Noll Era ends with a massive bust and wasted opportunity: Redrafting 1991

[Steeler Nation]

In this retrospective series, we’ll use 20/20 hindsight to play General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers to review past drafts – focusing primarily on top 2-3 selections – and personnel decisions year-by-year and redraft or implement trades based on the Steelers roster at the time.

General rule: Any “redrafted” pick will generally fall within a 15-pick range and trade propositions being realistic and attainable.



Steelers situation and needs:

• The Steelers looked like a team on the rise and went into Week 16 with what should have been the AFC Central Division clinching win & the team’s first 10 win season since 1983 – facing the Houston Oilers without their future Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon.
• The team finished 9-7 and behind a secondary that put a “No Admittance Sign” on the End Zone (only 9 TD passes surrendered on the year through 15 weeks). It was then the shocking “Commander Cody Bowl” ensued and backup QB Cody Carlson shredded the Steelers secondary with 22/29 for 247 yards and 3TD performance that embarrassed the Steelers right out of the AFC Central Title and playoffs.
• The Joe Walton offense was a dud and too much pressure was put on the ever improving (but not yet dominant) The “J_E. Where’s the O?” offense was a dud and too much pressure was put on the ever improving defense.
• RB Tim Worley began regressing rapidly.
• QB Bubby Brister was beginning to show his cracks and faith was falling out of him to be the Steelers quarterback – even though it was his best statistical year, it was the last year he was the full-time starter.

The Steelers are caught completely unprepared​

1991 Steelers Draft: 1st Round – #15 Overall; 2nd Round: #46 Overall

If there was ever a red flag that it was time for Chuck Noll and Dick Haley, it reflected in just how unprepared the Steelers were in the 1991 draft. The “legend” goes that the Steelers had 3 players they had lined up to draft before their pick (believed to be Alvin Harper, Herman Moore, and Pat Harlow). It surfaced that several agents were strong on keeping Harper and Moore in particular away from Pittsburgh, who had a reputation for not dolling out larger contracts. The Steelers were left unready, did not have a 4th player on their list, and scrambled to draft a OLB/DE who was not big enough to play 3-4 DE and not fast enough to play OLB. Richardson finished his one and only Steelers season with an incredible stat line: 0 starts, 0 sacks, 0 starts in 16 games. He was cut by Bill Cowher the next season.

Tom Donahoe on Richardson, per Post-Gazette:

The Huey Richardson pick to me was total insanity. It just wasn’t going to work and it didn’t work. It was a stretch to think he could play outside linebacker because he was not a very fluid athlete. He was very stiff. But, that was what we decided, that was what we did and it obviously didn’t work.

Richardson went on to play for the Washington Redskins and New York Jets, where he again failed to accrue a stat before his career ended. *Interesting footnote: Richardson was a financial analyst working in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The 2nd round selection of WR Jeff Graham followed by WR Ernie Mills in the 3rd, lends credence to the fact the Steelers were leaning heavy at WR in the 1st round. Graham was beginning to show potential before he lost all ability to reliably catch the ball.

Grade D-​

• Ernie Mills enormous clutch catches in the 1995 AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl which directly lead to TDs are the only reason this dumpster fire of a draft did not get an F.
• Adrian Cooper and Leroy Thompson notwithstanding, 4th round CB Sammy Walker is best remembered for dropping a coast-to-coast sure fire pick-6 in the 1992 playoffs.

Redrafting 1991: The Steelers missed out on a Hall of Fame QB–again.​

It’s very transparent through this series that I have wanted the Steelers to draft a QB. I was enamored with Chuck Long in 1986 and in 1990 – I was getting desperate and wanted the Steelers to take Todd Marinovich, despite all the negatives surrounding him.

That being said, I remember reading a lot about the exploits of one Brett Favre and it was only from magazines. 20/20 is hindsight – but he truly fit the Steelers mold as a QB. I do remember researching how Ron Wolf of the New York Jets was in love with Favre and were set to draft him until the Atlanta Falcons unexpectedly selected him over the objections of Jerry Glanville, leaving the Jets with QB Browning Nagle. Wolf thought enough of Farve to trade a 1st round pick to Atlanta to secure him when Wolf took over as GM for the Green Bay Packers.

Comments or thoughts? Leave them below.

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[Punxsutawney]

1991 was not a great way for Noll to go out, but the Steelers did draft some great players in his last several years who contributed greatly to the Steelers success in the 1990s.

It's kind of like the end of the Tom Donahoe era about a decade later.

Everyone remembers the Jermaine Stephens, Will Blackwell's, Troy Edwards and Scott Shields, but forget the drafting of the likes Faneca, Ward, Porter and Aaron Smith.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

If memory serves, for the first half of that season the Steelers compiled the unusual stat of the defense scoring more points than the offense.

 

[stuntmanmike]

Thing about chuck noll was his winning... dude played or coached, I think, on 9 championship teams, could have been 10 if colts beat the jets in Super Bowl. Played under Paul brown coached with sid Gilman, don Shula all hofers. He could coach a team in his sleep. Chuck had a “moral vision” of how a football team should be build and how it should win. A team that had the will to go out every Sunday and force his vision on its opponents. i was a boy in the seventies and reveled in all the wins like the rest of the city, along with the Pirates we were the city of champions. In the eighties I went to CM, go tartans! and because of my love for the Steelers I chose to study “game theory“ CM was one few colleges where it was being studied. noll’s last years with Steelers were painful To watch. the pittburgh fans wanted him to win so bad... he was their man, quiet, reflective, hard working, no excuses, got the job done, a blue collar Vince Lombardi. The seventies Steelers were the first real media team. You couldn’t go anywhere coast to coast people didn’t know the Steelers. in eighties he changed the defense up quite a bit. The day joe green retired he stopped using a four man line. The steelecurtain forced the bengals Paul brown and bill Walsh to rethink offense and they came with the “cinninati offense” which became “west coach offense” when bill left to go west. Noll who innovated the cover 2 defense in 70’s, countered with a 3-4 defense that literally dropped 8 men back in cover 3 and cover 4. I thought the best game he coached in 80’s maybe ever, was in 84 when Steelers beat the 49ers, joe Montana, a Pittsburgh homie, and bill Walsh and his “steeler killer” offense in San Francisco, on a late pick of Montana to end game. It’s was only game 49ers lost that year! On offense though noll didn’t stay as innovative. in the seventies he was first to use double tight end formation with tight end in motion to trap in a goal line offense, joe Gibbs, after seeing that it was almost impossible to stop, built a full offense around it. he was first to use a third down back, literally a receiver, out of the back field, again joe Gibbs built a full offense around it to augment his single back offense. The seventies team in forcing its will on the game, forced rule changes like the ”blount” rule that Steelers never took advantage of. It’s ironic Montana, a hometown boy was drafted in third round with the Steelers draft pick! They passed on Dan moreno another Pittsburgh boy who grew up a steeler fan. ulimately, more than poor drafting it was not knowing who they were as a team, that let the Steelers down. In ’89 draft they were desperately for outside speed but passed on andre rison to take ’safe’ picks Worley and ricketts in first round, both horrible picks. The Steelers were to never to capture the glory of the seventies teams. But Chuck Noll was the saint of the city the high water mark he left may never be reached again in our life time.

If there Is a cautionary tale In the chuck noll story its that you must stay innovative: if youre not leading the parade then quite possible you‘re being ran out of town. It’s ironic that two noll innovations, two tight end offense and running back/receiver in the slot won the redskins multiple Super Bowls, but he didn’t pursue them until too late. He kept pounding the ball out the split backfield with little success. Opposing defenses knew Noll’s complex trapping run game better than the young offensive players trying desperately to execute it. Ironic too, the Rooney’s forced him to fire tony dungy and Tom Moore both who went on to great success. Did chuck just not give them enough leeway? Moore, first in Detroit, used Noll’s innovations to build offenses that were best in football. He built a three receiver offense around barry sanders then went on and built same offense around Peyton manning for the colts, using both double tightend and three receiver formations. He is one of few coaches to take 3 different qbs, Bradshaw, manning, and brady all hofers, to Super Bowl wins while chuck was coaching qbs named Bubby. You Must stay on top of the game, press your will on your opponent. You must draft the ”perfect” player that matches your ”moral vision” as to how the game is played to win. noll did all these things in the 70’s but in eighties, not so much. not staying on top of the game, not sure which way the game was going led to Steelers to draft “safe” type picks. There is no such thing. For every rod woodson or Carnell lake there are many more zack valentines and wedgie Thompsons. Steelers now must decide who they are as a team what is their “moral vision” is and pick the best path to get there. as to the draft, taking players dupree, wallace and sanders, and teaching him the game of football only to see him leave for big money, no longer makes sense. you must be able to ”kraft” a team with players that includes a few “premium“ draft picks that define who you are, then be able combine them with lower round draft picks and castoff 4th and 5th year free agents, players that give best bang for the buck. You can’t as the Steelers are doing, hope to have a number 1 and 2 -rd draft pick at every position on defense AND a 100 million dollar qb and think you can afford to win a Super Bowl. You can’t be afraid not to up get a premium player that be built around or trade down when he’s not there. You can spend all your time developing players for other teams or you can spend it on winning Super Bowls. I can’t help but feel the Steelers of 2020 are much like the team of the 80’s: a team very unsure of itself outside of Ben leading the offense and relying on the “blitzBurgh” defense, both very outdated and on their last legs. this draft will be very interesting, will it be “safe“ picks or will Steelers seize the day? Draft a Davis Mills and/or an amari Rodgers and give Canada’s vision of the offense a true chance? go for a new day!?!? Or play it “safe”. Go Steelers (go tartans!)