Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Pittsburgh Steelers shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Pittsburgh Steelers offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Pittsburgh Steelers at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Pittsburgh Steelers? Wrong! If the Pittsburgh Steelers is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Pittsburgh Steelers then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Pittsburgh Steelers? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Pittsburgh Steelers and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Pittsburgh Steelers wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Pittsburgh Steelers then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Pittsburgh Steelers site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Pittsburgh Steelers, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Pittsburgh Steelers, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{NFL team|name=Pittsburgh Steelers|logo=Pittsburgh Steelers logo.svg|founded=1933|city= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania and [Gold (color)|nickname=|coach=Mike Tomlin|director of football operations=[Kevin Colbert|stations=[WDVE (102.5 FM) and WBGG (AM) (970 AM)|announcers=Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin|hist_yr=1945|hist_misc= |NFL_start_yr=1933|division_hist= |no_league_champs=5|no_sb_champs=5|no_conf_champs=6|no_div_champs=17|sb_champs=NFL playoffs, 1974-75 (Super Bowl IX), NFL playoffs, 1975-76 (Super Bowl X), NFL playoffs, 1978-79 (Super Bowl XIII), NFL playoffs, 1979-80 (Super Bowl XIV), NFL playoffs, 2005-06 (Super Bowl XL)|conf_champs= |div_champs= |stadium_years= -->The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team that is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. They are members of the AFC North of the American Football Conference (AFC), in the National Football League (NFL). The Steelers are the oldest and most championed franchise in the AFC. The team has appeared in six Super Bowls and, along with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, is one of three teams to have won the Super Bowl five times. They have appeared in 13 AFC Championship Game and have hosted more conference championship games than any other NFL franchise. They are the only team in NFL playoff history to win a Super Bowl after being seeded sixth in the playoffs, winning three consecutive games on the road followed by a Super Bowl XL victory in Detroit on February 5 2006 against the Seattle Seahawks. They are also the only sixth-seeded team in NFL history to advance to a conference championship game as well as win one.

Originally named the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team joined the NFL in 1933http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1931-1940#1933 when owner Art Rooney Sr. paid a United States dollar2,500 franchise fee to the league.http://news.steelers.com/tradition/ However, the Steelers are the heirs to the first-ever pro-football team, as Pittsburgh hosted the world's first pro game in the 1880s. That early franchise, however, fell victim to the state's strict blue laws that, prior to 1933, prevented sporting events from taking place on Sundays when most NFL games were scheduled.

The franchise was reformed and renamed the Steelers in 1940 based on the city's prominent position in the steel industry. A fan suggested the name in a contest held by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the team.http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20031014santoni1014p9.asp

Franchise history The Pittsburgh Steelers (Pirates) first took to the field on September 20 1933, losing 23-2 to the New York Giants.http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?franchise_id=25 Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than 0.500 (1936).http://www.nfl.com/history/teams/PIT Pittsburgh did make history in 1938 by signing Byron White, a future justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history,http://news.steelers.com/tradition/teamhistory/ but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions.http://www.ck10.uscourts.gov/education/byron_white_html.php

During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" and were known as the "Steagles." This team went 5-4-1. In 1944 they merged with the Arizona Cardinals and were known as Card-Pitt.http://news.steelers.com/tradition/teamhistory/ This team went 0-10, one of only two teams in franchise history to go winless, the other being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their second season.http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_150100.html

The Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in 1947, tying for first place in the division at 8-4 with the Philadelphia Eagles. This forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Forbes Field, which the Steelers lost 21-0.http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pitindex.htm That would be Pittsburgh's only playoff game for 25 years, though the Steelers did qualify for a "Playoff Bowl" in 1963 as the second best team in their conference, though not considered an official playoff.http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_Playoff_Bowl.htm

In 1970, with the assimilation of the American Football League into the National Football League, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of three old-guard NFL teams to switch to the newly-formed American Conference (the others being the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts). This restructuring was necessary to equalize the number of teams in each of the two conferences following the AFL-NFL merger.

The Steelers' history of bad luck changed with the hiring of coach Chuck Noll for the 1969 season. Noll's most remarkable talent was in his draft selections, taking Hall of Famers Joe Greene (football player) in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham in 1971, Franco Harris in 1972,http://www.databasefootball.com/draft/draftteam.htm?tm=PIT&lg=NFL and finally, in 1974, pulled off the incredible feat of selecting four Hall of Famers in one draft year, Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Jack Lambert (American football).http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/1974.jsp The Pittsburgh Steelers' 1974 draft has gone down in NFL history as the best ever, considering no other team has ever drafted four future Hall of Famers in one year. The players drafted in the early '70s formed the base of one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history, making the playoffs in eight seasons and becoming the only team in NFL history to win four Super Bowls in six years, as well as the first to win more than two. These championships however, appear to be tainted. In former Steelers standout Steve Courson's book "False Glory", he maintains that the Super Steelers were all on steroids, a claim that to this day has never been proven wrong and is often ignored by fans and the media.http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_328813.html

The Steelers suffered a rash of injuries in the 1980 season and missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record. The 1981 season was no better, with an 8-8 showing. The team was then hit with the retirements of all their key players from the Super Bowl years. Mean Joe Greene retired after the 1981 season, Lynn Swann and Jack Ham after 1982's playoff berth, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount after 1983's divisional championship, and Jack Lambert (American football) after 1984's AFC Championship Game appearance.

After those retirements, the franchise skidded to its first losing seasons since 1971. Though still competitive, the Steelers would not finish above 0.500 in 1985, 1986, and 1988. In 1987, the year of the players' strike, the Steelers finished with a record of 8-7, but missed the playoffs. In 1989, they would reach the second round of the playoffs on the strength of Merrill Hoge and Rod Woodson before narrowly missing the playoffs in each of the next two seasons.

In 1992, Chuck Noll retired and was succeeded by Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Bill Cowher, a native of the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, Pennsylvania.

Cowher led the Steelers to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons, a feat that had been accomplished only by legendary coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns. Overall, Cowher led the Steelers to the playoffs in 10 of his 15 seasons, including an appearance in Super Bowl XXX on the strength of the "Blitzburgh" defense at the end of the 1995 NFL season. However, the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys. Cowher produced the franchise's record-tying fifth Super Bowl win in Super Bowl XL over the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks ten years later. With that victory, the Steelers became the third team to win five Super Bowls, and the first sixth-seeded playoff team to reach and win the Super Bowl since the NFL expanded to a 12-team post-season tournament in 1990.

Cowher resigned from coaching the Steelers on January 5 2007, citing a need to spend more time with his family. He did not use the term 'retire', leaving open a possible return to the NFL as coach of another team. A three-man committee consisting of Art Rooney II, Dan Rooney, and Kevin Colbert was set-up to conduct interviews for the head coaching vacancy.http://news.steelers.com/article/73452/ The candidates interviewed included: offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, offensive line coach Russ Grimm, former offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, and Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. On January 22 2007, Mike Tomlin was announced as Cowher's successor as head coach. Tomlin is the first African-American to be named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in its 74-year history.

For more information on the franchise's current season see: 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers season

Since the NFL merger in 1970, the Pittsburgh Steelers have compiled an overall record of 334-217-2 , reached the playoffs 22 times, won their division 17 times, played in 13 AFC championship games, and won five of six Super Bowls.

Season-by-season records Logo and uniforms Image:Pittsburgh Steelers logo.svg|Logo (1963-Present)Image:Steelers.PNG|Stylized LogoImage:PittsburghSteelers 1000.png|Alternate Logo

"-style uniforms the team experimented with in 1967.

The Steelers have used black and gold as their colors since the club's inception, excluding the 1943 season when they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles and formed the "Steagles"; the team's colors at that time were green and white as a result of wearing Eagles uniforms. Originally, the team wore solid gold helmets and black jerseys. Unique to Pittsburgh, the Steelers' black and gold colors are shared by all major professional teams in the city, including the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball and the Pittsburgh Penguins in hockey. These also are the colors of the city's official flag.

The Steelers logo was introduced in 1962 and is based on the "Steelmark," originally designed by Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel and now owned by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). In an ironic twist, it was Cleveland-based Republic Steel that suggested the Steelers adopt the industry logo. It consists of the word "Steelers" surrounded by three astroids (hypocycloids of four cusps). The original meanings behind the astroids were, "Steel lightens your work, brightens your leisure, and widens your world." Later, the colors came to represent the ingredients used in the steel-making process: yellow for coal, orange for iron ore, and blue for scrap steel.http://www.steel.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=12452 While the formal Steelmark logo contains only the word "Steel," the team was given permission to add "ers" in 1963 after a petition against AISI.

The Steelers are the only NFL team that puts its logo on only one side of the helmet (the right side). Longtime field and equipment manager Jack Hart was instructed to do this by Art Rooney as a test to see how the logo appeared on the gold helmets; however, its popularity led the team to leave it that way permanently.http://media3.steelers.com/tradition/logohistory/ A year after introducing the logo, they switched to black helmets to make it stand out more.

Another distinctive feature of the helmets is that a player's number appears on both the front and back (the Steelers are one of only two teams in the NFL to this). The numbers traditionally do not appear on the helmet fronts during the exhibition season.

The Steelers have made only a few changes to their jerseys over the years. The team added Northwestern-style stripes to the sleeves in 1936, and with the team finishing 0.500 for the first time in team history that season (at 6-6), the stripes have remained on the uniforms since, with three exceptions:



After the "Batman" uniforms failed with the fans (the team also finished 4-9-1, last in the short-lived NFL Century Division), the current uniform designs were introduced in 1968. The design was a modernized version of the pre-1967 home design and consists of gold pants and either black jerseys or white jerseys, except for the 1970 and 1971 seasons when the Steelers wore white pants with their white jerseys. The helmet is solid black with a gold central stripe and small white player numbers on the forehead. Last names were added to the jerseys in 1970, as part of a new NFL mandate resulting from the NFL-AFL merger (the AFL teams had last names on the back of their jerseys). In 1997, the team switched to rounded numbers on the jersey to match the number font (Futura Condensed) on the helmets, and a Steelers logo was added to the left side of the jersey.

The Steelers are one of a dwindling number of NFL franchises that strictly wears its team color jerseys at home, always opting for black. The team has done this for much of its history and has continued to do so as more NFL teams wear white jerseys in at least one home game. They are one of 13 teams since 1999 that have not worn white at home (14 if you count the New York Giants, who wore white in their 2005 "away" game against the New Orleans Saints at Giants Stadium as well as their numerous "away" games against the New York Jets since 1984.), and are the only ones in the AFC North to practice this. The Cleveland Browns have traditionally had on again/off again periods of wearing white at home, while the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, like some other NFL teams, wear white in their home opener before wearing their darker jerseys in their remaining home games.

Because of the team's unofficial policy of always wearing their black jerseys in home games, the team gained some notoriety when, as the designated "home" team for Super Bowl XL, the team elected to wear their white jerseys, becoming just the third NFL team to elect to wear white as the "home" team in the Super Bowl. But while the other two teams that have elected to wear white as the "home" team in the Super Bowl (Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins) traditionally wear white at home, a variety of reasons were rumored as to why the Steelers elected to wear white in Super Bowl XL. Reasons included the fact that the team wore white in all three playoff victories that year (all on the road) to former head coach Bill Cowher's comments that since it wasn't at Heinz Field, it was a road game (a statement contradicted by the fact that ten years earlier in Super Bowl XXX, Cowher's squad was the "home team" and chose to wear their black jerseys away from Three Rivers Stadium, where they had played both playoff games). However, it should be noted though that the game took place in Detroit, Michigan, which is only a five hour drive from Pittsburgh and with the league preferring to have the Super Bowl in either subtropical climates or in domed/retractable roof stadiums due to the winter weather, is likely the closest the Steelers would have to a home game in a Super Bowl in the foreseeable future. (Not surprisingly, there were also an overwhelming amount of Steelers fans at the game than that of their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks.) Also, the Steelers were the designated "home" team in Super Bowl XIV and elected to wear black (also a season in which they played both their playoff games at home).

At a press conference on April 27, 2007, it was announced that the Steelers would wear a throwback uniform for two home games during the 2007 season, as part of the celebration of the Steelers' 75th Season. They were worn for the Steelers' home opener against the Buffalo Bills on September 16 and will be again for a Monday Night game on November 5 against the Baltimore Ravens. The jersey is black with the numbers, names and stripes all in gold and it also contains a 75th Season logo on the left side of the upper chest part of the jersey. The jersey is considered to be from the 1960 season. The pants are white with a single gold stripe running down the length of the outside of each leg, surrounded by thinner black stripes on either side of the gold stripe. The helmets are gold with the Steelers logo on the right side and a single black stripe running down the center from front to back. The helmet was worn during the 1962 season, which was the first year that the present Steelers logo began to appear on their helmets. The only two differences are that the logo on the original helmet read 'Steel', whereas Steelers appears on the helmet that the team will wear for the two games in 2007 and that the face mask on this version of the helmet is black, whereas the original face mask color on the gold helmet was gray.

Franchise traditions The "Terrible Towel" The "Terrible Towel" is a heroic symbol created by Pittsburgh broadcaster Myron Cope for the Steelers. Needing a way to excite the fans during a 1975 playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts, Cope urged fans to take gold dish towels to the game and wave them throughout. The Steelers beat the Colts 28-10, and the Terrible Towel was born. By the time the Steelers made it to Super Bowl X against the Dallas Cowboys, the craze had caught fire and the majority of Steelers fans waved towels of their own.http://www.steelersfever.com/terrible_towel.html

Since 1996, all proceeds from each branded towel sold are donated to the Allegheny Valley School, a Pittsburgh school for the mentally disabled.

Training camp The Steelers have conducted summer training camp at nearby Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania every season since 1967. Before this, they conducted them at South Allegheny County Park and Duquesne University.

Cheerleaders and mascot The Pittsburgh Steelers made NFL history by having the first cheerleading squad for a professional team in 1961. The director of Steelers entertainment at the time, Mr. William Day, also vice president of Robert Morris Junior College (now Robert Morris University) in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, decided to use women from the school as cheerleaders for the Steelers. They were known as the Steelerettes.http://www.steelerettes.com/

In 1969, the Robert Morris women cheered their final season. Once Robert Morris got its own football team, interest in the Steelerettes on campus dwindled.http://www.steelerettes.com/1969.htm

Celebrating the organization's 75th anniversary, the Steelers have introduced a new mascot.http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07118/781770-66.stm On August 8th, 2007, the Steelers announced that the name of the new mascot will be Steely McBeam, which was the winning entry in the naming contest that followed the mascot's introduction. A passing resemblance to Bill Cowher has been noted in the Pittsburgh media. Luckily (as he is viewed as an embarrassment to a majority of Steelers fans) Steely McBeam has been largely missing in action.

Rivals The Pittsburgh Steelers have three primary rivals, all within their division: (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and Cincinnati Bengals). They also have rivalries with other teams that arose from post-season battles in the past, most notably the New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, and Dallas Cowboys. They also have an intrastate rivalry with the Philadelphia Eagles, but the number of interconference games is limited so the teams do not encounter each other with any regularity.

Divisional rivals

Historic rivals

Team statistics and records Players of note Current roster Pro Football Hall of Famers Inductees Award recipients Other Hall-of-Famers associated with the Steelers

Retired numbers

"Unofficially" retired numbers The Steelers no longer officially retire uniform numbers; however, the following numbers are out of circulation and understood to be unofficially retired: Steeler's All-Time Roster by Jersey Number

Super Bowl MVPs The following Steelers players have been named Super Bowl MVP: Other notable alumni {|| valign="top" | | valign= "top" | | valign= "top" | | valign= "top" | |}

Coaches of note Head coaches

Current staff Radio and television As of 2006, the Steelers' flagship stations were WDVE 102.5FM and WBGG (AM) 970AM. Both stations are owned by Clear Channel Communications. Games are also available on 51 radio stations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia.http://media3.steelers.com/gameday/broadcasts/ The announcers are Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin. Craig Wolfley is the sideline reporter. Myron Cope, the longtime color analyst who popularized the "Terrible Towel," retired after the 2004 NFL season.

Pre-season games not shown on one of the national broadcasters are seen on KDKA-TV, channel 2; WPCW, channel 19; and Fox Sports Net. Coach Mike Tomlin's weekly press conference is shown live on FSN.

National NFL Network broadcasts are shown locally on KDKA, while national ESPN broadcasts are shown locally on WTAE-TV, channel 4.

Figures with broadcasting resumés The Steelers franchise has a rich history of producing well-known sportscasters over the years: the most famous of which is Myron Cope, who served as voice of the Steelers from 1970 until 2005.

Additionally, several former players for the Pittsburgh Steelers picked up the broadcast microphone:

Notable moments The following is a selected list of memorable Steelers games.

November 22 1959 at Cleveland Browns Behind 14-20 with a minute and a half left and at their own 28 yard line, the Steelers Bobby Layne drove 60 yards behind the blocking of injured Tom Barnett who refused to leave the field. Layne threw a 12 yard pass with seconds left for the go-ahead score. Of Barnett's superhuman effort in protecting the Steelers runners and pass plays in the face of unbearable pain Layne said "He's all man, you can take that from me, that was a show, what he did to Browns Defense". To add insult to a shocked Cleveland crowd, when the Browns took over after the Steelers score, dependable Lou Groza missed a chip shot field goal as the clock ran out.

December 15 1963, at New York Giants For the second year in a row, Coach Buddy Parker led the once-hapless Steelers to a winning season only to fall short of the playoffs. The quest for a divisional title came down to the final game against the Giants at Yankee Stadium. Although Pittsburgh fielded six Pro-Bowlers and a future hall of famer they fell short of the championship when the Giants won 33-17.

October 10 1964, Cleveland Browns, Municipal Stadium On the way towards a 5-9 season, the Steelers traveled to Cleveland while the Browns were on the road to their 1964 Championship Game appearance. John Henry Johnson racked up a jaw-dropping 200 yards on the ground and three touchdowns against the league's 5th best defense. The Steelers would go on to a 23-7 victory over the eventual NFL Champions while holding NFL legend Jim Brown to just a scoreless 59 total yards.

October 3 1970, Cleveland Browns, Municipal Stadium Last of the "Saturday Night Games" during the Steelers-Browns rivalry, a tradition which brought mystique and urban legends to the contest—even more so from what happened in the stands than was happening on in the field. In true Browns/Steelers tradition the game was a defensive battle of smashmouth football with a 15-7 loss being handed to the upstart Steelers.

November 19 1972, at Cleveland Browns A game that was as dramatic as it was decisive. The Browns' Don Cockroft missed a 26 yard field goal with only minutes left only to have the same exact field position with :08 left on the game clock a half dozen plays later. His FG gave Cleveland the narrow win and tied the two teams atop the division with four games to go, but the Steelers would pummel their rivals in Pittsburgh two weeks later to take the Division crown as Cleveland made the playoffs as the lone wild-card.

December 23 1972, vs. Oakland Raiders, AFC Divisional Playoff The "Immaculate Reception" took place in what would be the Steelers' first ever post-season victory. The Steelers were down by one as time was expiring and Terry Bradshaw, desperate to throw, finally finds Frenchy Fuqua, but the pass rebounded off of either Fuqua or the Raider defending him, Jack Tatum. The ball came to rest into the hands of Franco Harris, who had wandered out beyond the line of scrimmage after seeing no Raider to block. The fans at Three Rivers Stadium exploded as Harris ran the catch in for the game winning touchdown. The officials were as bewildered as the Raiders; not one blew a whistle on what Raider coach John Madden (football) insists was a dead ball since rules at the time prevented two offensive players from touching a live ball.http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/nfl/threerivers/threerivers-mainbar.html The play is arguably the first official use of replay in the NFL as the officials call upstairs to use network feeds to see if the ball hit the ground or was batted by Fuqua to set up Harris' catch and touchdown.http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/5701008 No angle catches the turf at the moment of the catch, nor how the ball came to Harris. Perhaps the most ironic part of the "greatest play ever" and the moment of Pittsburgh's first post-season victory was who missed it. The game was blacked out in Pittsburgh, so no one in the metro area realized what had happened until hours after. The patriarch of the team, Art Rooney was on an elevator going down to comfort his Steelers after what he thought was a loss. Legendary announcer Myron Cope was also in an elevator on the way down for post-game interviews. Even on the field, Bradshaw was regaining his bearings after being drilled by Oakland defenders and was looking skyward with his back on the turf.

November 25 1973, at Cleveland Browns Browns rookie Greg Pruitt kept Cleveland on the heels of the division-leading Steelers with a 42 yard pass early in the game, in which Pruitt eluded all eleven Steeler defenders, and a last minute 19 yard TD run that gave the Browns a 21-16 win. After getting swept up in the emotions of the dramatic comeback, the rookie Pruitt mistakenly bursts into the Steelers locker room. By the time Pruitt calmed down and remembered which door he needed to go through to get to his locker room, the Cleveland press had left.

December 3 1973 at Miami Dolphins, Monday Night Football A blooper game if ever there was one. Joe Gilliam started at quarterback, filling in for the injured Bradshaw, and starts 0 for 7 with three interceptions (including one that went for a Miami touchdown). His errors forced coach Chuck Noll to pull Gilliam and put in the hobbling Bradshaw. Bradshaw continued the problematic play when his first pass is picked off by the Miami defense and is returned for yet another touchdown. With the score 27-0 Miami, the Steelers attempt to make a comeback. Miami gets burned on a fake punt for a Pittsburgh touchdown, a 21 yard run by Franco Harris for another Pittsburgh score, two Larry Csonka fumbles, one of which sets up a Bradshaw touchdown pass on the very next play, and finally, on fourth down from their own five yard line, coach Don Shula called for Bob Griese to take an intentional safety, even confusing the famed MNF announcers. With all the sloppy play on both sides Miami manages to hang on to a 30-26 win.

December 29 1974 at Oakland Raiders, AFC Championship Game In a game that resulted in the Steelers first Super Bowl appearance, the Steelers defense holds Oakland to only 29 yards on the ground and Jack Ham makes two key interceptions to end long Raider drives. Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier run over the Raider defenders for more than 200 combined yards in a 24-13 Pittsburgh win.

January 12 1975. Minnesota Vikings, Super Bowl IX Pittsburgh wins its first of its four Super Bowls in the 1970s and does it in record-setting fashion. The Steel Curtain defense holds the veteran Vikings to just 119 total offensive yards, still a Super Bowl record that stands 32 Championships later. The Steelers defense also robbed three interceptions and forced two Viking fumbles for a record five Super Bowl turnovers recovered. MVP Franco Harris set a Super Bowl rushing record that stood for almost a decade as Pittsburgh wins the world championship 16-6, missing the shutout on a blocked Steeler punt covered by Minnesota for a TD.

January 18 1976, Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl X The Steelers repeated as Super Bowl Champions and again set multiple Super Bowl records, including yards receiving by MVP Lynn Swann. Swann's four immortal grabs for 161 yards set a yardage record that would stand for twelve Super Bowls. Among the receptions was a 64 yard completion for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that would be voted the best passing play in all of football history by NFL Films. The Steel Curtain defense would pick off Roger Staubach for three interceptions as Pittsburgh won by a score of 21-17 to win back-to-back championships. This game was the start of heated rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys (in what would become the most numerous pairing in Super Bowl history).

September 12 1976 at Oakland Raiders, Season Opener In what was becoming a heated rivalry for dominance of the AFC in the 1970s, this game brought tensions to a boiling point. Coming off of a freshly minted dynasty, the Steelers opened the quest for three championships in a row at the home of the eventual Super Bowl XI Champion Oakland Raiders. Pittsburgh was up late 28-14, but the Raiders came back with a vengeance. George Atkinson (football player) got in a cheap shot against Super Bowl MVP Swann with a blow to the head. Mel Blount retaliated later by driving Raider {{NFL team|name=Pittsburgh Steelers|logo=Pittsburgh Steelers logo.svg|founded=1933|city= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania and [Gold (color)|nickname=|coach=Mike Tomlin|director of football operations=[Kevin Colbert|stations=[WDVE (102.5 FM) and WBGG (AM) (970 AM)|announcers=Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin|hist_yr=1945|hist_misc= |NFL_start_yr=1933|division_hist= |no_league_champs=5|no_sb_champs=5|no_conf_champs=6|no_div_champs=17|sb_champs=NFL playoffs, 1974-75 (Super Bowl IX), NFL playoffs, 1975-76 (Super Bowl X), NFL playoffs, 1978-79 (Super Bowl XIII), NFL playoffs, 1979-80 (Super Bowl XIV), NFL playoffs, 2005-06 (Super Bowl XL)|conf_champs= |div_champs= |stadium_years= -->The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team that is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. They are members of the AFC North of the American Football Conference (AFC), in the National Football League (NFL). The Steelers are the oldest and most championed franchise in the AFC. The team has appeared in six Super Bowls and, along with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, is one of three teams to have won the Super Bowl five times. They have appeared in 13 AFC Championship Game and have hosted more conference championship games than any other NFL franchise. They are the only team in NFL playoff history to win a Super Bowl after being seeded sixth in the playoffs, winning three consecutive games on the road followed by a Super Bowl XL victory in Detroit on February 5 2006 against the Seattle Seahawks. They are also the only sixth-seeded team in NFL history to advance to a conference championship game as well as win one.

Originally named the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team joined the NFL in 1933http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1931-1940#1933 when owner Art Rooney Sr. paid a United States dollar2,500 franchise fee to the league.http://news.steelers.com/tradition/ However, the Steelers are the heirs to the first-ever pro-football team, as Pittsburgh hosted the world's first pro game in the 1880s. That early franchise, however, fell victim to the state's strict blue laws that, prior to 1933, prevented sporting events from taking place on Sundays when most NFL games were scheduled.

The franchise was reformed and renamed the Steelers in 1940 based on the city's prominent position in the steel industry. A fan suggested the name in a contest held by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the team.http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20031014santoni1014p9.asp

Franchise history The Pittsburgh Steelers (Pirates) first took to the field on September 20 1933, losing 23-2 to the New York Giants.http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?franchise_id=25 Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than 0.500 (1936).http://www.nfl.com/history/teams/PIT Pittsburgh did make history in 1938 by signing Byron White, a future justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history,http://news.steelers.com/tradition/teamhistory/ but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions.http://www.ck10.uscourts.gov/education/byron_white_html.php

During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" and were known as the "Steagles." This team went 5-4-1. In 1944 they merged with the Arizona Cardinals and were known as Card-Pitt.http://news.steelers.com/tradition/teamhistory/ This team went 0-10, one of only two teams in franchise history to go winless, the other being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their second season.http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_150100.html

The Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in 1947, tying for first place in the division at 8-4 with the Philadelphia Eagles. This forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Forbes Field, which the Steelers lost 21-0.http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pitindex.htm That would be Pittsburgh's only playoff game for 25 years, though the Steelers did qualify for a "Playoff Bowl" in 1963 as the second best team in their conference, though not considered an official playoff.http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_Playoff_Bowl.htm

In 1970, with the assimilation of the American Football League into the National Football League, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of three old-guard NFL teams to switch to the newly-formed American Conference (the others being the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts). This restructuring was necessary to equalize the number of teams in each of the two conferences following the AFL-NFL merger.

The Steelers' history of bad luck changed with the hiring of coach Chuck Noll for the 1969 season. Noll's most remarkable talent was in his draft selections, taking Hall of Famers Joe Greene (football player) in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham in 1971, Franco Harris in 1972,http://www.databasefootball.com/draft/draftteam.htm?tm=PIT&lg=NFL and finally, in 1974, pulled off the incredible feat of selecting four Hall of Famers in one draft year, Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Jack Lambert (American football).http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/1974.jsp The Pittsburgh Steelers' 1974 draft has gone down in NFL history as the best ever, considering no other team has ever drafted four future Hall of Famers in one year. The players drafted in the early '70s formed the base of one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history, making the playoffs in eight seasons and becoming the only team in NFL history to win four Super Bowls in six years, as well as the first to win more than two. These championships however, appear to be tainted. In former Steelers standout Steve Courson's book "False Glory", he maintains that the Super Steelers were all on steroids, a claim that to this day has never been proven wrong and is often ignored by fans and the media.http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_328813.html

The Steelers suffered a rash of injuries in the 1980 season and missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record. The 1981 season was no better, with an 8-8 showing. The team was then hit with the retirements of all their key players from the Super Bowl years. Mean Joe Greene retired after the 1981 season, Lynn Swann and Jack Ham after 1982's playoff berth, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount after 1983's divisional championship, and Jack Lambert (American football) after 1984's AFC Championship Game appearance.

After those retirements, the franchise skidded to its first losing seasons since 1971. Though still competitive, the Steelers would not finish above 0.500 in 1985, 1986, and 1988. In 1987, the year of the players' strike, the Steelers finished with a record of 8-7, but missed the playoffs. In 1989, they would reach the second round of the playoffs on the strength of Merrill Hoge and Rod Woodson before narrowly missing the playoffs in each of the next two seasons.

In 1992, Chuck Noll retired and was succeeded by Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Bill Cowher, a native of the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, Pennsylvania.

Cowher led the Steelers to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons, a feat that had been accomplished only by legendary coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns. Overall, Cowher led the Steelers to the playoffs in 10 of his 15 seasons, including an appearance in Super Bowl XXX on the strength of the "Blitzburgh" defense at the end of the 1995 NFL season. However, the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys. Cowher produced the franchise's record-tying fifth Super Bowl win in Super Bowl XL over the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks ten years later. With that victory, the Steelers became the third team to win five Super Bowls, and the first sixth-seeded playoff team to reach and win the Super Bowl since the NFL expanded to a 12-team post-season tournament in 1990.

Cowher resigned from coaching the Steelers on January 5 2007, citing a need to spend more time with his family. He did not use the term 'retire', leaving open a possible return to the NFL as coach of another team. A three-man committee consisting of Art Rooney II, Dan Rooney, and Kevin Colbert was set-up to conduct interviews for the head coaching vacancy.http://news.steelers.com/article/73452/ The candidates interviewed included: offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, offensive line coach Russ Grimm, former offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, and Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. On January 22 2007, Mike Tomlin was announced as Cowher's successor as head coach. Tomlin is the first African-American to be named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in its 74-year history.

For more information on the franchise's current season see: 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers season

Since the NFL merger in 1970, the Pittsburgh Steelers have compiled an overall record of 334-217-2 , reached the playoffs 22 times, won their division 17 times, played in 13 AFC championship games, and won five of six Super Bowls.

Season-by-season records Logo and uniforms Image:Pittsburgh Steelers logo.svg|Logo (1963-Present)Image:Steelers.PNG|Stylized LogoImage:PittsburghSteelers 1000.png|Alternate Logo

"-style uniforms the team experimented with in 1967.

The Steelers have used black and gold as their colors since the club's inception, excluding the 1943 season when they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles and formed the "Steagles"; the team's colors at that time were green and white as a result of wearing Eagles uniforms. Originally, the team wore solid gold helmets and black jerseys. Unique to Pittsburgh, the Steelers' black and gold colors are shared by all major professional teams in the city, including the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball and the Pittsburgh Penguins in hockey. These also are the colors of the city's official flag.

The Steelers logo was introduced in 1962 and is based on the "Steelmark," originally designed by Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel and now owned by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). In an ironic twist, it was Cleveland-based Republic Steel that suggested the Steelers adopt the industry logo. It consists of the word "Steelers" surrounded by three astroids (hypocycloids of four cusps). The original meanings behind the astroids were, "Steel lightens your work, brightens your leisure, and widens your world." Later, the colors came to represent the ingredients used in the steel-making process: yellow for coal, orange for iron ore, and blue for scrap steel.http://www.steel.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=12452 While the formal Steelmark logo contains only the word "Steel," the team was given permission to add "ers" in 1963 after a petition against AISI.

The Steelers are the only NFL team that puts its logo on only one side of the helmet (the right side). Longtime field and equipment manager Jack Hart was instructed to do this by Art Rooney as a test to see how the logo appeared on the gold helmets; however, its popularity led the team to leave it that way permanently.http://media3.steelers.com/tradition/logohistory/ A year after introducing the logo, they switched to black helmets to make it stand out more.

Another distinctive feature of the helmets is that a player's number appears on both the front and back (the Steelers are one of only two teams in the NFL to this). The numbers traditionally do not appear on the helmet fronts during the exhibition season.

The Steelers have made only a few changes to their jerseys over the years. The team added Northwestern-style stripes to the sleeves in 1936, and with the team finishing 0.500 for the first time in team history that season (at 6-6), the stripes have remained on the uniforms since, with three exceptions:



After the "Batman" uniforms failed with the fans (the team also finished 4-9-1, last in the short-lived NFL Century Division), the current uniform designs were introduced in 1968. The design was a modernized version of the pre-1967 home design and consists of gold pants and either black jerseys or white jerseys, except for the 1970 and 1971 seasons when the Steelers wore white pants with their white jerseys. The helmet is solid black with a gold central stripe and small white player numbers on the forehead. Last names were added to the jerseys in 1970, as part of a new NFL mandate resulting from the NFL-AFL merger (the AFL teams had last names on the back of their jerseys). In 1997, the team switched to rounded numbers on the jersey to match the number font (Futura Condensed) on the helmets, and a Steelers logo was added to the left side of the jersey.

The Steelers are one of a dwindling number of NFL franchises that strictly wears its team color jerseys at home, always opting for black. The team has done this for much of its history and has continued to do so as more NFL teams wear white jerseys in at least one home game. They are one of 13 teams since 1999 that have not worn white at home (14 if you count the New York Giants, who wore white in their 2005 "away" game against the New Orleans Saints at Giants Stadium as well as their numerous "away" games against the New York Jets since 1984.), and are the only ones in the AFC North to practice this. The Cleveland Browns have traditionally had on again/off again periods of wearing white at home, while the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, like some other NFL teams, wear white in their home opener before wearing their darker jerseys in their remaining home games.

Because of the team's unofficial policy of always wearing their black jerseys in home games, the team gained some notoriety when, as the designated "home" team for Super Bowl XL, the team elected to wear their white jerseys, becoming just the third NFL team to elect to wear white as the "home" team in the Super Bowl. But while the other two teams that have elected to wear white as the "home" team in the Super Bowl (Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins) traditionally wear white at home, a variety of reasons were rumored as to why the Steelers elected to wear white in Super Bowl XL. Reasons included the fact that the team wore white in all three playoff victories that year (all on the road) to former head coach Bill Cowher's comments that since it wasn't at Heinz Field, it was a road game (a statement contradicted by the fact that ten years earlier in Super Bowl XXX, Cowher's squad was the "home team" and chose to wear their black jerseys away from Three Rivers Stadium, where they had played both playoff games). However, it should be noted though that the game took place in Detroit, Michigan, which is only a five hour drive from Pittsburgh and with the league preferring to have the Super Bowl in either subtropical climates or in domed/retractable roof stadiums due to the winter weather, is likely the closest the Steelers would have to a home game in a Super Bowl in the foreseeable future. (Not surprisingly, there were also an overwhelming amount of Steelers fans at the game than that of their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks.) Also, the Steelers were the designated "home" team in Super Bowl XIV and elected to wear black (also a season in which they played both their playoff games at home).

At a press conference on April 27, 2007, it was announced that the Steelers would wear a throwback uniform for two home games during the 2007 season, as part of the celebration of the Steelers' 75th Season. They were worn for the Steelers' home opener against the Buffalo Bills on September 16 and will be again for a Monday Night game on November 5 against the Baltimore Ravens. The jersey is black with the numbers, names and stripes all in gold and it also contains a 75th Season logo on the left side of the upper chest part of the jersey. The jersey is considered to be from the 1960 season. The pants are white with a single gold stripe running down the length of the outside of each leg, surrounded by thinner black stripes on either side of the gold stripe. The helmets are gold with the Steelers logo on the right side and a single black stripe running down the center from front to back. The helmet was worn during the 1962 season, which was the first year that the present Steelers logo began to appear on their helmets. The only two differences are that the logo on the original helmet read 'Steel', whereas Steelers appears on the helmet that the team will wear for the two games in 2007 and that the face mask on this version of the helmet is black, whereas the original face mask color on the gold helmet was gray.

Franchise traditions The "Terrible Towel" The "Terrible Towel" is a heroic symbol created by Pittsburgh broadcaster Myron Cope for the Steelers. Needing a way to excite the fans during a 1975 playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts, Cope urged fans to take gold dish towels to the game and wave them throughout. The Steelers beat the Colts 28-10, and the Terrible Towel was born. By the time the Steelers made it to Super Bowl X against the Dallas Cowboys, the craze had caught fire and the majority of Steelers fans waved towels of their own.http://www.steelersfever.com/terrible_towel.html

Since 1996, all proceeds from each branded towel sold are donated to the Allegheny Valley School, a Pittsburgh school for the mentally disabled.

Training camp The Steelers have conducted summer training camp at nearby Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania every season since 1967. Before this, they conducted them at South Allegheny County Park and Duquesne University.

Cheerleaders and mascot The Pittsburgh Steelers made NFL history by having the first cheerleading squad for a professional team in 1961. The director of Steelers entertainment at the time, Mr. William Day, also vice president of Robert Morris Junior College (now Robert Morris University) in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, decided to use women from the school as cheerleaders for the Steelers. They were known as the Steelerettes.http://www.steelerettes.com/

In 1969, the Robert Morris women cheered their final season. Once Robert Morris got its own football team, interest in the Steelerettes on campus dwindled.http://www.steelerettes.com/1969.htm

Celebrating the organization's 75th anniversary, the Steelers have introduced a new mascot.http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07118/781770-66.stm On August 8th, 2007, the Steelers announced that the name of the new mascot will be Steely McBeam, which was the winning entry in the naming contest that followed the mascot's introduction. A passing resemblance to Bill Cowher has been noted in the Pittsburgh media. Luckily (as he is viewed as an embarrassment to a majority of Steelers fans) Steely McBeam has been largely missing in action.

Rivals The Pittsburgh Steelers have three primary rivals, all within their division: (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and Cincinnati Bengals). They also have rivalries with other teams that arose from post-season battles in the past, most notably the New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, and Dallas Cowboys. They also have an intrastate rivalry with the Philadelphia Eagles, but the number of interconference games is limited so the teams do not encounter each other with any regularity.

Divisional rivals

Historic rivals

Team statistics and records Players of note Current roster Pro Football Hall of Famers Inductees Award recipients Other Hall-of-Famers associated with the Steelers

Retired numbers

"Unofficially" retired numbers The Steelers no longer officially retire uniform numbers; however, the following numbers are out of circulation and understood to be unofficially retired: Steeler's All-Time Roster by Jersey Number

Super Bowl MVPs The following Steelers players have been named Super Bowl MVP: Other notable alumni {|| valign="top" | | valign= "top" | | valign= "top" | | valign= "top" | |}

Coaches of note Head coaches

Current staff Radio and television As of 2006, the Steelers' flagship stations were WDVE 102.5FM and WBGG (AM) 970AM. Both stations are owned by Clear Channel Communications. Games are also available on 51 radio stations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia.http://media3.steelers.com/gameday/broadcasts/ The announcers are Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin. Craig Wolfley is the sideline reporter. Myron Cope, the longtime color analyst who popularized the "Terrible Towel," retired after the 2004 NFL season.

Pre-season games not shown on one of the national broadcasters are seen on KDKA-TV, channel 2; WPCW, channel 19; and Fox Sports Net. Coach Mike Tomlin's weekly press conference is shown live on FSN.

National NFL Network broadcasts are shown locally on KDKA, while national ESPN broadcasts are shown locally on WTAE-TV, channel 4.

Figures with broadcasting resumés The Steelers franchise has a rich history of producing well-known sportscasters over the years: the most famous of which is Myron Cope, who served as voice of the Steelers from 1970 until 2005.

Additionally, several former players for the Pittsburgh Steelers picked up the broadcast microphone:

Notable moments The following is a selected list of memorable Steelers games.

November 22 1959 at Cleveland Browns Behind 14-20 with a minute and a half left and at their own 28 yard line, the Steelers Bobby Layne drove 60 yards behind the blocking of injured Tom Barnett who refused to leave the field. Layne threw a 12 yard pass with seconds left for the go-ahead score. Of Barnett's superhuman effort in protecting the Steelers runners and pass plays in the face of unbearable pain Layne said "He's all man, you can take that from me, that was a show, what he did to Browns Defense". To add insult to a shocked Cleveland crowd, when the Browns took over after the Steelers score, dependable Lou Groza missed a chip shot field goal as the clock ran out.

December 15 1963, at New York Giants For the second year in a row, Coach Buddy Parker led the once-hapless Steelers to a winning season only to fall short of the playoffs. The quest for a divisional title came down to the final game against the Giants at Yankee Stadium. Although Pittsburgh fielded six Pro-Bowlers and a future hall of famer they fell short of the championship when the Giants won 33-17.

October 10 1964, Cleveland Browns, Municipal Stadium On the way towards a 5-9 season, the Steelers traveled to Cleveland while the Browns were on the road to their 1964 Championship Game appearance. John Henry Johnson racked up a jaw-dropping 200 yards on the ground and three touchdowns against the league's 5th best defense. The Steelers would go on to a 23-7 victory over the eventual NFL Champions while holding NFL legend Jim Brown to just a scoreless 59 total yards.

October 3 1970, Cleveland Browns, Municipal Stadium Last of the "Saturday Night Games" during the Steelers-Browns rivalry, a tradition which brought mystique and urban legends to the contest—even more so from what happened in the stands than was happening on in the field. In true Browns/Steelers tradition the game was a defensive battle of smashmouth football with a 15-7 loss being handed to the upstart Steelers.

November 19 1972, at Cleveland Browns A game that was as dramatic as it was decisive. The Browns' Don Cockroft missed a 26 yard field goal with only minutes left only to have the same exact field position with :08 left on the game clock a half dozen plays later. His FG gave Cleveland the narrow win and tied the two teams atop the division with four games to go, but the Steelers would pummel their rivals in Pittsburgh two weeks later to take the Division crown as Cleveland made the playoffs as the lone wild-card.

December 23 1972, vs. Oakland Raiders, AFC Divisional Playoff The "Immaculate Reception" took place in what would be the Steelers' first ever post-season victory. The Steelers were down by one as time was expiring and Terry Bradshaw, desperate to throw, finally finds Frenchy Fuqua, but the pass rebounded off of either Fuqua or the Raider defending him, Jack Tatum. The ball came to rest into the hands of Franco Harris, who had wandered out beyond the line of scrimmage after seeing no Raider to block. The fans at Three Rivers Stadium exploded as Harris ran the catch in for the game winning touchdown. The officials were as bewildered as the Raiders; not one blew a whistle on what Raider coach John Madden (football) insists was a dead ball since rules at the time prevented two offensive players from touching a live ball.http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/nfl/threerivers/threerivers-mainbar.html The play is arguably the first official use of replay in the NFL as the officials call upstairs to use network feeds to see if the ball hit the ground or was batted by Fuqua to set up Harris' catch and touchdown.http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/5701008 No angle catches the turf at the moment of the catch, nor how the ball came to Harris. Perhaps the most ironic part of the "greatest play ever" and the moment of Pittsburgh's first post-season victory was who missed it. The game was blacked out in Pittsburgh, so no one in the metro area realized what had happened until hours after. The patriarch of the team, Art Rooney was on an elevator going down to comfort his Steelers after what he thought was a loss. Legendary announcer Myron Cope was also in an elevator on the way down for post-game interviews. Even on the field, Bradshaw was regaining his bearings after being drilled by Oakland defenders and was looking skyward with his back on the turf.

November 25 1973, at Cleveland Browns Browns rookie Greg Pruitt kept Cleveland on the heels of the division-leading Steelers with a 42 yard pass early in the game, in which Pruitt eluded all eleven Steeler defenders, and a last minute 19 yard TD run that gave the Browns a 21-16 win. After getting swept up in the emotions of the dramatic comeback, the rookie Pruitt mistakenly bursts into the Steelers locker room. By the time Pruitt calmed down and remembered which door he needed to go through to get to his locker room, the Cleveland press had left.

December 3 1973 at Miami Dolphins, Monday Night Football A blooper game if ever there was one. Joe Gilliam started at quarterback, filling in for the injured Bradshaw, and starts 0 for 7 with three interceptions (including one that went for a Miami touchdown). His errors forced coach Chuck Noll to pull Gilliam and put in the hobbling Bradshaw. Bradshaw continued the problematic play when his first pass is picked off by the Miami defense and is returned for yet another touchdown. With the score 27-0 Miami, the Steelers attempt to make a comeback. Miami gets burned on a fake punt for a Pittsburgh touchdown, a 21 yard run by Franco Harris for another Pittsburgh score, two Larry Csonka fumbles, one of which sets up a Bradshaw touchdown pass on the very next play, and finally, on fourth down from their own five yard line, coach Don Shula called for Bob Griese to take an intentional safety, even confusing the famed MNF announcers. With all the sloppy play on both sides Miami manages to hang on to a 30-26 win.

December 29 1974 at Oakland Raiders, AFC Championship Game In a game that resulted in the Steelers first Super Bowl appearance, the Steelers defense holds Oakland to only 29 yards on the ground and Jack Ham makes two key interceptions to end long Raider drives. Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier run over the Raider defenders for more than 200 combined yards in a 24-13 Pittsburgh win.

January 12 1975. Minnesota Vikings, Super Bowl IX Pittsburgh wins its first of its four Super Bowls in the 1970s and does it in record-setting fashion. The Steel Curtain defense holds the veteran Vikings to just 119 total offensive yards, still a Super Bowl record that stands 32 Championships later. The Steelers defense also robbed three interceptions and forced two Viking fumbles for a record five Super Bowl turnovers recovered. MVP Franco Harris set a Super Bowl rushing record that stood for almost a decade as Pittsburgh wins the world championship 16-6, missing the shutout on a blocked Steeler punt covered by Minnesota for a TD.

January 18 1976, Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl X The Steelers repeated as Super Bowl Champions and again set multiple Super Bowl records, including yards receiving by MVP Lynn Swann. Swann's four immortal grabs for 161 yards set a yardage record that would stand for twelve Super Bowls. Among the receptions was a 64 yard completion for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that would be voted the best passing play in all of football history by NFL Films. The Steel Curtain defense would pick off Roger Staubach for three interceptions as Pittsburgh won by a score of 21-17 to win back-to-back championships. This game was the start of heated rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys (in what would become the most numerous pairing in Super Bowl history).

September 12 1976 at Oakland Raiders, Season Opener In what was becoming a heated rivalry for dominance of the AFC in the 1970s, this game brought tensions to a boiling point. Coming off of a freshly minted dynasty, the Steelers opened the quest for three championships in a row at the home of the eventual Super Bowl XI Champion Oakland Raiders. Pittsburgh was up late 28-14, but the Raiders came back with a vengeance. George Atkinson (football player) got in a cheap shot against Super Bowl MVP Swann with a blow to the head. Mel Blount retaliated later by driving Raider

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - Home Page
Official site with latest news, biographies, trivia, coaches, discussion forum, stadium news, and webcam.

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - Schedule
I'm proud to be a self made Steelers fan. What did it for me was watching the Steelers back in the early 70's and seeing the black and gold. Posted by Steel_Elvis POST NOW!

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - Home Page
The official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers ... I'm proud to be a self made Steelers fan. What did it for me was watching the Steelers back in the early 70's and seeing the black ...

Pittsburgh Steelers News, Scores, Schedule, Stats - Yahoo! Sports
Team site with division standings, transactions, injury reports, game photos, and scores.

Pittsburgh Steelers Team Page
Steelers camp opens July 27, Jul 26, 2008. The Steelers begin defense of their AFC North Division title when the entire team reports to training camp on Sunday at Saint Vincent ...

Pittsburgh Steelers Team Page
Team information from the official NFL.COM website including roster, team leaders, injury reports, headlines, player and coach quotations, and game previews and recaps.

Pittsburgh Steelers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC ...

ESPN - Pittsburgh Steelers News, Schedule, Players, Stats, Video - NFL
Includes roster, statistics, schedule, photos, results, standings, message board, and transactions.

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - Player Stats
I'm proud to be a self made Steelers fan. What did it for me was watching the Steelers back in the early 70's and seeing the black and gold. Posted by Steel_Elvis POST NOW!

SI.com - NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers Team Page
SI.com - NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers Team Page - The lastest news, scores, stats as well as truth and rumors and Fantasy news from around the web.

 

Pittsburgh Steelers



 
Copyright © 2008 Hintcenter.com - All rights reserved.
Home | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
All Trademarks belong to their repective owners. Many aspects of this page are used under
commercial commons license from Yahoo!