Re: 2022/1989 Pittsburgh Steelers
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:44 pm
Had Steelers made the playoffs after all two Sundays ago (the Jets putting on some semblance of an offense vs Miami), I would have not guessed they going into Rich and actually giving 2nd-seeded 13-3 Buffalo a game. But considering just how close a Tua-less Miami team with a 3rd-string QB kept things close along with Mike McD making that questionable mistake end-of-game, it does indeed make you wonder how a hot-Steeler team with their new starting QB coming into his own as of late would have fared? And, yes, a 38-3 defeat is a 38-3 defeat, but even in that drubbing at Rich back in early-October, I seriously at the time saw signs of possible good to come with Pickett & Co. I really can't imagine we would have had yet another '38-3' or anything close!
But neither here nor there. Even had the 'Burgh recorded such a 'miracle' 1st-Rd win at Rich (which would have been SUCH a greater upset than at Glanville's also-9-7 Oilers on 12/31/89), and then would have actually given Mahomes & Co a good game this coming week at Arrowhead before coming up just a point short (which, also, would be far more remarkable than what Steelers did at Mile High vs that just 11-5 team 33 post-seasons prior), the '89 Steelers would have still stayed more in my heart than this '22 version.
Had the 'Burgh simply just gotten by Denver on that first Sunday of the 1990s (or, perhaps, had they abandoned the shotgun to assist them through the Mile High crowd-noise end of game), we would have had ourselves a rubberband Steelers/Browns matchup for the conference title! Another high-stakes Noll vs Bud Carson chess match on the 10th Anniversary of SBXIV! And if Pittsburgh prevails, which likely-enough happens, we get ourselves the Ultimate David-vs-Goliath event EVER! Even more-so than Villanova/Georgetown '85! Even more-so than SBIII! I'm no odds-maker, but I'm thinking Vegas installs Mighty San Fran as a 20-point favorite at the very least; but I'm thinking 21 and a half! Simply the greatest point-spread in SB history either way.
For the longest time until recently I thought it would have been a colossal blowout, thus "Thank God" they got eliminated when they did to avoid Ultimate Embarrassment! But lately in life, the attitude has changed. No, it still may have been lopsided anyway. But, perhaps, more-so (as someone here opined quite some time ago) along the lines of the regular season affair that took place the following year. 27-7, but Steelers at least made it respectable a bit early on before making a costly mistake (Foster's gaffe) that you could simply ILL-afford to do against the 1989 San Francisco Forty Niners if you want a chance to keep up on the scoreboard! In either event (all-due-respect to the team that actually did win/earn the AFC title in '89) I can't at all see it being...55-10! Noll, a four-for-four-time Lombardi-winner simply tries to set the 'slow' tempo for the contest vs George Seifert and see what happens from there. You simply would...never KNOW (it's why they Play the Game)!
And what would have been the Greatest Upset in Sports History? Steelers winning SBXXIV vs those FORTY NINERS (which, let's face it, would have topped Villanova-over-Georgetown or SBIII...or Giants-over-Pats later on) or would that Greatest Upset in Sports History, instead, be what happened just THIRTEEN NIGHTS LATER in Tokyo?? I mean, can you IMAGINE both such events taking place within those two weeks to begin the 1990s?? Nostradamus-'fans' would sure have been saying, "See? This is the decade it all ends! This is a 'sign'...1999..."
Okay, more serious now as well as steering from any more hypothetical stuff, below is a nice interview from one of the many 'no-names' of that Classic Noll-led OVER-achieving Steeler squad from 33 seasons ago - WR Mark Stock! Only played that one year with the 'Burgh. Came out of VMI. Yes, that dropped pass right at the end of that divisional round game (again, the shotgun should have been abandoned), but still much to like reading this. He had an old-school attitude being a Military guy as well as a Christian. Like Junior Seau, he felt that you were a role model to youth whether you wanted to be one or not ("once you put on the uniform..."). Tom Moore was the one who brought him onboard. And when (two TEs) Joe Walton showed up the following year, that was the end for Stock in Steel Town. Enjoy the read...
https://steelersdepot.com/2018/03/inter ... ll-career/
But neither here nor there. Even had the 'Burgh recorded such a 'miracle' 1st-Rd win at Rich (which would have been SUCH a greater upset than at Glanville's also-9-7 Oilers on 12/31/89), and then would have actually given Mahomes & Co a good game this coming week at Arrowhead before coming up just a point short (which, also, would be far more remarkable than what Steelers did at Mile High vs that just 11-5 team 33 post-seasons prior), the '89 Steelers would have still stayed more in my heart than this '22 version.
Had the 'Burgh simply just gotten by Denver on that first Sunday of the 1990s (or, perhaps, had they abandoned the shotgun to assist them through the Mile High crowd-noise end of game), we would have had ourselves a rubberband Steelers/Browns matchup for the conference title! Another high-stakes Noll vs Bud Carson chess match on the 10th Anniversary of SBXIV! And if Pittsburgh prevails, which likely-enough happens, we get ourselves the Ultimate David-vs-Goliath event EVER! Even more-so than Villanova/Georgetown '85! Even more-so than SBIII! I'm no odds-maker, but I'm thinking Vegas installs Mighty San Fran as a 20-point favorite at the very least; but I'm thinking 21 and a half! Simply the greatest point-spread in SB history either way.
For the longest time until recently I thought it would have been a colossal blowout, thus "Thank God" they got eliminated when they did to avoid Ultimate Embarrassment! But lately in life, the attitude has changed. No, it still may have been lopsided anyway. But, perhaps, more-so (as someone here opined quite some time ago) along the lines of the regular season affair that took place the following year. 27-7, but Steelers at least made it respectable a bit early on before making a costly mistake (Foster's gaffe) that you could simply ILL-afford to do against the 1989 San Francisco Forty Niners if you want a chance to keep up on the scoreboard! In either event (all-due-respect to the team that actually did win/earn the AFC title in '89) I can't at all see it being...55-10! Noll, a four-for-four-time Lombardi-winner simply tries to set the 'slow' tempo for the contest vs George Seifert and see what happens from there. You simply would...never KNOW (it's why they Play the Game)!
And what would have been the Greatest Upset in Sports History? Steelers winning SBXXIV vs those FORTY NINERS (which, let's face it, would have topped Villanova-over-Georgetown or SBIII...or Giants-over-Pats later on) or would that Greatest Upset in Sports History, instead, be what happened just THIRTEEN NIGHTS LATER in Tokyo?? I mean, can you IMAGINE both such events taking place within those two weeks to begin the 1990s?? Nostradamus-'fans' would sure have been saying, "See? This is the decade it all ends! This is a 'sign'...1999..."
Okay, more serious now as well as steering from any more hypothetical stuff, below is a nice interview from one of the many 'no-names' of that Classic Noll-led OVER-achieving Steeler squad from 33 seasons ago - WR Mark Stock! Only played that one year with the 'Burgh. Came out of VMI. Yes, that dropped pass right at the end of that divisional round game (again, the shotgun should have been abandoned), but still much to like reading this. He had an old-school attitude being a Military guy as well as a Christian. Like Junior Seau, he felt that you were a role model to youth whether you wanted to be one or not ("once you put on the uniform..."). Tom Moore was the one who brought him onboard. And when (two TEs) Joe Walton showed up the following year, that was the end for Stock in Steel Town. Enjoy the read...
https://steelersdepot.com/2018/03/inter ... ll-career/