Who Are The Steelers 'Glue Guys?'

Agree with your call about the Rooneys.

I added a line or two in the end to ask for some examples of older players from different teams and eras to hopefully liven it up. There’s only so may candidates on our current roster, but as I mentioned in my addition, I’d imagine when the game had less statistical accumulation, there were guys who really fit this bill

for this current incarnation of the steelers, i agree with the pick of aaron smith. he and heath miller seem to mirror one another in terms of what they contribute to the offense and the defense and in how they go about it in relative anonymity.

for the bettis era, i’ll go with the tim lester/dan krieder fullback combo. those steelers won with their punishing run game, at the center of which was always the fullback. the bruce arians O doesn’t rely on it so much, but that old ron erhardt scheme needed battering rams like lester and krieder. true to the nature of the job, they sacrificed themselves for the good of the team. i’m sure bus would agree.

finally, for the super bowl teams of the 70s, i’ll pick mike wagner. i remember watching an interview with mel blount once where mel said mike wagner was the smartest football player he’d ever played with. not so physically gifted, but always quarterbacking, always anticipating. on the NFL Network’s “America’s Game” segment about the 1975 Steelers, I remember Wagner talking about his crucial interception off of Staubach in the Super Bowl. It came in the 3rd or 4th quarter and he jumped the crossing route, he said, because he remembered that they’d run that same formation one other time early in the first half and he recalled exactly what routes had accompanied it. That’s impressive…

Noll translates those caring attitude of “The Boss” for his team into something that should be a tangible presence on the field, the first thing that he told to his “troops” was almost all of you people are really “stinking” bad ones and will not make the team, even he went after Andy Russell ´cause he was wo technique and very aggresive, at the time Russell were amonst the best in that league. He just keep something like six of all those guys. And changes that whinners attitude into winners and “took the hardware” into the Pittsburgh shelves.

In this environment comes something that help alot the team first they got “The Three Rivers Stadium” they were formerly in as some of them told “almost an open field before”, and after been an alltime loosers Dan Rooney gives them a Championship Caliber Stadium, they feel in debt with him.

In this stage comes “The Immaculate Reception”, that catch that Dan Rooney didn´t see ¨cause he was going downstairs to supports his guys in that great (loosing) effort, he finds himself that the loosers finally had do something at that could offer to HIM.

Green because first, he translates his anger ´cause the Steelers always were a loosing team, and he always dreamed to be in a winning team and he by example even outside those so wide open beating rules he was all over them and all over the field, he calm down those crazy against Bradshaw crowds, and lead by example again supporting “the Blond Bomber” when he was almost finished, taking care of Bradshaw when he played trough physical, emotional and psychological pain.

Harris was very down to hearth kind of guy, but he also takes his attitude into the teams spirit and calm them down also by example, mostly he help t O to give some running game to develop the pass for Bradshaw.

And last but not least Bleier, who happened that accident in Vietnam that all those physicians told him “you will even not walk again” he was by Himself an example of work ethic and life.

In more recent times Kevin Green, Greg Lloyd, Coach Cowher, Ward, Polamalu, BB, and Coach Tomlin. Mostly by his attitude and supportive presence to all in the team, that comes originally from The Boss.

Made the steelers better, makes the dolphins better.

I read the article over the weekend and thought about posting it, but have been to busy working on other stuff.

Some quick thoughts. First, while it’s tempting to look for the comparison matrix, one thing we should remember is that just as baseball is different from basketball (baseball is essentially and individual sport) football is also somewhat different. The biggest difference that occurs to me is that in football guys have very specific roles – both in the big picture and on given play. In basketball a guy has much more flexibility deciding which role he is going to play.

Having said that I think Ward has certainly functioned as a glue player. He is a football player first and receiver second, which I think changes the entire tone of Pittsburgh’s offense. Somebody mentioned Krieder and I would have to agree. That guy definitely made other everyone around him play better. On the defensive side I am going to vote for my adopted Steeler of the year Ryan Clark. I think the guy has been the quiet glue that allows our linebackers and Troy to gather the glory, with relative peace of mind.

On special teams I think Keryon Fox was a glue player this season. Our special teams improved quite a bit year over year and I think he was one of the biggest reasons why. I really hope he is re-signed this offseason for a few years.

I will give my offensive and defensive “glue” players (two on each). On defense Ryan Clark and Aaron Smith. In 2007 they were sorely missed. On offense I’d say Hines and Heath Miller. Hines makes this team that much better by just being on the field. His presence opened a lot of things in the Super Bowl that wouldn’t have been there if he wasn’t there. Heath Miller is steady. He contributes in a sort of ying and yang sort of way with Hines (no pun intended). Hines more receiving contributions but makes crucial blocks, Heath more blocking contributions but makes crucial catches.

Clark is as good an answer as anyone else. I always come back to what Troy used to say about Chris Hope. Hope’s conservative play was what allowed Troy to run amuck. Clark isn’t the ballhawk that Hope was, but he still takes care of the backfield. Clark reminds me of the hammer in a game of whack-a-mole. I’m not talking about his bone-breaker hits. I mean the way he darts back and forth always threatening to disrupt a play. He’s got a good sense of just how far off he can play yet still make a QB nervous.

I have to give another shout out to Farrior. Knowing that Farrior is there in the middle, allows the rest of the defense to do whatever they need to do.

I disagree with Heath. Heath should be a glue guy, but he isn’t. He’s got the reliability I like in Farrior, but he simply isn’t used often enough. I don’t think he makes the lineman next to him any better. I do think he make Ben look better in his receiving role, but he’s under-utilized in that capacity.

Bettis was your bridge in 2 different generations of steelers fans. his attitude is all over the team. more than ward.

It’s not Ike or Sweed. Nothing sticks to them. Just kidding.

Having read over these comments and thinking about the way that Dan and Art II have done things recently, I would have to say that the Steelers are full of “glue” guys. That’s why they were able to go 15-1 in 2004 with a handful of minor to major injuries on both sides of the ball. I can’t think of any better explanation as to how the team has been able to have so much success since 1970. Even in the 80s and 90s, when we had no star QB, they still had decades that some teams would hope for. The other reason that I think this is that in the past, I’ve seen teams with players that had mediocre stats but always seemed to make plays when needed. For example, the Bills had Don Beebe, the Pats* had Troy Brown, the Cowboys had Jay Novacek, and the Giants in the late 80s had Dave Meggett. The Steelers right now have Washington, Heath, Hines, Spaeth (sometimes), Deshea, Timmons, Mewelde, etc. This year’s team had its stars, mainly Harrison, Woodley and Troy, but so many games this year turned on great plays from one player or another, it would be hard to point to just one.