“These Aren’t Tough Guys in Pittsburgh,” is a documentary about the last white working class town in America. The film explores how decades of economic changes and automation have left this place without jobs or hope, while providing an unsettling glimpse into the future of poor people all over America.
“These Aren’t Tough Guys in Pittsburgh” is an article written by Heidi Bomberger-Bruschi, a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article discusses how the Steelers’ defense has been struggling to stop opposing teams and how they are not tough guys.
Professional sports teams often mirror the cities in which they compete. This may be seen in the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s or the big-money, all-business Yankees of the early 2000s. The Pittsburgh Steelers are maybe the finest illustration of this in history.
The Steelers have historically demonstrated a toughness that mirrors the team’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That doesn’t seem to be the case in 2021, as former New England Patriot and current NFL commentator Tedy Bruschi provided three statistics on the Week 13 ESPN pregame program that demonstrate the Steelers are no longer the tough guy squad they once were.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are known for their tenacity.
In 1933, the Pittsburgh Pirates began playing professional football and were renamed the Steelers in 1940. The squad only reached the playoffs once in the first approximately 40 years of its existence.
When the Steelers pushed toward toughness in the 1970s, everything changed. From 1972 through 1979, the club reached the playoffs every year and won four Super Bowls in the process.
They accomplished this with some of the toughest players to ever take the field in the NFL.
Franco Harris, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound battering ram, and Rocky Bleier, a true war hero, spearheaded the team’s rushing onslaught on offense. The passing game was managed by Terry Bradshaw, a quarterback with a linebacker mindset.
The defense was much more intimidating.
The “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970s is largely regarded as one of the strongest and fiercest in NFL history. From top to bottom, the 1970s Steelers D was stacked with skillful tough players. Many of them went on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Mean” Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, and Mel Blount are among them.
The following Super Bowl-winning era in Steelers history also corresponded with the team’s development of unrivaled toughness in the league.
Both the Super Bowl teams in 2005 and 2008 included tough individuals on both sides of the roster. On offense, there had Ben Roethlisberger, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, and tough-as-nails WR Hines Ward.
On defense, Troy Polamalu, the organization’s newest Hall of Famer, joined the likes of James Harrison, Brett Keisel, and Ryan Clark as some of the toughest defenders to win Super Bowl rings in the 2000s.
There’s one more thing that all seven of these Steelers Super Bowl teams have in common. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin were their tough-guy head coaches.
Tedy Bruschi, a former NFL tough man, slammed the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers | Image courtesy of Getty Images/Icon Sportswire/Ian Johnson.
In recent years, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ NFC North rival Baltimore Ravens have supplanted the Steel City side as the neighborhood bullies.
The Ravens, who the Steelers face in Week 13, have finished higher in scoring defense than the Steelers for the previous five seasons and seven of the last eight. They’ve also outrushed Pittsburgh in each of the last four seasons.
Former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi addressed how harder Baltimore is now days than Pittsburgh on ESPN’s NFL Sunday Countdown in Week 13.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin brags about “putting the pads on his players this week” in practice, according to Ryan.
“Well, what do you think? “Baltimore did, too,” Ryan said. “It’s simply that they don’t have to tell you.”
Bruschi agreed, adding he’s “over the nasty stuff” coming out of Pittsburgh. The Super Bowl champion said that the Steelers are no longer tough, using data to back up his claim:
We don’t use the term “soft” too frequently, but I’m using it to describe the Pittsburgh Steelers because, believe it or not, the National Football League has a statistical means of measuring softness. These are the three categories: running the football, stopping the run, and covering kicks. Isn’t that all-encompassing for your tough men on your team? Pittsburgh ranks 29th in offensive yards per run, 31st in defensive yards per rush, and 26th in yards allowed per return. In Pittsburgh, they aren’t tough men, and they haven’t demonstrated it all year. That is exactly who they are.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Tedy Bruschi
It’s difficult to dispute that the Steelers of 2021 aren’t as tough as previous Steeler squads. While it may spell death for this year’s team, the Steelers’ upper management may soon have a chance to correct the problem.
In the Steel City, a franchise makeover is on the way.
According to league insiders, Ben Roethlisberger has quietly informed former teammates and others within the organization that he expects 2016 to be his last season as a quarterback for the Steelers.
More to come on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, which kicks off at 9 a.m. ET.
December 4, 2021 — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season will mark the end of an era. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Ben Roethlisberger, who has been the Steelers’ quarterback for the bulk of the previous 18 years, is likely to retire after this season:
According to league insiders, Ben Roethlisberger has quietly informed former teammates and others within the organization that he expects 2016 to be his last season as a quarterback for the Steelers.
Ben Roethlisberger, according to Adam Schefter
While this must be terrifying for both the organization and its supporters, it does provide the squad with a much-needed reset.
The team is soft, as Tedy Bruschi pointed out. The offensive line isn’t great, and Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and James Washington are now the major offensive players. Only rookie running back Najee Harris has showed tenacity for the Steelers this season. As a result, he’ll be a terrific foundation piece in the future.
There isn’t much grit on the other side of the ball, but there is a bit more to work with.
T.J. Watt is definitely tough and a star, while Joe Hayden and Cameron Heyward, despite their ages, are classic Steelers defenders. S Minkah Fitzpatrick and LB Devin Bush are two intriguing young players on that side of the ball.
If the Steelers’ front management can handle this rebuild correctly — and history shows they can — the Steelers will be tough again and will return to the top of the AFC North sooner than expected.
Pro Football Reference provided all stats.
RELATED: Former Steelers Defensive End Mike Tomlin Applauds Mike Tomlin for Dispelling USC Rumors, But Says There’s Still a Way to Get Him: ‘A $15 million check, and Coach T is going to send the Deuces to Pittsburgh,’ says one source.
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The “tedy bruschi hall of fame” is a list of the top 50 players in NFL history. These are not tough guys in Pittsburgh, but rather the best players to ever play in the NFL.
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