Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I’m assuming general consensus was that Miami was expected to repeat. Anyone actually think the Steelers were going to go all-the-way already in this year before that ’74 Draft? Redskins return to the Super Bowl? Or was Dallas expected to bounce right on back? Packers return to playoffs, or was the year prior considered a fluke? Vikings & Rams expected to re-emerge? SF & Det expected to suddenly hit a wall which they both, indeed, did starting in ’73? Webster’s G-men expected to build off last year’s 8-6 campaign? And how about the other NY team who didn’t do that bad the year before either. Was perennially scrappy Denver expected to be in the division race all the way to the final week?

1973...a season that seems to get overlooked when discussing best seasons of the ’70s. I know some of you in here really liked that season.

Peterson's Pro Football had Pittsburgh winning the Super Bowl... over San Francisco. They had the AFC right, except Pittsburgh as division winner instead of Cincinnati. NFC had Washington, Minnesota, San Francisco as division winners, Green Bay as wild card.

Complete Handbook of Pro Football had Miami, Pittsburgh, and Oakland or Kansas City as division winners, with the Raiders/Chiefs loser battling Cincinnati for the wild card. NFC had Dallas, Green Bay, and Atlanta, with Giants as wild card. One out of four there.

So Green Bay was thought of as for real. It was pointed out their schedule was much easier. Packers had a tough defense and could run the ball.

Packers didn't improve the passing game at all, and teams presumably started rolling things up on the run. Team fell back a lot when Willie Buchanon and Bill Hayhoe were hurt against the Rams, though things had been going downhill before that. I take it that Buchanon's replacement Perry Smith was torched. Malcolm Snider could not replace Hayhoe well as he had Gillingham in '72.

Jay Z wrote:Peterson's Pro Football had Pittsburgh winning the Super Bowl... over San Francisco. They had the AFC right, except Pittsburgh as division winner instead of Cincinnati. NFC had Washington, Minnesota, San Francisco as division winners, Green Bay as wild card.

Complete Handbook of Pro Football had Miami, Pittsburgh, and Oakland or Kansas City as division winners, with the Raiders/Chiefs loser battling Cincinnati for the wild card. NFC had Dallas, Green Bay, and Atlanta, with Giants as wild card. One out of four there.

So Green Bay was thought of as for real. It was pointed out their schedule was much easier. Packers had a tough defense and could run the ball.

Packers didn't improve the passing game at all, and teams presumably started rolling things up on the run. Team fell back a lot when Willie Buchanon and Bill Hayhoe were hurt against the Rams, though things had been going downhill before that. I take it that Buchanon's replacement Perry Smith was torched. Malcolm Snider could not replace Hayhoe well as he had Gillingham in '72.

Thanks for that info! Steelers/SF Super Bowl?? Very interesting! If Steelers never had that '74 Draft (never get Swann, Lambert, Stallworth, Webster) nor ever signed Shell/kept Shanklin & Van Dyke, I wonder how much less of a team they would have been remainder of the decade? Do they still manage making it to a SB or two; or even winning just one? I'd think likely not but '73 shows just how close they actually were. The 8-1 start, almost coming back at Miami MNF, etc. But Oakland beat them pretty convincingly and Cincy did take the division. They probably would have been like the Bengals - playoff appearances but never getting over the hump; maybe a SB berth (like Washington, Denver) if they were lucky. Don't see them ever being able to get past Oakland and Dallas; and probably not the other NFC contenders either.

The '73 season had plenty of great moments. What seems to disguise that, I guess, is the lack of competitive post-season games - both NFC divisionals the only good games with both AFC divisionals having good first halfs. Both CCs were close at end of 3rd Q (each score 17-10) only for both Miami & Minn respectively to pull away each outscoring their opponents, 10-0, final period. SBXIII clearly a snoozer.

I will start with Sports Quarterly's preview magazine and their predictions.

In the AFC, they were high on Miami before the season. Author Norman MacLean wrote that "The Dolphins have no place to go but down, although that may not be as easily accomplished by their rivals as some think". That's not a surprise. The puzzling pick made by Norman was Baltimore for AFC WC. He acknowledged that they did a lot of re-tooling in the off-season, but his write-up seemed to have some faith in new Colt HC Howard Schnellenberger.

The AFC division picks were the Dolphins, Steelers and Raiders (and the aforementioned Colts for WC), and the Dolphins were the pick to be in Rice Stadium on Super Sunday (right on the money).

In the NFC, MacLean had GB second because of the QB situation. He also was high on SF and the Falcons in the West, but not so high on the Rams (he basically said that Knox was inheriting the hot seat from Prothro).

The projected NFC division picks were Dallas, Minnesota, and San Fran with the Skins as the WC, and he had Dallas going to the SB for the third time in four years.

I also have a book entitled Pro Football '73 by Herb Gluck.

In the AFC, he has the Jets, Steelers, and Raiders as division champions (the reasoning with the Jets is that they have the weapons to challenge Miami on offense, and they supposedly improved on defense with the drafting of Burgess Owens and return to health of DL John Elliott, among others). He also picks the Broncos for second and acknowledges them as up-and-coming (something that Sports Quarterly didn't do).

In the NFC, he has the Cowboys, Packers, and Falcons as division champs. He also picked the Redskins and Vikings for third (behind the Giants and Bears). In Washington's case, the author thought that the Skins just got as far as they were going to go with Allen because of age and the lack of young players coming in (they didn't pick that year until round 5). He turned out to be right.

In Minnesota's case, the author wasn't that high on Tarkenton, basically saying that he is exciting to watch, but doesn't move the ball enough. They drafted a QB that year in the fourth round out of Illinois named Mike Wells, and he basically insinuated that Tarkenton may be replaced by this guy if he doesn't do well.

I think the Steelers still win SB IX without an outstanding 1974 draft.

Was Lambert a huge upgrade in 1974? Better, but that much better? It was already a top defense. A healthy Henry Davis, or Ed Bradley even, I think it's still going to be a top defense.

Lynn Swann had his moments, but the team didn't win on passing anyway. They could have kept Barry Pearson. There were a couple of other guys moved out, like Van Dyke and John Rowser, just to make room for new players. It was already a loaded, talented team before 1974. They still might have won in 1974 and 1975 with a less impactful draft. The 1974 draft helped more with the last two SB.

Jay Z wrote:I think the Steelers still win SB IX without an outstanding 1974 draft.

Was Lambert a huge upgrade in 1974? Better, but that much better? It was already a top defense. A healthy Henry Davis, or Ed Bradley even, I think it's still going to be a top defense.

Lynn Swann had his moments, but the team didn't win on passing anyway. They could have kept Barry Pearson. There were a couple of other guys moved out, like Van Dyke and John Rowser, just to make room for new players. It was already a loaded, talented team before 1974. They still might have won in 1974 and 1975 with a less impactful draft. The 1974 draft helped more with the last two SB.

Good points made, JayZ! Especially opining that '74 helped '78 & '79 more-so than the first two Lombardis. Maybe I was wrong by saying that they wouldn't have ever gotten past the Raiders. Yes, Oakland ousted them in the '73 divisional, but Steelers did avert 'Immaculate-'revenge in their immediate rematch during the regular season - and at Alameda to boot. And they beat Raiders in that '72 opener. So it's not as if Raiders 'had their number' before '74. Maybe they still beat Vikings SBIX (though I think the game would be even closer), but do they for sure get by Oakland in that AFCC in the first place? What little enough gap there was between Steelers & Raiders in '74 & '75 would have had to have been even thinner in event of no Swann/Lambert/Stallworth/Webster.

And '75...do they post that 11-game win-streak which included they sweeping both Cincy & Houston? And if they still represent the AFC, would they have been able to beat Dallas? Lambert inspiring the troops by doing what he did after that Gerela-miss and Swann's Classic catches...Maybe these are too-simple examples to give, but if comparing their '72 affair to the rest of their meetings through the '82 opener is any indication, that Draft may very well be the reason why the Steelers were better than Landry's Cowboys, or at least 'had their number' in years when they may have not been better than them like '77 & '82 itself. Yes, besting Raiders '74/'75 important, but always beating Dallas was the bread-and-butter of making the Steelers Dynasty what it was!

They probably win Super Bowl IX without such a loaded draft class. The only one to start as a rookie was Lambert, and he missed much of the Super Bowl with an injury. It really is amazing that they put forth such a staunch effort with two linebackers missing and Dwight White playing after spending the week in the hospital with pneumonia and losing 20 pounds.

1975 is a different story. Lambert and Swann (league leading 11 touchdown receptions) both made the Pro Bowl. Stallworth wasn't a consistent starter but he did average 20 yards per reception.

But it's definitely true that the 1974 draft class contributed mostly to the final 2 Super Bowl wins. In fact, 3 out of the 4 HOF'ers (all but Swann) gained as many or more postseason honors in the 1980's as they did in the 1970's.

Lambert
1970's- 5 Pro Bowls, 3 First Team All Pro*
1980's- 4 Pro Bowls, 4 First Team All Pro

Stallworth
1970's- 1 Pro Bowls, 1 First Team All Pro
1980's- 2 Pro Bowls, 0 First Team All Pro

Webster
1970's- 2 Pro Bowls, 2 First Team All Pro
1980's- 7 Pro Bowls, 3 First Team All Pro

*In 1975, Lambert was named 2nd Team All Pro by AP, and First Team by Pro Football Weekly and Pro Football Writers. We'll count that in the 70's total.

The Steelers were rolling at 8-1, but were coming off two emotional wins over the Skins (home MNF) and at Oakland, but were playing without Bradshaw, who got hurt in the 10/29 win over Cincy. They came out flat against 4-3-2 Denver, where in the fourth, the game was tied at 13 when Jim Turner's 46-yard FG attempt hit the crossbar--and went over. On the ensuing kickoff, the Steelers fumbled for the second time (Bleier had fumbled away the opening kickoff, leading to a Denver FG), with Denver recovering at the Pittsburgh 27. They scored the clincher just after the two-minute warning.

The following week, they watched the Browns come back late, courtesy of rookie RB Greg Pruitt. One week later, Dick Anderson was their top receiver. That put them in a huge early hole on MNF in Miami, though the return of Bradshaw did make things interesting late in the game.

Jay Z wrote:I think the Steelers still win SB IX without an outstanding 1974 draft.

Was Lambert a huge upgrade in 1974? Better, but that much better? It was already a top defense. A healthy Henry Davis, or Ed Bradley even, I think it's still going to be a top defense.

But Davis wasn't healthy in 1974. He had a concussion in the preseason and retired. So it would have to be Bradley at MLB. The Steelers gave up 232 rushing yards to Oakland in the 73 postseason without Lambert, they gave up 29 in the 74 postseason with Lambert.

Bryan wrote:

Jay Z wrote:I think the Steelers still win SB IX without an outstanding 1974 draft.

Was Lambert a huge upgrade in 1974? Better, but that much better? It was already a top defense. A healthy Henry Davis, or Ed Bradley even, I think it's still going to be a top defense.

But Davis wasn't healthy in 1974. He had a concussion in the preseason and retired. So it would have to be Bradley at MLB. The Steelers gave up 232 rushing yards to Oakland in the 73 postseason without Lambert, they gave up 29 in the 74 postseason with Lambert.

If we can assume that the 1974 draft never happened, we can speculate that Henry Davis doesn't get hurt and returns. I allowed for Bradley anyway.

The 1973 and 1974 run defense was essentially the same as 3.4 yards a carry. Defensive line was likely better in 1974. 52 sacks versus 33 in 1973. 1974 defense played better against the run than the regular season. They peaked at the right time, or whatever. 1973 defense was worse. But regular season was about the same. 1975 was a big step back for run defense at 4.2 a carry. Playoffs were okay, but no 1974.