All-time Steelers Defense

[JonathanW]

I was thinking today who would be on the defense?
Wow!!!

Just because of the depth at LB, I’m going with a 3-4.

DL- Mean Joe Greene, Greenwood, Heyward (bench Hampton, White, Holmes)
LB- Lambert, Ham, TJ Watt, Harrison (bench Greene, Porter, Kirkland, Russell, Lloyd, Gildon, Merriweather)
DB- Woodson, Blount, Polamalu, Shell (bench Butler, Lake, Wagner)

I’m certain no other franchise can come close to that.

 

[DSmith21]

The Steelers have had some great defenses. I would say that the Bears could put together a good list too.

Start with the 1986 Superbowl champs dominant defense and add guys like Butkus, Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Bill George.

 

[JonathanW]

I agree that the Bears may be 2nd best, a distant second best. You got to add Singletary to their list.


Granted, this award "only" goes back to 1971 (and there were some great players in the 50's & 60's too), but of the 52 AP DPOY winners, there have been 41 players win it, and 7 Steelers won it 8 times. Roughly 1 out of every 6 winners were a Steeler. No other team had more than 3 different winners, so Steelers have had more than twice as many players win it as the next best team.

(The Pro Football Writers of America, only have 5 Steelers winning it 6 times over 53 seasons by 43 players. But that is still 1 of every 9. PFWA didn't give it to Polamalu or Woodson, and in 75 gave it to Ham instead of Blount. So between the 2 awards, 8 different Steelers won it 9 times. So other team has more than 3 different players to have won the PFWA award, or 4 players to have won either award.)

Now on the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers would be middle of the pack probably.

 

[gamecockcat]

I agree that the Bears may be 2nd best, a distant second best. You got to add Singletary to their list.


Granted, this award "only" goes back to 1971 (and there were some great players in the 50's & 60's too), but of the 52 AP DPOY winners, there have been 41 players win it, and 7 Steelers won it 8 times. Roughly 1 out of every 6 winners were a Steeler. No other team had more than 3 different winners, so Steelers have had more than twice as many players win it as the next best team.

(The Pro Football Writers of America, only have 5 Steelers winning it 6 times over 53 seasons by 43 players. But that is still 1 of every 9. PFWA didn't give it to Polamalu or Woodson, and in 75 gave it to Ham instead of Blount. So between the 2 awards, 8 different Steelers won it 9 times. So other team has more than 3 different players to have won the PFWA award, or 4 players to have won either award.)

Now on the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers would be middle of the pack probably.

Singletary was on the 86 Bears, no need to add him.

Cowboys maybe? Lot of great DL and top flight LBs and CBs, too, over the past 50 years.