The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2009
Associated PressThe Steel Curtain and the current Steelers defense were built around linebackers. Jack Ham and Jack Lambert (58) stopping the Bengals’ Archie Griffin in 1977.
TAMPA, Fla. — They know the Steel Curtain only through legend, the occasional television clip and the evocative photographs — so much mud, so few teeth — that hang behind the Lombardi Trophies they pass each morning on their way to work.
The Steelers who will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals are young enough that even the oldest of them was a child when the Steelers’ defense defined greatness in the halcyon days of the 1970s. For them, the Steel Curtain feels beyond reach, so infused with lore that making comparisons seems pointless. Jack Ham, the Hall of Fame linebacker from that era, pops up in the locker room and his defensive descendants are delighted, but even then, he is viewed mostly as an icon without peer.
And yet, about the midpoint of the 2008 regular season, Steelers fans signaled a subtle shift in perception. It was about then that the defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a student of the game for 50 years, did a statistical analysis and noted an odd convergence of numbers. His defense was ranked in the top three in the league in nearly every major category — rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed and points allowed — and in even more obscure ones like first downs allowed, yards per play, third-down conversions allowed and red zone defense. LeBeau said he thought he was reading the figures incorrectly because he had never seen a team so close to the top in so many categories. A hopeful sign appeared at Heinz Field: Steel Curtain II.
“I don’t like to compare them,” defensive lineman Aaron Smith said. “What they did is legendary. We’re just trying to make a legend.”
The Steel Curtain teams of the ’70s played a 4-3; the current version is largely a 3-4. But for those who have seen both defenses, the similarities are striking. Both were built around great linebackers — Ham and Jack Lambert with the Steel Curtain; James Harrison and James Farrior today. Both smothered the run. Both hammered the quarterback. Both could carry a team.
The best version of the Steel Curtain emerged in 1976. That defense had five shutouts, a virtual necessity because quarterback Terry Bradshaw was hurt and started just eight games. During the final nine regular-season games, the defense played what might have been the most dominating stretch in history, giving up just 28 points. It allowed an average of 9.9 points a game over all and led the league in scoring defense and total defense (yards allowed).
The 2008 defense also ranked first in scoring and total defense during the regular season, as well as in several other categories. It came within a few dozen yards of being the first defense since the 1970 N.F.L.-A.F.L. merger to allow the fewest yards, the fewest rushing yards, the fewest passing yards and the fewest points. In the most offense-filled season since 1965 — teams averaged 22 points a game this season; in 1976, it was 19.2 — the Steelers allowed just 13.9 points a game. They also did not allow a rusher to go over 100 yards or a quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards. And that was playing the hardest schedule in the N.F.L.
“This defense versus that defense, this defense has performed better because it is much harder to perform well,” said Gil Brandt, who was a personnel executive with the Dallas Cowboys when they were regular opponents of the Steel Curtain teams. “Today’s rules make it so much harder to play defense than ever before. When the Steel Curtain was playing, you could engage the receivers all the way down the field as long as they were in front of you. Now it’s 5 yards and out.”
That change is the result of what is known as the Mel Blount rule, named for the Hall of Fame cornerback for the Steelers known for his physical play at the line of scrimmage. The rule limits contact by defensive backs, making it harder for them to cover receivers. Its impact has been profound.
Associated PressJames Harrison and James Farrior after a sack against Cincinnati.
In 1976, almost every team was built around the run. Quarterbacks attempted an average of 26.2 passes a game, completing 52.2 percent for an average of 152 yards. The interception percentage was 4.8. The sack percentage (the rate of sacks per passes attempted) was 9.1, although the N.F.L. did not recognize sacks as a statistic until 1982.
This season, quarterbacks attempted 32.3 passes a game and completed 61 percent for an average of 211.3 yards. The interception rate was 2.8 percent and the sack average 5.9.
The advent of the West Coast offense, with its three-step drops and quick passes, is largely responsible for the drop in the sack rate.
Still, LeBeau says that players like Joe Greene, Dwight White and L. C. Greenwood — the mainstays of 1976 Steelers’ defensive line — would have been successful reaching the quarterback in any era.
“They would pressure him,” LeBeau said. “Those guys might not have had as much time as they had, but they still would have had to beat somebody at the line of scrimmage and get to the quarterback. They’d be successful, trust me.”
And yet today’s Steelers defensive players, despite playing in a more wide-open offensive era, were perhaps more effective against the pass than the Steel Curtain. The 1976 defense allowed 5.0 yards per completion, according to Stats LLC. This year, the Steelers allowed 4.71. The 1976 team had 22 interceptions (ninth in the league) with a 14-game schedule, the 2008 team had 20 (sixth) in 16 games. And in 2008, the Steelers had 51 sacks to finish second in the league behind the Cowboys. According to Stats LLC, the 1976 Steelers had 41 sacks.
The great Steel Curtain teams, of course, were known mostly as phenomenal run stoppers. In 1976, the Steelers defense allowed 3.22 yards per rushing attempt. In 2008, the number was 3.29. LeBeau says he considers this the best defense he has been around, but he is nevertheless reluctant to say it can do things that the Steel Curtain could not.
“The formations are a little different, the athletes are a little bit faster, the coaching philosophy has evolved,” LeBeau said. “But I really believe the Pittsburgh defenses of the ’70s could walk into this game and be dominant because of the players they had. We don’t mind being compared to them. We think they were at the very, very top standards of defensive football in the N.F.L. I saw these numbers, and they were reflective of the 1970s. That’s what’s so remarkable. We don’t look at ourselves as anything but a bunch of hard-playing defenders that want to help team the team win.”
Most remarkable about the Steel Curtain was how long it dominated. Because of the vagaries of free agency and the salary cap, today’s Steelers defenders may not have the longevity of their predecessors, nor may four of them reach the Hall of Fame, in the footsteps of Ham, Greene, Lambert and Blount. But the Steelers had the top-ranked defense last year, too, and if they beat the Cardinals on Sunday by stopping one of football’s most explosive offenses, many members of them will have two Super Bowl rings.
“But in terms of legacy, I don’t think anybody can compare to them, because they have the hardware to prove it over a period of time,” Troy Polamalu, the Steelers’ All-Pro safety, said. “Great defenses aren’t remembered for losing.”
Polamalu has a point. As great as the 1976 unit was, it is not remembered with the 2000 Baltimore Ravens or the 1985 Chicago Bears, or even with the Steelers’ four Super Bowl-winning squads because the team lost in the American Football Conference championship game to the Oakland Raiders. Still, no matter the result on Sunday, the 2008 Steelers have already assumed their spot next to the Steel Curtain in popular culture. Polamalu is reprising Greene’s role in a remake of the iconic Coca-Cola commercial.
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