[FOF7] Re-Doing things the Steelers way

[Olsson]

Background:

As a Steelers fan I've witnessed much success the recent years. Along with the proud history of the 70's for the franchise, Pittsburgh Steelers is arguably the most succesful franchise i football.

And while I've been a NFL fanatic for the last 10-12 years I know some/many of the greats from the past, but I've never done a historic FOF league.

That's why I'm starting a historic challenge as the Pittsburgh Steelers. But i'm gonna make it challenging for myself by setting some goals Steelers have reached in real life. See the goals in the next post.

To reach these goals I need to play the Steelers way. Great defense and a commanding running game.

Base Rules:

Salary Cap: 28-80
Injury Setting: 200
Combine Accuracy: 50

House rules:

I haven't played a lot of FOF7, but it feels more balanced than 2k7, so given some of the goals are pretty hefty I'll play without house rules.

Updates:

Mostly seasonal and draft updates.

Let's get it on!

[Olsson]

Achievements:

Team results:

6 Super Bowl wins - 5 1968, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1981
8 Super Bowl Appearances - 6 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981
20 Division wins - 9 - 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1981
27 Playoff appearances - 14 - 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981
416 Total wins
1 Perfect record against a team

Team stats

Leading the league:

9 Total defense - 2 1972, 1975
7 Rushing yards allowed
5 Passing yards allowed - 2 1972, 1975
6 Points allowed - 3 1972, 1973, 1974
4 Most sacks - 4 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970
4 Rushing yards - 5 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978

Individual:

12 Hall of Famers - 2 Butch Byrd, CB - Chris Hanburger OLB
1 League MVP - 1 Franco Harris, 1974
7 Defensive Player of the year - 2 Chris Hanburger, 1970, 1971
3 Offensive rookie of the year - 3 Keith Lincoln, 1961 - Floyd Little, 1967 - Franco Harris, 1972
3 Defensive rookie of the year

Individual stats:

Career:

11950 Rushing yards
91 Rushing TD's
29844 Passing yards
212 Passing TD's
1000 Receptions
12083 Recieving yards
83 Recieving TD's

77 Sacks
34 Forced Fumbles
57 Interceptions
5 Defensive TD's - 9 Chris Hanburger
3 Safeties

309 Field Goals - 409 Jim Turner
2 Punt return TD's - 2 Brady Keys
2 Kick return TD's - Dick Gordon

100 Total touchdowns
1384 Points - 1595 Jim Turner

Season:

1690 Rushing yards - 2053 Franco Harris 1974
14 Rushing TD's - 14 Floyd Little 1970
4328 Passing yards
32 Passing TD's
112 Receptions - 112 Art Monk, 1981
1499 Recieving yards
12 Recieving TD's - 13 Bobby Dial, 1962

16 Sacks - 16 Carl Eller, 1966
11 Interceptions
2 Defensive TD's - 2 Brady Keys, 1963
1 Safety - 1 John Reger, 1960

34 Field Goals - 36 Jamal Tanner, 1960

16 Total touchdowns - 22 Floyd Little, 1970
141 Points - 141 Jamal Tanner, 1960

Game:

223 Rushing yards - 229, Franco Harris
4 Rushing TD's - 4, Franco Harris, 1976
522 Passing yards
6 Passing TD's
14 Receptions
253 Recieving yards
4 Recieving TD's

4,5 Sacks - 4,5 Jim Marshall, 1962
4 Interceptions

6 Field Goals - 6 Tony Franklin, 1981

4 Total touchdowns - 5 Franco Harris, 1976
24 Points - 30 Franco Harris, 1976

[Olsson]

History:

1960: 10-6, Divisional
1961: 12-4, Wild Card
1962: 13-2-1, Wild Card
1963: 7-9
1964: 8-8
1965: 9-7
1966: 13-3, Conference
1967: 6-10
1968: 11-4-1, SB Champs
1969: 12-4, SB Champs
1970: 11-5, Conference
1971: 9-6-1, Wild Card
1972: 10-6, Divisional
1973: 12-4, Divisional
1974: 14-2, Super Bowl
1975: 8-8
1976: 10-6, SB Champs
1977: 11-5, SB Champs
1978: 5-11
1979: 6-10
1980: 4-11-1
1981: 13-3, SB Champs

Honours and Awards:

Hall of Fame

OLB Chris Hanburger
CB Butch Byrd

League MVP:

1974 - Franco Harris, RB

Offensive Player of the year:

1969 - Floyd Little, RB
1974 - Franco Harris, RB

Defensive Player of the year:

1970 Chris Hanburger, OLB
1971 Chris Hanburger, OLB

Offensive Rookie of the year:

1961 Keith Lincoln, RB
1967 Floyd Little, RB
1972 Franco Harris, RB

Defensive Rookie of the year:

Super Bowl History:

1960: Browns 30-15 Eagles
1961: Browns 10-6 Packers
1962: Packers 34-31 Browns
1963: Browns 35-14 Packers
1964: Browns 15-14 Cardinals
1965: Packers 41-20 Browns
1966: Patriots 17-10 Packers
1967: Broncos 14-9 Rams
1968: Steelers 23-20 Giants OT
1969: Steelers 26-0 Cardinals
1970 Redskins 12-10 Broncos
1971 Patriots 30-27 Bears
1972 Jets 13-10 Cowboys
1973 Giants 37-13 Titans
1974 Seahawks 17-10 Steelers
1975 Falcons 21-13 Jets
1976 Steelers 33-6 Panthers
1977 Steelers 30-20 Bears
1978 Dallas 31-16 Bengals
1979 49'ers 27-20 Titans
1980 Texans 13-6 Saints
1981 Steelers 43-20 Bears

NFL Hall of Fame:

QB Johnny Unitas, Colts
QB Len Dawson, Browns
QB Bart Starr, Packers
QB Frank Ryan, Rams
QB Don Meredith, Cowboys
QB Fran Tarkenton, Jaguars
QB Bob Berry, Falcons
RB Jim Brown, Browns
RB Don Perkins, Jets
RB John David Crow, Cardinals
RB Gale Sayers, Bucc
WR Gail Cogdill, Lions
WR Lionel Taylor, Broncos
LG Gale Gillingham, Seahawks
LT Dick Schafrath, Browns
P, Tommy Davis, 49'ers
P, Gavin Cochrane, Cardinals
P, Doug Elmore, Patriots
NT Charlie Krueger, 49'ers
DE, Steve De Longh, Buccs
SLB Dave Meggyesy, Chiefs
SLB Larry Grantham, Jets
SLB Maxie Baughan, Eagles
SLB Chris Hanburger, Steelers
WLB Bobby Bell, Packers
CB Bobby Boyd, Colts
CB Jimmy Johnson, Broncos
CB Butch Byrd, Steelers
S Larry Wilson, Cardinals

[Olsson]

1960:



Summary:

A good first start to the franchise. We went 10-6 and was knocked out in the divisional by the 16-0 Indianapolis. QB Bukich was injured in the final regular season game and was out for the playoffs. Our backup QB Layne was rated 17/17 and just wasn't up to the task.

Super Bowl:

Cleveland goes on to win the Super Bowl 30-16 against the Eagles. Len Dawson outshined Norm Van Brocklin and was the deciding factor in the end.

Steelers record notables:

18 Total TD's - RB John Henry Johnson
36 Field Goals - K Jamal Tanner
141 Points - K Jamal Tanner
1 Safety - LB John Reger

Honours:

None

[Olsson]

2061 Staff:



Our coaching staff for the 2061 season. Only DC Wean stays from last year.

[timmae]

I'll be reading!

[Olsson]

Free Agency:

Unfortunately Ernie Stautner has retired :-( .. We wait for the draft to fill most our needs. Still we target the following three players:

LG Jerry Hutch - Signed
RT Dick Klein - Signs with ATL
NT Bill Hudson - Signed

Draft:

Coming into the draft we have the following needs QB, TE, C, DE, ILB, OLB, CB, SS

At the top of the board stands QB Fran Tarkenton. We have the 25th pick of the draft.

It seems that Tackles and Secondary is where the depth is in this draft class!

At 25th we sit with the following options:

RB Keith Lincoln
TE Mike Ditka
G Al Bemiller

While we do not have a need at Keith Lincoln is making it hard on us. He looks solid, but we already have a decent running back. John Henry Johnson is aging though. Keith Lincoln could be the next great thing! Mike Ditka looks solid as well with nice combines and nice bars. We have currently no TE's on our roster. Intriguing that he played college ball in Pittsburgh as well. Al Bemiller is a Pennsylvania native and could guard our line for years to come. Yet again a man with good bars complemented by some nice combine numbers.

We sort out Bemiller as we're currently set on Guards. That leaves two.



We end up going with RB Lincoln. We decide we can find value at TE in the lower rounds. Bemiller goes 27th and Ditka at 44th. We considered trading up but we is on target to land one of our targets in the second round so we decide not to.

As the 2nd round comes around we once again has 3 targets:

MLB Mike Lucci
CB Claude Gibson
S Dainard Paulson

This time we're in no doubt. With the 57th selection the Steelers select Pennsylvania native MLB Mike Lucci.



The rest of the draft goes like this:

3rd - Wally Feagin, OLB
4th - Alvin Hall, CB
5th - Jim Kerr, FS
6th - Leo Reed, TE
7th - Bob Voight, DT

[Olsson]

1961:



1961 Rookie Watch:

Keith Lincoln responded well to our expectations running for 1629 yards his rookie season. Mike Lucci also held a starting job at MLB and performed well. While we're not quite sure where we have Lincoln we're positive that Lucci is a steal! The other rookies played sparingly. Most noticeable performance was 7th round DT Voigt with 1,5 sacks.

1961 summary:

We are of course hindered by a really not so good QB. Our star WR's Orr and Dial were both out for 4-6 weeks during the season making our offense even more rundimensioned. These facts makes Keith Lincoln's rookie season even better. Defensively we held our ground. Unfortunately we're in the same division as the Browns so 12-4 was only good enough for a Wild Card game. The Jets held us to only 232 yards and away the season went :-)

Super Bowl:

Cleveland wins their second ring it's Jim Brown that does the work and becomes MVP as they beat Bart Starr and the Packers 6-10.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Offensive ROTY - RB Keith Lincoln

[Olsson]

Originally Posted by timmae

I'll be reading!

Great! :-)

[Olsson]

1962 Staff:

We bring in a new OC and AC

[Olsson]

2062 Offseason:

Free Agency:

We are a build through the draft team so not spending big money here but we do offer the following players contracts:

QB Billy Wade - Signed
MLB Ralph Felton - Signs for WAS

Draft

We go into the draft with the following needs: QB, TE, C, DE, OLB

Ravens holds the number 1 pick and RB Ernie Davis is at the top. Generally it seems that there's a plethora of good players in this draft, but not really top-talent. Guards and Outside linebackers seem deep. We sit at 24th.

At 24th there's 2 players getting a serious look:




While I love Thingelhoffs bars i hate he is a combine skipper and his high volatility. Roy Winston fits the Steelers way of playing. We're gonna select him at 24th. Thingelhoff seems like a reach at 24th.

In the second round we find ourselves with limited possibilities. we end up drafting WR Gary Collins even though we have 2 very good recievers on the team. Something about him intrigues me :-)



3rd - John Contoulis, DT
4th - Ralph Smith, TE
5th - David Minnis, G
6th - Sonny Gibbs, QB
7th - Gary Woods, C

[Olsson]

1962:



1962 Rookie Watch:

1st rounder missed half the season with a chest injury. 2nd rounder Collins rotted the bench behind star recievers Orr and Dial. When Orr went down Collins didn't step up. 3rd rounder Contoulis switched to DE and worked as a situational pass rusher snatching 5 sacks on the season.

1962 summary:

It's pretty difficult to get anything going when you're always number 2 in the division. Browns really have a dominating team. Their players are contracted for the next 3 years. Untill then We'll have to take the long way I guess.

Super Bowl:

Packers and Browns both with a chance to get a perfect season as they both went 16-0 in the regular season. In the end Packers win 34-31 in a shootout with 987 combined offensive yards.

Steelers record notables & honours:

13 Recieving TD's - Bobby Dial

[Olsson]

1962 Offseason:

Staff:

AC Creasy get a job in Seattle as DC

We appoint Zimmerman instead



Free Agency

I target the following free agents:

C John Mellekas - Signed
G Al Barry - Signed
DT Rufus Granderson - Signed
S Jerry Norton - Signs with CAR

Draft

Once again there's a bunch of good OLB's in the draft, also the depth at T looks really good. At the top sits the Raiders and Bob Petrich is at the top of the experts boards. We have the 24th pick and have the following needs:

DE, CB (QB, C, T, K)

At our position the following players is interesting for us:

QB Gary Cuozzo
TE Jackie Smith
G Ed Budde
T Bob Vogel
CB Dick Westmoreland
S John Sisk

We quickly rule out Cuozzo and Sisk as there's enough depth in the positions and we don't have the right gut feeling about them. Dick Westmoreland would have been a nice fit but out head scout says he isn't up for the NFL so we pass him by. We determine Smith would be a reach in the first round. Perhaps interesting if he falls to the middle of the second round. We decide to take a Lineman. With a bunch of talented Guards on the board and because Vogel fits our needs we decide to go Tackle.

With the 24th overall selection the Steelers take T Bob Vogel



In the second round we consider the following:

QB Gary Cuozzo
DE Chuck Walker
CB Billy Baird
S Nate Ramsey

We select DE Chuck Walker. We hope Ramsey will fall to 3rd and honestly we have our eyes set on another QB, Lamonica, further down the draft.



3rd - Daryle Lemonica, QB
4th - Jan Barrett, TE
5th - Jim Turner, K
6th - Charley Warner, CB
7th - Gene Wallace, OLB

[dinobassi]

Enjoying the read. Keep up the good work.

[timmae]

Vogel looks like he could be a stud. Lucci is proving he was a solid pick. Job well done there!

[Sharkn20]

I would like to see Lamonika and why so much interest on him!

[timmae]

Originally Posted by Sharkn20

I would like to see Lamonika and why so much interest on him!

Because he is the "mad bomber" obviously

[Olsson]

Originally Posted by Sharkn20

I would like to see Lamonika and why so much interest on him!

I honestly don't know... He should have a pretty high avoid interceptions rate, his bars looks decent. I need a game manager and as a 3rd rounder I believe I can't go all wrong :-)

Scouts rated him hard to read btw.

[Olsson]

@dinobasso - Thanks... I will :-)

@timmae - Re-Doing the tradition of firece linebackers with Lucci :-) .. And yes.. The nickname for Lamonica only made it easier :-)

[Olsson]

1963:



1963 summary:

An abysmal season. We we're injury-riddled and had problems with holdouts. It showed on the field that our best player and our defensive captain. We suffered and had to settle with a 7-9. On a positive note we got a win against Browns :-)


1963 Rookie Watch:

1st Rnd T Bob Vogel played 16 games and only allowed one sack. He's yet to make a real impact in run blocking but that should come. 2nd rounder DE Walker managed 3,5 sack. 3rd rounder QB Daryle Lamonica played 15 games and struggled. His mechanics and head looks good though. He's been creeping up to 36/64. Also 4th rounder TE Jan Barrett chipped in.

Super Bowl:

A rematch of Packers and Browns. Cleveland wins their 3rd ring after Jim Brown racked up over 150 total yards.

Steelers record notables & honours:

None

[Olsson]

1964 Offseason:

Staff:

After a disappointing season for our offense we hire a new OC. Bernard Wolford takes the seat.



Trade Proposal:

The Giants offer us the 20th overall pick and a backup T for Daryle Lamonica. Apparently I'm not the only one admiring the upside on this player :-) .. We reject though.

Free Agency

I target the following free agents:

QB Kirk McGettigan - Signed
TE Taz Anderson - Signs with CLE
TE Doug Asad - Signed
WR Buddy Dial - Signed
C Miguel Battle - Signs with NOS
DE Norbert Perkins - Signs with BAL
SLB Emmitt Stortz - Signed

Draft

Roger Staubach sits near the top in a draft filled with great recievers. We are at 15th and have our eyes on MLB Dan Conners, but he probably won't fall this far. Generally the top-2 round seem filled with talent. Our needs are:

C, DE, OLB

At 15th the following players is interesting for us:

WR Chester Taylor
C Jon Morris
G Howard Mudd
CB Butch Byrd
S Paul Krause

Taylor is a surefire star at WR, however we're pretty set for the WR positions with Orr and Dial. Morris is a gamble but we need a C. Mudd doesn't really fit a need but he just looks good. Byrd fits the bill of a punishing run defending CB. Krause looks like he could become a future star of our defense.

We decide to move a few positions down and move up our 2nd rounder. We believe we can still get our first choice Krause and maybe pick up Morris of DE Eller in the second round. That's why we make the following trade:

PIT 1st (15th), PIT 2nd (46th), PIT 6th (174th) & PIT 7th (205th)

for

DET 1st (19th), CIN 2nd (33tth)

And of course we fail as Detroit selects Krause at 15th... D'oh... Morris goes at 18th...

So.. Backup plan...

With the 19th selection the Steelers select Butch Byrd, CB, Boston University.



With the 33th selection we pick DE Carl Eller. His bars suggest a masking due to his high PH and PRS



3rd - Roger Anderson, T
4th - George Burman, C
5th - Lonnie Farmer, OLB

Not the greatest draft due to us trading away from Krause :-(

[Olsson]

Well the 'Mad Bomber' isn't quite as good at avoiding interceptions as thought. 3 of them went for scores :-(

[Olsson]

1964:



1964 summary:

If I get another offer on Lamonica I'll trade him. He's simply throwing too many picks. The real problem however is that 9(!!) was pick sixes. Our defense is playing well. If we strengthen the front-7 we can really become a force. 8-8 and not really a good season. Second season in a row without playoff football.

1964 Rookie Watch:

CB Byrd had a decent season. An average of 2 catches per game was nice. No interceptions is a worry though. DE Eller earned 7,5 sacks in a nice rookie campaign. Other rookies played sparingly.

Super Bowl:

Browns in their 5th Super Bowl wins a narrow encounter 15-14 against the Cards. A defensive battle with total offensive yardage under 500.

Steelers record notables & honours:

None

[Olsson]

1965 Offseason:

Staff:

We once again shift OC. The next one to get the best out of the Mad Bomber is Amari Hett



Trade offer

Once again I get an offer for Lemonica. I reject. Pathers offered the 26th pick. I hope I before next season can get at least a top-20 pick.

Free Agency

I target the following free agents:

C John Morrow - signed
G Dale Memmelaar - signed
NT Floyd Peters - Signs with DEN
ILB Dave Lloyd - Signed
ILB Marion Rushing - Signed
S Perry Janis - Signed

Draft

At the top of the draft boards sit Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers and Joe Namath. Through the free agency we've set ourselves in a good position to draft best available. We could use help at WR. The draft is packed with Tackles. We're at 19th.

With the 6th overall selection the New York Jets select... Broadway Joe... :-)

At 19th we have two options:

WR Fred Biletnikoff
OLB Chris Hanburger

Both seemingly good players however Hanburger fits the Steelers bill. We select him with our pick



In the 2nd round we select G Jim Harvey



3rd - Dick Gordon, WR
4th - Jim Hudson, S
5th - Dave Simmonds, ILB
6th - Dave Pivec, TE
7th - Whit Canale, DE

[Olsson]

TRADE ALERT:

Daryle 'Mad Bomber' Lamonica has been traded to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a 1st round pick and DT George Ross.

Buffalo Bills went 4-12 last season and we could possible be sitting with a Top-10 pick here.

[Olsson]

1965:



1965 summary:

We played very poorly the first 6 games going 1-5. Then we started playing. We lead the league in rushing and McGettigan limited the turnovers. We switched to 3-4 defense and with some time I think they'll do great.

1965 Rookie Watch:

OLB Hanburger played SLB and did well. 5 sacks and 65 tackles in 15 games. All others rookies chipped in but didn't earn attention in these pages :-)

Super Bowl:

Yet again Packers v Browns. Browns without an injured Len Dawson gets ripped apart by the Packers 476 total offense including Bart Starr and his 4 TD throws.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Leading the league in rushing

[Olsson]

1966 Offseason:

Staff:

Amari Hett gets offered the HC job in Dallas, we offer the job to Danny Stephens.

[Olsson]

1966 Offseason:

Free Agency

I target the following free agents:

RB JB Aidoo - Signs with MIA
RB Billy Lott - Signed
FB Charlie Scales - Signed
TE Taz Anderson - Signed
FS Tommy Morrow - Signed

Draft

We have the following needs: QB, WR (C, G, NT)

Generally it's a very weak draft. I'm thinking of trading away my pick(s) till next year. We simply can't find more than 6-7 players we're really sold on. There's depth at G, but not really much else.

At 12th there's not much to like. We trade our pick to TB for their 1st rounder next year. This year TB is drafting 7th.

At 19th we decide to go with local boy C Fred Hoaglin from Pittsburgh. G Elmer Collett is in the race but due to the depth at G we deicde we can pick up a G in the second round.



In the 2nd round we select DE Bruce Anderson



3rd - Johnny Roland, RB
4th - Ken Avery, SLB
5th - Doug Moreau, TE
6th - Garo Yepremian, K
7th - Jim Bodreau, T

[timmae]

Broadway Joe gets to go where he belongs... what the heck is up with the Browns? Did they start with a QB that I have no knowledge of?!

[Olsson]

Originally Posted by timmae

Broadway Joe gets to go where he belongs... what the heck is up with the Browns? Did they start with a QB that I have no knowledge of?!

The combination of a young Len Dawson at QB and a young Jim Brown along with a ton of cohesion has made them a force.

[Simbo Klice]

Hate those Steelers but I'm following along!

[Olsson]

1966 Conference playoffs:



Once again our defense plays well, but our other units throw it away.

[Olsson]

1966:



1966 summary:

A great season. Len Dawson and the Browns seem mortal without Jim Brown. We go 13-3 but we loose in the conference finals against Patriots. Our defense played magnificently. 2nd best in total yardage. All in all a pretty good season. Breakout season for 3rd-year DE Eller as he gets 16 sacks on the season.

1966 Rookie Watch:

1st rounder C Hoaglin played well. 1 sack allowed and 23 KRB in 11 starts. 2nd rounder DE Anderson ended up starting all season and racked up 6 sacks. The other rookies' playtime was limited. Hoaglin looks like a really good capture.

Super Bowl:

Patriots go on to beat the Packers 17-10. Bart Starr fumbles 3 times and Patriots rush their way to victory.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Leading the league in rushing
Leading the league in sacks
16 sacks in a season Carl Eller

[timmae]

Man, once that passing game gets going you could be the team to beat!

[Olsson]

1967 Offseason:

Staff:

The coaching staff stays the same


Free Agency

I target the following free agents:

QB Sonny Gibbs - Signed
NT Jim Dunaway - Signs with DAL

Draft

The draft is not filled with toptalent on offense, however the depth at G is nice. Also on defense there's a bunch of linebackers and secondary people worth a look. At the top of the table is DT Alan Page. Our needs are:

QB, WR, NT, WLB (RB, RG, LT, ILB)

Both interesting QB's are gone at 8. This is where we sit with the TB pick we got from last year. For a second I once again think about trading the pick, but quickly decide there's some great prospects in the pool. Here's our options:





Both very interesting. While the need for a WR is greater than the need for a G I have a crush on Little. Great bars, great combine. Great player? Time will tell. We select him at 8th.

At 29 there's a couple of options:

RB Floyd Little
G Gene Upshaw
T Mike Haggerty

We have a pretty young line ready to play. Our RB is aging though. We select RB Floyd Little. I could possibly be interested in trading up this draft.



With the 62nd pick the Steelers select from Michigan State WR Gene Washington.



3rd - Tommy Fussell, DE
4th - Bob Parker, OLB
5th - Kent Nix, QB
6th - David Duncan, DT
7th - John Douglas, CB

[Olsson]

Roster move:

In order to sign DE Eller who's holding out after his 16-sack season we cut longtime and again RB Keith Lincoln and use the cap space to sign Eller long term.

[Olsson]

1967:



1967 summary:

An injuries destroyed our offensive line this season. And our destroyed O-Line destroyed our QB's. Somehow Little still managed to get 1900 total yards. 6-10 is a disappointment. However most of the pieces are in place, if we manage to keep people through Free Afency. Carl Eller dropped to 6.5 sacks and we're already considering cutting him.

1967 Rookie Watch:

G Larry Little played 9 games before an seasonending injury. He had an okay season otherwise. RB Floyd Little ran the ball well and won Offensive ROTY honours. 3rd rounder DE Fussell ended up playing 14 games and had 4 sacks. WR Washington chipped in with 600 yards recieving.

Super Bowl:

In a defensive battle Broncos beat Rams 14-7.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Offensive Rookie of the year

[Olsson]

1968 Offseason:

Staff:

The coaching staff stays the same. We blame the injuries ;-)

Free Agency

We had cap trouble so a lot of activity in free agency. A bunch of the guys are already Steelers. I target the following free agents:

QB Tommy Wade - Re-signed
C Dave Behrman - Signed
G Eric Rupert - Signed
T Jim Perkins - Signed
T Dan James - Re-signed
DE Ike Lassitter - Sign with KCY
NT Gary Larson - Signed
ILB Dave Lloyd - Signed
S Dave Kearney - Signed
LS BJ Spencer - Re-signed

Draft

Looks to be a very deep draft. At the top sits QB Ken Stabler, T John Williams and DT's Paul Smith & Curley Culp. We have the 6th selection.

Our needs are:

QB, ILB (WR, DE, WLB, NT)

At 6th both interesting QB's are gone. Had Stabler dropped one more spot I would have traded up to get him. At second though he was too expensive.

We have the following options at 6th:

DE Claude Humphreys
DE Elvin Bethea
DT Curley Culp

All defensive linemen with a nasty stride. Talent wise we have potential at DE. If not we would have selected Elvin Bethea. But we need a great stopper in the middle of the front. The Pittsburgh Steelers select DT Curley Culp.



At 37th we select the final piece of our offensive line, T Ron Yary. If he pans out that should give us a running attack and a O-line for the next 5+ years.



3rd - Dean Halverson, ILB
4th - Grady Allen, OLB
5th - Mike D'Amato, S
6th - Gary Beban, QB
7th - Mike Donohoe, TE

On a sidenote I'm very happy with this draft :-)

[Olsson]

1968:



1968 summary:

As I said after last season we had most of our pieces ready for a run. Even though we had to survive with a 19/19 QB we still managed to win the bowl through an effective rushing attack and a good defense. Steelers style :-)

1967 Rookie Watch:

Curley Culp played all the games and had some impact. Filling linemen for the other to run around. All other rookies played sparingly. The draft might not have been as good as I suspected.

Super Bowl:

After going into the half up 17-6 the New York Giants clawed their way back into the game and forced overtime. In this we managed to kick a FG and force Giants to turn it over on downs. That's 1 ring!

MVP: Chris Hanburger.

How fitting that the first Super Bowl MVP for us is a linebacker. He was a beast out there. His stat line:

9 tackles, 1 sack, 2 int's, 1 fumble recovery

Steelers record notables & honours:

Leading the league in sacks

[Olsson]

1968 Offseason:

Staff:

Orlando Weam gets a HC gig in Cincinatti, we sign Jerome Schlegel as our DC. We also replace Everett Zimmerman with William West as a AC.



Free Agency

We franchise Chris Hanburger in the hopes of getting him to sign longterm. Besides him we target the following players:

QB Craig Morton - Signs with BUF
QB Jack Concannon - Signed
RB Brian Piccolo - Signs with IND
WR Ray Poage - Signed
DE Deacon Jones - Signs with ATL
DE Glenn Condren - Signed
FS Nate Ramsey - Siged
FS Jim Hudson - Re-Signed

Draft

Of course we sit at the bottom of the draft order. At the top of the draft boards are DE John Zook, DT Joe Greene and RB OJ Simpson.

Our needs are:

QB, TE, ILB (FB, WR, LT, DE, CB)

When our number comes up there's a couple of talented players left. We narrow it down to:

TE Morris Stroud
G Bob Kuechenberg
T Gene Ferguson
CB Ken Riley

Ferguson is a surprise still being here. Riley is gonna be an effective corner but we still have some talent there. Stroud is a man we will do everything to get, however..... Bob Kuechenberg is simply too good to pass up. I believe this guys is top-10 talent. And while the obvious choice would have been Ferguson we draft for BPA.



At 63rd we decide to move in front of the Giants. We fear they might take our target TE Morris Stroud. We make the following trade:

2.32 + 6.32 for 2.31 + 7.31

And of course we select Morris Stroud. 6'10 TE out of Clark Atlanta:



3.32 - James Harris, QB
4.32 - Frank Peters, T
5.32 - Roy Gerela, K
7.31 - Altie Taylor, RB
7.32 - Ezell Jones, T

[Olsson]

1969:



1969 summary:

Yet another great season. A good defense and a good rushing attack. This time spiced up with a decent QB.

1967 Rookie Watch:

None of the rookies made an impact however Kuechenberg is evolving slowly into the starter and he'll get his chance next year.

Super Bowl:

120 Total ney yardage was all Cardinals managed to get in the Super Bowl which ended in a lopsided 26-0 win.

MVP: Butch Byrd, CB

Once again a defensive player as MVP:

4 tackles, 2 int's

Steelers record notables & honours:

Leading the league in sacks
Offensive player of the year - Floyd Little

[Olsson]

1970 Offseason:

Staff:

We stick with the current staff.

Free Agency

We have the following targets:

QB Craig Morton - Signed
WR Jack Clancy - Signed
DE Jim Riley - Signed
NT Steve Chomyszak - Signs with CHI
MLB Lonnie Warwick - Signed
CB Eddie Meador - Signs with NE
CB Pete Jaquess - Signed

Draft

We sit at the bottom of the draft order. At the top of the draft boards are QB Terry Bradshaw. There's some good depth at LB and CB/S.

Our needs are:

QB, TE, LT, CB

At 32th the following players are interesting:

T Bob Asher
DE Al Cowlings
S Al Matthews

We choose Bob Asher as he fits a need and we honestly aren't sold on the other 2 players.



This draft simply does not fall in our lap. We select OLB Dave Washington with the 2.32 pick. Simply because the other players are owrse ;-)



3.32 - Stu Voigt, TE
4.32 - Rusty Tillman, ILB
5.32 - Eddie Bell, WR
6.32 - Doug Chmura, DT
7.32 - Bill Johnson, P

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Olsson

1966 Conference playoffs:



Once again our defense plays well, but our other units throw it away.

That's an amazing score line.

[MIJB#19]

(and congrats on the back to back Bowl wins. )

[Olsson]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

That's an amazing score line.

Haven't tried anything like that before neither :-P

[Olsson]

1970:

Whoops no screenshot :-(

1970 summary:

After struggling with half a team on injuries we limped into the playoffs 11-5 with changing QB's with one similarity. They sucked. Floyd Little carried the team with his 2100 total yards. It ended in the conference finals as Denver managed to stop him. Thus ended our journey this year.

SLB Chris Hanburger followed up his Super Bowl MVP with a great season. 106 tackles, 12 sacks, 3 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 defensive td. That earns him Defensive player of the year!

1970 Rookie Watch:

TE Stu Voight started 5 games but did not make a real impact. All in all it looks like a bust draft. Bob Asher looks like the biggest bust ofthe bunch.

Super Bowl:

The Redskins top Broncos 12-10 and LC Greenwood earns MVP honours.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Leading the league in sacks
Defensive player of the year - Chris Hanburger

[Olsson]

1971 Offseason:

Staff:

No changes.

Free Agency

We have the following targets:

TE Tom Mitchell - Signed
DT Bob Rowe - Signs with NE
DT Carel Stith - Signed
DE Tommy Fussell - Re-Signed
ILB Bud Abell - Signed
OLB Ron Porter - Signed
CB Larry Carwell - Signed

[Olsson]

Draft

We sit at 29th. The draft isn't as deep as he last years. But the depth at QB and OLB looks decent. This might be our best shot at a QB. Overall the squad looks to be missing a lot so we mght gamble on a low developed player.

Our needs are:

QB, FB, WR, LT, ILB, WLB

In the first round we select Archie Manning. While his combines weren't all that good we like his bars and he could become our franchise QB in the long run.



In the 2nd round we select his first weapon. WR Ron Jessie. We hope his low BPA doesn't necessarily means bust.



3.29 - Bob Bell, DE
4.29 - Rob Creech, OLB
5.29 - Robbie Vataha, WR
6.29 - Don Morrison, T
7.29 - Jim Chanoine, ILB

[Olsson]

1971:



1971 summary:

A solid season despite our two best defenders playing a combined 2 games. In the divisional playoffs we could not handle Roy Jefferson who had 7 catches for a buck 86 and a TD.

Chris Hanburger once again had an incredible season. earning him Defensive player of the year for the second consecutive season. 88 tackles, 12,5 sacks, 3 int, 4 ff, 2 fr, 2 TD's

1971 Rookie Watch:

Once again a disappointing output from our rookies. The last three drafts have put the team under pressure. Our roster lacks in many places.

Super Bowl:

Patriots win their second ring after beating the Bears 30-27 after OT. Bears was up 21-0 short into the second quarter but could not close out the game.

Steelers record notables & honours:

Chris Hanburger - Defensive player of the year

[Olsson]

1970 Offseason:

Staff:

We sign Dennis Hawkins as a new HC



Free Agency

We have the following targets:

QB Craig Morton - Re-Signed
FB Tom Woodeschick
DE Coy Bacon - Signs with SDO
DE Rick Cash - Signed
SLB Fred Carr - Signed

Draft

Looks like a draft with a deep pool of good-not-great players. Not an interesting draft to be honest. We have several needs:

QB, WR, WR, RT, DE, ILB

We have the 23rd pick. As our pick comes up we have the following targets:

RB Franco Harris
TE Jerome Barkum
T Greg Sampson
DE Sherman White
S Bruce Laird

We desperately need an T and a WR... But we're more sold on Jerome Barkum. In the end we decide to go with BPA RB Franco Harris. I believe he's heavily masked as his physical ratings are off the chart. I believe we might be able to switch Floyd Little to WR is he pans out. And honestly... I don't want to play against him twice a year. If I pass him up. Browns will snatch him :-)



Once again BPA at 2.23. FB Robert Newsome.



3.23 - Barry Pearson, WR
4.23 - Pete Lazetich, DE
5.23 - Frank Grant, WR
6.23 - Wendell Heenan, T
7.23 - Joe Carroll, ILB