russell
CB - Mel Blount
CB - Rod Woodson
S - Troy Polamalu
S - Carnell Lake

Hard leaving guys off (A. Smith, Snack, Holmes, Shell, Farrior, Greenwood, etc.), you could legit build two dominant defenses.
Click to expand...
Easy pass on Heyward.
 
CoolieMan said:
Anyone from any era, build your best defense...you pick 3-4 or 4-3

yes I'm bored and it is the offseason

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - really wanted to say Elandon Roberts
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell
Click to expand...

LC Greenwood the only one i might take exception to.
 
WindyCitySteel said:
Who would you replace him with?
Click to expand...
I'm curious about that too.

Assuming we're basically bunching the 4-3 DTs and 3-4 DL together, Greene is the only obvious one to me.

If we're only picking two, the second one is pretty tough between the likes of Heyward, Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Ernie Stautner and Joel Steed.

I'd probably go with Heyward just due to his longevity if nothing else. Continuing to play at an All-pro level into more mid-30s is pretty crazy.

The one big argument against Heyward is that he has pretty much joined the entire team in being a non-factor in the post season. The same can be said for TJ Watt.

My team might be a bit unconventional compared to other lists here in terms of positions, but in line with how defenses are constructed today.

EDGE TJ Watt
IDL Joe Greene
IDL Cameron Heyward
EDGE James Harrison
LB Jack Hamm
LB Jack Lambert
LB Greg Lloyd
CB Rod Woodson
CB Mel Blount
S Troy Polamalu
S Carnell Lake
 
CoolieMan said:
Anyone from any era, build your best defense...you pick 3-4 or 4-3

yes I'm bored and it is the offseason

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - really wanted to say Elandon Roberts
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell
Click to expand...
I can’t think of anyone to replace “Big Snack” off the top of my head, and that could be the only place to make the change.

Now that I think about it, there could be an argument made for Greene over Harrison. The other 8 are locked.
 
CoolieMan said:
Anyone from any era, build your best defense...you pick 3-4 or 4-3

yes I'm bored and it is the offseason

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - really wanted to say Elandon Roberts
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell
Click to expand...
That should be the end of the thread.
 
That’s too easy.
The real challenge would be selecting the worst ever defense,…only for those with an exceptional memory of past Steeler players, unlike me who probably wouldn’t remember or recognize names from the past.
Plus, you couldn’t select players like Shamarko Thomas or Ricardo Cochlough because they were not starters.

Starting players that come to mind are Ziggy Hood, Devon Bush, Jarvis Jones, Scott Shields, Huey Richardson, Darryl Sims, “Beltin” Delton Hall- who was great his first year then fizzled out.

Whats been attempted before and impossible to do is to choose 4 names for a Steelers Mt Rushmore. Just impossible.
 
Last edited:
Drink IRON City said:
DITTO

DT Joe Greene
NT Casey Hampton
DT LC Greenwood
OLB TJ Watt
OLB James Harrison
ILB Jack Lambert
ILB Levon Kirkland - Hardy Nickerson
CB Mel Blount
CB Rod Woodson
S Troy Polamalu
S Donnie Shell

Jack Ham in a 4-3 system
Dwight White in a 4-3 sytstem


Have to add NORM JOHNSON, because of his devastating kick off tackles.



Salute the nation
Click to expand...
Ok, maybe this one should be end of thread.
 
Last edited:
No offense meant to anyone, but I always felt Ernie stautner was a little more mouth than action. I know it’s just me and my take, but he just rubbed me the wrong way for some unknown reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved him as a Steelers player and all, just got a negative vibe as odd as that may sound.



Salute the nation
 
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