Pittsburgh Steelers "Franchise Four"

The recent promotion by Major League Baseball to name the "Franchise Four" for each team (and a word on that at the end of this post) prompted Joe Aro, a Facebook Friend of mine from the Washington DC area to name his "Franchise Four" for the Washington Redskins.  Fair enough, and it prompted me to try to list a Franchise Four for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After putting much thought and analysis into it - maybe fifteen or twenty minutes of thinking about it - I came up with these four:

Joe Greene

I mean, really, do I have to justify this choice?  Simply put, the Greatest Steeler Ever.

Ernie Stautner

A Hall of Famer, he is here for the simple reason that people need to be aware that the Steelers existed and had great players before the 1972 season.

Jack Ham

Tough and smart, he may have been the best and most consistent defensive player of a team that was filled with Hall of Fame (and HOF caliber) defensive players.

The fourth guy has to be a quarterback, and I went back and forth between these two guys. Both were (and are) great.  One has greater stats than the other, but an argument can be made that the stats for each of them are a function of the era in which that played, but each of them, I contend, would have excelled and been great, no matter the era. In the end, only one stat separates the two - four Super Bowl rings vs. two Super Bowl rings, so here is the fourth guy.

Terry Bradshaw

It is a very narrow margin, and on any given day I could still be talked into including this guy:

Ben Roethlisberger

I ran this whole idea around at breakfast yesterday with Dan Bonk, Len Martin, Jim Haller, and Dave Finoli, and, of course, there was no unanimity.  The two names most mentioned who should be on the list were Franco Harris and Mel Blount, and I would have no argument if either of those guys, especially Harris, were in the Steelers' Franchise Four, so let's a salute them here:

Franco Harris

Mel Blount

Oh, and I mentioned that I would have a word on MLB's Franchise Four selections.  The name of Walter Johnson does not surface anywhere.  Not on the Minnesota Twins list, not on the Texas Rangers list, nor, even, and this is really stretching it, the Washington Nationals list.  That perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time cannot find his way on any of these lists calls the whole process into question, but I guess no one said that this would be anything more than a popularity contest decided by people raised in the era that says "if it wasn't on ESPN, it didn't happen."

Steelers Prediction 2014

Since I probably watched the equivalent of about a quarter and a half of the Steelers during their practice game season, I won't pretend that I did a lot of in depth analysis of the team as they head into the 2014 season.  Therefore, my prediction is going to be based strictly on a gut feeling.  

This feeling is based upon the fact that the NFL is structured in such a way that no team stays on top forever, and that all teams will go through peaks and valleys.  The smart teams with strong organizations are able to ride out the valleys in such fashion that the periods of time in which they are in those valleys are short ones.  The Steelers, I believe, have proven themselves over time to be both a strong and a smart organization, and it is for that reason that I believe that they are ready to emerge from the two year valley that has produced consecutive 8-8, non-playoff seasons.

The money boys in Vegas has set the over/under line for Steelers wins at 8.5, so I say bet the OVER.  The Steelers are going to win 10 games this year and make the playoffs.

I will also make the following observations, for whatever they are worth.....

• One thing we do know is that since the end of last season, the Steelers have gotten younger and they have gotten faster.  The question is, have they gotten better.  I will don the rose colored glasses of a Yinzer Fan, and say that they have.  I hope.
• That said, the fact that they felt the need to re-sign a 36 year old Brett Kiesel is worrisome.
• All bets are off, prediction-wise, if Ben Roethliberger gets hurt and is lost for any significant (i.e., two or more games) length of time.

Okay, let's get ready to play real games that count with a look at the Old School Steeler logo,

and a couple of old school Steelers heroes.  I don't have to identify these guys for you, do I?