1972: Steelers VS Redskins

[Brian wolf]

Would have been an interesting defensive battle, had the Steelers and Redskins met in SB VII. Would Bradshaw have been fully healthy? The Redskins had problems with Paul Warfield but would have fared better against Shanklin and Lewis I believe. Could they have stopped the Steelers running game though?

[74_75_78_79_]

Bradshaw was still pretty bad in 1973. Although his 49% completion percentage was the best of the three quarterbacks his 8.3% interception percentage was worse than Hanrattys bad 7.2%. His 13.3 YPC was good but the lowest of the three. And his 11.8% sack percentage trailed the other two by a mile, 4.2% and 4.8%

That kind of glosses over Bradshaw's playmaking ability. Before he got injured halfway through the year, the Steelers were 7-1 and Bradshaw had Pittsburgh as the highest scoring team in the NFL. Give me a QB who scores points and wins games, sack % be damned. Bradshaw returns from injury by coming off the bench and leading the Steelers in a furious rally against the Dolphins, and then goes 2-0 in his final two starts to salvage a postseason berth. The Steelers were 8-1 in Bradshaw's starts, 2-3 without him.

Again with they still having the better chance to win even with a still-'green' Bradshaw early on as I already said. What's interesting about that MNF rally in Miami, it was against an All-Time Great 'No Name' D, and Swann & Stallworth weren't onboard yet!! And 1978 was still years away! That would have to be Bradshaw's pre-'74 tour de force moment even though it was a defeat.

If that doesn't serve as crucial artillery in a debate as to who was better between '72/'73 Dolphins and '75 Steelers ('74 Steelers as well)...

I think the Steelers could beat the Skins in 72 if they don't over-commit to the run. There are some Packer players who think that they could have beat the Skins if they threw some of the time:

https://www.packers.com/news/bill-lueck ... heir-coach

The Skins were lucky to get to a SB with Kilmer. GB didn't open up the offense, and the Cowboys were banged-up (and very lucky to get out of SF with a win).

Dunno why the Packers would say that. They didn't have a passing game. Plus they threw 24 times that game. Besides the 30 they threw against the Bears, 22 was the most. No one except the RBs caught more than 19. The WRers caught 16,15, and 8. Washington only threw 14 times that game. The weather at 39F a factor?
The regular season game the GB QBs were 5-19 vs Washington.

Staubach not playing the entire season no doubt helped Washington. Kilmers comp%, int%, and YPC were a little bit above the league average, but he was rarely sacked and almost never fumbled.

A healthy Staubach vs a healthy Jurgensen playing full time?

Interesting thought, Roger and Sonny full-time all-season! If already not the case with KIlmer and Morton, now you'd pretty much have to see both teams as being better than Pittsburgh in such a scenario. Also, both likely at least give Miami quite a game even if they actually still don't win. A "real" 7-point victory instead of a Garo gaffe to make it seem that close! As for who'd be better between Dallas & Washington in this case? Well both teams improve in such a case, I'd like to think equally improve, so Washington would still win the NFC in my opinion.

[Sonny9]

Would have been an interesting defensive battle, had the Steelers and Redskins met in SB VII. Would Bradshaw have been fully healthy? The Redskins had problems with Paul Warfield but would have fared better against Shanklin and Lewis I believe. Could they have stopped the Steelers running game though?

Good point. Although they stopped Green Bay and Dallas' run games (Staubach had a 29 yard scramble that makes the Cowboys numbers look good) they didn't stop thew Dolphins run game.

[Sonny9]

Bradshaw was still pretty bad in 1973. Although his 49% completion percentage was the best of the three quarterbacks his 8.3% interception percentage was worse than Hanrattys bad 7.2%. His 13.3 YPC was good but the lowest of the three. And his 11.8% sack percentage trailed the other two by a mile, 4.2% and 4.8%

That kind of glosses over Bradshaw's playmaking ability. Before he got injured halfway through the year, the Steelers were 7-1 and Bradshaw had Pittsburgh as the highest scoring team in the NFL. Give me a QB who scores points and wins games, sack % be damned. Bradshaw returns from injury by coming off the bench and leading the Steelers in a furious rally against the Dolphins, and then goes 2-0 in his final two starts to salvage a postseason berth. The Steelers were 8-1 in Bradshaw's starts, 2-3 without him.

But look what he did in those wins. A win over the Raiders where he went 7-17 with 3 pics. A win vs the Chiefs 8-20 with 3 pics. A win over Houston 9-19 70 yards. He threw for 200 yards once.
The win in week 13 vs the Oilers he went 4-11 for 37 yards, got hurt and didn't finish. The last game he went 12-25 1 Td and 1 pic. The Steelers intercepted 4 Hadl passes and won the turnover battle 7-1!

In their 3 losses they won the turnover battle in 2 of the games and tied in turnovers on the other game. They only lost the turnover battle in 1 game, a win against the Chiefs. The defense and the run game get the credit for those wins and not Bradshaw imo.

[Bryan]

But look what he did in those wins. A win over the Raiders where he went 7-17 with 3 pics. A win vs the Chiefs 8-20 with 3 pics. A win over Houston 9-19 70 yards. He threw for 200 yards once.
The win in week 13 vs the Oilers he went 4-11 for 37 yards, got hurt and didn't finish. The last game he went 12-25 1 Td and 1 pic. The Steelers intercepted 4 Hadl passes and won the turnover battle 7-1!

In their 3 losses they won the turnover battle in 2 of the games and tied in turnovers on the other game. They only lost the turnover battle in 1 game, a win against the Chiefs. The defense and the run game get the credit for those wins and not Bradshaw imo.

No, I get it. In some of those wins, Bradshaw 'often seemed on the periphery of events'. Not saying that Bradshaw was great, just that he was IMO obviously the best option for the Steelers in 1973 over Hanratty and Gilliam.