- 2 days ago
Better than 74
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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01:43I think that's Kurt Gowdy.
01:46He was absolutely right.
01:47A team that may not have even reached its feet, and the future opponents are going to have some trouble.
01:56Head coach Chuck Knoll began preparing the Steelers for the 1975 season and their second Super Bowl about 10 minutes
02:03after winning their first.
02:05I think we're going to enjoy it for just a short time and then get on to next year.
02:10And then be ready for next season, all right?
02:12That's right.
02:13It comes around fast.
02:15Noel addressed the team, but he left a hanging message.
02:20You can do better, and we can be better, and let's work, okay, for next year's championship.
02:25I was kind of stunned because it was something you would typically maybe expect a day or two later or
02:33next summer.
02:35But Chuck was never a person to let a moment go by.
02:40He considered that Super Bowl nothing more than a road sign.
02:44Okay, we've gotten this far, but we want to keep on going.
02:51Nearly every player on the Pittsburgh roster had been drafted and developed under Noel.
02:56So it was little surprise that the players, like their coach, would not be satisfied with merely one ring.
03:06Just ask Glenn Swan if he remembers how many passes he caught in that first Super Bowl.
03:12I do.
03:14The same number that were thrown to me.
03:16Zero.
03:19I was dying to get Terry to throw me a pass, a play-action pass.
03:23I think it would have gone for a touchdown.
03:25But I couldn't get him to throw me that one play-action pass, and so I went the entire game
03:30without one pass being thrown to me.
03:32But we won, and that was the most important thing.
03:36Defensive end Dwight White wasn't supposed to play in Super Bowl IX after spending a week in the hospital with
03:41viral pneumonia and losing 20 pounds.
03:46Yet, when the first bus arrived at Tulane Stadium, Dwight White was in the locker room, getting dressed, getting ready
03:53to play a football game.
03:56White played the entire game.
03:58White played the entire game.
03:59He even scored its first points on his safety.
04:03It was a courageous performance.
04:07And one for which White still feels unappreciated, because he did not appear in the official Super Bowl team photo
04:13taken while he was hospitalized.
04:17The real raw spot with me, because I just thought that that was, you know, a real insult, you know.
04:27I mean, you look at the picture, I'm not in the picture.
04:30They did not even put my name on the photo and say that I was missing.
04:35I'm the guy that got out of the hospital, you know, and scored the first point.
04:39That pissed me off.
04:41This was a team loaded with big personalities.
04:46And Chuck Knoll waded through all of them.
04:50Some people say, well, you know, he was a teacher.
04:52I didn't look at it that way.
04:54I thought he was a great manager.
04:56I mean, he was able to keep all those personalities on the same page.
05:02We, as players, learned very early on that Chuck had these little expressions.
05:07Because Chuck was very consistent.
05:09The things he said in 71, he was still saying in 80.
05:12He had these things, you haven't arrived yet.
05:14If you think you've arrived, you haven't.
05:16Don't dissipate what you've accomplished this week.
05:19Don't waste the wait.
05:21The thing is, we're not, I don't think anybody who's really a fat cat on our team,
05:24or they're going to lay down and say, hey, I'm the world's champ.
05:28They're too concerned about tomorrow.
05:29I think we're tomorrow people.
05:31We're not today people and yesterday people.
05:33Tomorrow people means that if you're satisfied with what you're doing now
05:37or what you did yesterday, then you're going to fail.
05:41Okay, so you'd say, be a tomorrow person.
05:44That's a quote from Chuck Knoll, but I think it's a good analogy.
05:49Yes, I guess I was brainwashed, particularly at that point in time.
05:53Maybe I had a concussion, I don't know.
05:54But Chuck obviously had some influence on me and the rest of the team with his expressions.
05:59You know, you can't argue with success.
06:01We had a lot of success believing in that stuff and listening to that propaganda.
06:06Never please him is what it comes down to.
06:08But at the end of the day, you go home and think about it.
06:11That's what it's about.
06:12Why should you be pleased?
06:14I'm going to be pleased when I retire.
06:16I'm going to be pleased, like right now, when I'm talking about something that happened 30 years ago and turned
06:21out well.
06:22Okay, that's what he was talking about.
06:26Never were Knoll's words more valuable than in 1975, when the Steelers took the field as champions and began their
06:33ascent into legend.
06:42In their four-decade history, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the NFL's defending champions as the 1975 season began.
06:53There was a realization on that team that all the things that Chuck, the Roonies, had built had come to
07:00fruition.
07:00We were a championship team.
07:02And we had the core of that right there.
07:04We didn't have to prove it.
07:05We'd already done it.
07:07And now we could just go out and relax and be.
07:11Just be.
07:13We knew the team could run, we could pass, we could stop a team.
07:16We just knew we could put it together.
07:18And we went out there and proved it each week.
07:22That second year was more fun because of that confidence.
07:27After crushing San Diego in the opener, the Steelers returned home to face the Buffalo Bills and O.J. Simpson.
07:34Chuck had told us that we did not play a very good game against San Diego, yet we dominated.
07:40And I think our team kind of nodded, yeah, yeah, coach, right?
07:42We hear that all the time.
07:43We know we're good.
07:45And we're going to go out and we're going to show you again in week two that we're good.
07:48Well, guess what?
07:49O.J. had a different idea.
07:53O.J. rushed for 227 yards, the most the Steelers' defense had ever allowed.
08:03County three Hall of Famers, he just ran past.
08:07Well, you know, this s*** happens.
08:11They beat us soundly in that ballgame.
08:13It taught us a lesson early on.
08:16There was a bullseye on our back.
08:18Every team was going to play us a little bit tougher, and it was a matter of pride.
08:23I don't know how we lost the game, why we lost the game, but what I do know that whoever's
08:30on deck the next week, you're in deep, deep, deep, you-know-what.
08:40The Steelers might have been wearing the bullseye, but usually they were the team taking target practice.
08:48You're going to have a bad day today.
08:50Now, you can take-
08:51They had to jump.
08:53They had to jump me, Joe.
08:55Just ask women, any way you want to take it, but you're going to take it.
09:03After the loss to Buffalo, they won their next three games by a total of 78 points.
09:14You know, you have to continue to improve to hold the same ground.
09:18And in order to get back to the Super Bowl, we realized during the course of the season in the
09:23Buffalo game that we had to elevate our game.
09:28Elevation was always the name of the game for Lin Swan.
09:40In 1974, his rookie year, Swan caught 11 passes.
09:45In 75, he scored 11 touchdowns.
09:51I saw Lin play in college, and I watched him on TV.
09:57Wow, look at this kid.
09:58He can play football.
09:59And we drafted him.
10:00I said, this is going to be really interesting.
10:04This kid's All-American.
10:06This kid's number one draft pick.
10:08But he hasn't played against us.
10:10And you come to Steeler camp back then, it's live.
10:15God bless whoever was the offensive coordinator.
10:18They decide to run Lin on an in route.
10:22Sure enough, one of our defensive backs just pounds him.
10:27You know, we're like vultures.
10:29We're kind of walking around, seeing if he's going to get up or not, you know.
10:32And he gets up.
10:33We go, okay, that's good.
10:34Next day, new rule.
10:36Steeler defensive backs in training camp are no longer allowed to tackle receivers or drive them to the ground.
10:42We're going to go, oh, this is the Lin Swan rule.
10:47To Lin's credit, he wouldn't care.
10:49He would have run over the middle, full contact, which he did for his whole career.
10:56He turned out to be that kind of player.
11:01He's 5'11", 180 pounds.
11:04But he can jump through a roof, and he'll take...
11:07Yeah, they beat the crap out of the receivers then.
11:11Back then, back in those days.
11:19The public doesn't realize that.
11:21They think, oh, how graceful he is.
11:23He's a swan.
11:24You look at his name.
11:25He's a swan.
11:26He's a swan.
11:29Lin would stick his nose in there.
11:30He's like a prize fighter.
11:35My job is to go out and catch the ball.
11:37And as a receiver, if I want to be effective and good, I cannot go out and worry who's behind
11:42me when the ball's in the air.
11:44He could have played on our defense.
11:48Nobody was more pleased that he played on the offense than Terry Bradshaw, whose early years in the NFL had
11:54been a struggle.
11:57We'd go in, and the Tuesday after the game on Sunday, and the defensive reel would be this big.
12:05The offensive reel would be about that big, you know, because they were three and out.
12:09And Bradshaw was terrible.
12:11He was bad.
12:14The emergence of swan and fellow second-year receiver John Stallworth, number 82, was transforming the Steelers and their quarterback.
12:23Maybe the most underrated receiver on a championship team.
12:28Underrated whole thing receiver on a championship team ever.
12:36A quarterback has to have a certain level of confidence that his receivers are going to make a play.
12:41And I think Bradshaw was there, that he felt like he could put the ball out there and we could
12:46make a play.
12:49Long, follow, far side.
12:50There goes Swag.
12:51Double coverage, he takes it for a touchdown.
12:54Oh!
12:56Reels started getting bigger, and the defensive reel started getting smaller.
13:01And the Super Bowl champions kept getting better.
13:04Bradshaw back looking for Swann.
13:05There it goes.
13:06He takes it.
13:07Oh, is that a beauty?
13:131975 was the first time in the Super Bowl era that three teams from the same division won at least
13:19ten games.
13:20The Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Houston Oilers.
13:25The most pivotal stretch of the regular season came in week seven and eight, when the Steelers faced both of
13:31their division rivals.
13:32First up were the undefeated Bengals.
13:38And Cincinnati was emerging as a pretty formidable opponent.
13:42They hadn't been real good, but they had this guy, Kenny Anderson.
13:47Kenny Anderson and the Bengals' offense posed a unique challenge.
13:52He was one of these guys that if you could ever get a bead on him, you could get to
13:57him.
13:57But it was the one-two drop, boom, and he just dinked us all the time.
14:02We could never get to this guy.
14:04Yeah, I think some guy named Walsh had something to do with that.
14:08Eventually, assistant coach Bill Walsh left Paul's Bengals and took his little offense to the West Coast.
14:14In the meantime, it was the Steelers' offense that shined.
14:21Two Lin-Swan touchdowns helped the Steelers open a 20-point lead.
14:28Two Mike Wagner interceptions held off a fourth-quarter comeback.
14:32Oh, there he's firing.
14:33And it's picked off on Mike Wagner inside the 20 out of it, the 25, the 30, the 35, the
14:3740.
14:37Wagner picks it off, and Wagner could well have saved the day.
14:42One first-place showdown led to another.
14:46A week later, the 6-1 Steelers hosted the 6-1 Oilers.
15:01With the game tied in the final minutes.
15:07Rackshaw looking for the end zone, and there he is, wide open on the far side.
15:11Johnny Scalworth takes it for the touchdown.
15:14Scalworth, second-year man from Alabama A&M.
15:20If there's one statement that I think broadly applies to that 75-year, we knew what it took at that
15:28point.
15:28I think Chuck had a statement of whatever it takes.
15:31And we bought into that.
15:32We bought into it big time.
15:34Of all his little sayings, whatever it takes was Chuck Knoll's favorite.
15:40That was a comment that used to pop out at least every couple weeks.
15:46He might throw that out, whatever it takes to motivate us, or he also might use it as an explanation.
15:53Chuck was always really kind of short with the media, like, whatever it takes.
15:59In 1975, it would take a nearly perfect regular season just to win the division.
16:07Running back Franco Harris led the way, rushing for more yards than anyone but O.J. Simpson.
16:23Steelers scored more points, gave up fewer.
16:26And won more games than they did in 74, their first Super Bowl season.
16:37It's an interesting intangible, and I don't know what it is, but it was there.
16:41The attitude and the optimism and the determination, you could feel it.
16:46You could see it in everybody's eyes.
16:48We were going to find some way to win.
16:51It was just like, we got business to do.
16:53Let's get it done.
16:55Together, the Oilers and Bengals went 21-3 against the rest of the NFL.
17:02Against the Steelers, they went 0-4.
17:10Pittsburgh dominated both rematches.
17:17The Steelers won 11 straight games, finishing with a 12-2 record in the AFC Central Division title.
17:38You look at that era, you look at Cincinnati and Houston, and I sometimes think it's really a shame that
17:44they hadn't won a championship, but we were in their way.
17:54In 1971, the Steelers selected Mike Wagner, a safety from Western Illinois University in the 11th round of the NFL
18:02draft.
18:04Wagner's ambitions were modest.
18:08You know, if I can make the taxi squad the first year, and maybe by my third year, I might
18:12be a starter, you know, kind of plod this out like I was taking college courses, and all of a
18:17sudden I'm starting my rookie year and being thrown at it.
18:21It was a shock.
18:25Injuries forced Wagner, number 23, into the starting lineup in the first game of his rookie season.
18:32He remained there for the rest of the decade, intercepting 36 passes and quarterbacking the secondary of maybe the finest
18:41defense in pro football history.
18:48No one had a better view of the Great Steel Curtain than Mike Wagner.
18:55There's two definitions of the Steelers Curtain.
18:57First of all, you need to clarify.
18:58I think the front four would say we are the Steel Curtain.
19:01The Steel Curtain is Elsie, Joe Green, Ernie Holmes, and yours truly.
19:06And that's something that is in the book.
19:09You can't change it.
19:10You can't deny it.
19:11That's what it was.
19:16The irony of somebody from the defensive line saying they are the Steel Curtain is they produce the least Hall
19:25of Famers of the three defensive groups.
19:30Two of the defensive backs are in the Hall of Fame, two of the linebackers are in the Hall of
19:33Fame.
19:34Only one defensive lineman is in the Hall of Fame.
19:39Other defensive lines had gotten acclaims such as the Purple People Eaters.
19:44But there was something that was very unique and obviously unique about us in that we were four black players.
19:49Coming out of the late 60s and the movements and the sociology in the country, that was something that was
19:55important.
19:56And we took a lot of pride in that here are four black cats that are on the cover of
20:01Time magazine.
20:03So we were very much aware of what we had going and we were very proud of that.
20:12The defensive line was the most unique line in that none of the players were similar, but they played so
20:19well as a unit.
20:20You had this tall, rangy defensive NLC Greenwood who was about 6'6", 6'7", and people couldn't block him.
20:32Joe Green was magical.
20:35He could have played defensive back.
20:38And
20:39Joe was obviously going to be a Hall of Famer.
20:43One guy that was as good, I thought, was Ernie Holmes.
20:48This guy was like closest thing to a John Deere tractor I've ever seen in my life.
20:54I mean, he just actually was unstoppable.
20:58Here was a football player that I think brought fear in other players.
21:02Because he had a look to him that was really, really scary.
21:05And I think he really wanted to beat people to death sometimes.
21:09Okay, within the rules of the game.
21:13Ernie Holmes wasn't even the nasty one.
21:16That would be Dwight White.
21:21I think you certainly look to his nickname, and it tells the whole story.
21:26His nickname was Mad Dog.
21:29Dwight was the consummate player who says,
21:32I'm going to go 100%, 1,000 miles an hour, every play.
21:39I'm going to make a life miserable for everybody in my way.
21:43I'm going to hit it hard, and you just make sure you get outside, because I'm hitting it like a
21:48bitch.
21:49It was my idea to just keep coming.
21:54There's constant, constant pressure.
21:56I'm going to keep pounding on you.
22:00I guess I played with a little anger, too.
22:05I'm going to be a push leader.
22:09I personalized the game.
22:11He was always, something was stimulating him to be outspoken.
22:15Sack pack is a sack of, you know what.
22:19And it made him play harder.
22:20We got a few players like that on that team.
22:23No player was more outspoken than the team's second-round pick in the 74 draft, Jack Lambert.
22:32Lambert's difficult, period, with anybody.
22:35I can't tell you that Jack and I are the best of friends.
22:38I remember he came in the locker room.
22:39It was towards the end of our rookie season, and Jack just stopped for a moment.
22:42He looked over, and he goes, hey, Swann.
22:44I look up, and he goes, yeah, Jack, what's up?
22:45He goes, you should have been number two.
22:47I should have been number one.
22:49And he just walked away.
22:51He was the type of player that had a challenge himself, his teammates, his opponents at all time
22:57to make him play better.
22:59And that's what made him who he is.
23:01That is who he is.
23:05Lambert was just one-third of a linebacking core,
23:08every bit as good as the foursome in front of it.
23:12In 75, all three started in the Pro Bowl.
23:15Lambert, Andy Russell, number 34, and Jack Hamm, number 59.
23:27In all, eight of the Steelers' 11 defensive starters made the Pro Bowl.
23:32Cornerback Mel Blunt, number 47, who led the NFL with 11 interceptions, was voted team MVP.
23:41There was a game.
23:42I remember one game.
23:43I did not have to make a tackle.
23:45I was a strong state dude running support.
23:47I didn't have to make a tackle the whole game on a running play.
23:50I think I only fell down like three times the whole day.
23:54I wanted to play football.
23:55I wanted to hit people.
23:56I wanted to be involved in plays.
23:57It was like the team was so good sometime in front of me that I was envious.
24:02Everybody wanted to make the play, but they were disciplined to realize that it's a team defense.
24:14I don't want to offend Dwight and Ernie and Joe by assuming that I don't respect their Steel Curtain name,
24:22but I think we all are the Steel Curtain.
24:31Tomorrow night, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Eastern Division champion Baltimore Colts.
24:37The Steelers didn't look like defending champions.
24:40They turned the ball over five times and trailed the Colts late in third quarter.
24:51It was really kind of an interesting phenomenon.
24:53I felt that we could be in close games, but sure enough, someone would make big plays in the fourth
25:00quarter.
25:01And it is intercepted.
25:02Picked off at the 25.
25:03Here comes Carl Blount.
25:04So the outcome would end up in our favor.
25:08And off.
25:09Gary Barock is off the right side.
25:10Second effort.
25:11Down into the bull line.
25:12He's in there for a touchdown.
25:15Right on cue, the Steelers took over the game.
25:18And right on cue, the big play sealed it.
25:22A fake by Jones.
25:23Ball knocked out of his hands.
25:25Picked up at the Steelers.
25:28Andy picked up that ball.
25:30Took off.
25:31Looked like he was going to sprint to the end zone.
25:33And the bear just got on his back.
25:35He was getting slower and slower.
25:39Sports Illustrated called it the longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed.
25:46I was on the ground when Andy got the ball.
25:50I caught Andy past him and blocked for him.
25:53The guy was running like a 39 Chrysler, you know.
25:57Bird Jones was actually blocked three times on that one play.
26:04He gets blocked.
26:06He gets up.
26:06He catches Andy.
26:07He gets blocked and knocked down again.
26:09He gets up.
26:09Goes after Andy and gets blocked a third time by the time Andy Russell gets to the end zone.
26:18Great football teams find a way to win even when they're not playing their best.
26:23That playoff game was like that.
26:27We know we can play comfort behind football.
26:29We know we can pretty much stop any team in the league.
26:32It's just a matter of now and see if we can continue to do it.
26:36The next opponent was a familiar one.
26:39For the fourth straight season, the Steelers would meet the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs.
26:43It was a rivalry already etched in NFL lore.
26:49In 72, the Steelers won.
26:55In 73, the Raiders returned the favor.
27:02In 74, the Steelers clinched their first trip to the Super Bowl on the Raiders' home field.
27:09The Raiders were a good football team.
27:11They were a darn good football team.
27:13When I look back and really think about it, they were the closest things to us.
27:17Those games were just tough games.
27:20You started getting revved up and cranked up and putting your mouthpiece in on Monday.
27:27They were our arch enemy.
27:30Lin Swan had been a target for the silver and black since the moment he donned the black and gold.
27:40They were going to take shots.
27:41We knew that.
27:43Why?
27:43I don't know.
27:45If it was something they were taught, if it was just in the mind of the players, I don't know.
27:52I don't think I was totally prepared for the headhunting.
27:56Matter of fact, I know I wasn't.
27:58I didn't think it would get to that degree or to that level.
28:01But it did.
28:04There would be one more subplot to the AFC championship game.
28:08The sub-freezing field conditions.
28:13Weather had been bitter the whole week in Pittsburgh and it snowed.
28:17They had actually put a big tarp over the field and tented it.
28:21And I guess the night before it split or something and because it split, all this moisture from the heaters
28:26underneath it had run to the side and it became an ice skating rink.
28:32Most of the ice was near the sidelines and the ever skeptical Raiders have always felt that the Steelers, intentionally
28:38or not, created an unfair home field advantage.
28:44Our game was the throw-in, the deep ball.
28:47Mel Blount, if there's one player he dreaded, it was Clifford Branch.
28:54So with that ice, we had to move those receivers in and that narrowed the field for us.
29:00I'll never forget Pete Rozelle said to me, well, it's the same for both sides.
29:05I said, damn it, Pete, you don't even understand what you're talking about.
29:09It's not the same for both sides.
29:11I don't even want to hear it.
29:12That's, that's, that's, uh, excuses, excuses.
29:17Pretty tough, huh?
29:19Pretty tough.
29:20Yeah.
29:21It's hard to keep your foot in this stuff.
29:26They threw a lot of chemicals on the field.
29:28It was about 10 degrees.
29:29The wind was about 30 miles an hour.
29:31To me, that game had as much drama as a Super Bowl.
29:35It was one of my favorite games that I was ever involved in.
29:41It was a championship game unlike any other.
29:43The NFL's two toughest teams doing battle on a sheet of ice.
29:49It was very hard to throw the ball accurately.
29:53It was very hard to hold on to the ball.
29:55Your hands were numb.
29:57You know, there was balls being dropped, being fumbled, being intercepted, being bobbled.
30:02All day.
30:04The Steelers and the Raiders scored a total of three points in the first three quarters.
30:13As predicted, Oakland's outside passing game was rendered useless.
30:19But the futility was everywhere.
30:28The two teams combined for 13 turnovers.
30:31Eight by the Steelers.
30:37The most heated rivalry in the NFL was stuck in a deep freeze.
30:49This is not going to be easy, gentlemen.
30:51This is a dogfight.
30:53Last man standing type of thing.
30:59The rivalry had escalated for four years.
31:02Now it was escalating on every play.
31:09Came across the middle for a pass.
31:10I caught the pass.
31:12Atkinson, instead of just a tackle, collared me around the head, which was legal at that time.
31:21Fumbled the football.
31:23And then I was out.
31:27I was out of the ballgame.
31:29And in the locker room.
31:31And later on, you know, in an ambulance going to the hospital.
31:38I have a picture at home where Joe Green, with his pinched nerve, gets off the bench, picked me up,
31:46and was carrying me off the field.
31:47His bad shoulder couldn't handle the weight.
31:50One leg was dangling.
31:51But he carried me off the field.
31:53And I've got that picture of Joe.
31:56I gave him a copy of the picture and signed it and said, Joe, thank you for coming out and
32:00picking me up.
32:01And Joe just looked at me and said, you know, Swanee, that's fine.
32:04But, you know, I just want you to understand.
32:05I didn't want the team to waste a time out to get you off the field.
32:24Oh, let's get there.
32:30Let's get to six.
32:30At the 25, with the snowflakes falling again.
32:33Bradshaw to Harris.
32:35Can't find the hole inside.
32:36Goes outside to the left.
32:37Breaks a tackle.
32:38He's still a 20 down the sideline.
32:39He's going to go for a Pittsburgh touchdown.
32:42Franco Harris, he gallops 25 yards into the end zone for a Pittsburgh touchdown.
32:47The first TD of the afternoon.
32:51Franco bounced a run outside.
32:54And it looked like the Raiders were going to bottle it up.
32:56And somehow Johnny Stallworth, I think he laid one or two Raiders out.
33:03Yeah, Franco scored the touchdown.
33:05But it was all because of Johnny Stallworth's effort.
33:08Johnny the great buck.
33:11Cody knows.
33:12Maybe because of Scrub 45's lack of effort.
33:18Stallworth.
33:18Oh, did he?
33:20Stallworth also made a great catch.
33:22Bradshaw is back to pass.
33:24They're coming after him.
33:25Gets away.
33:25And now he throws to the end zone.
33:26Look out.
33:27It is caught.
33:28The defensive back goes down on the turf.
33:32The catch by Johnny Stallworth.
33:35The defensive back covering on the bench.
33:37Slipped and fell.
33:39With less than a minute to play, the Raiders drew to within six.
33:44Nobody ever went to bed on a Raider game, okay?
33:47At least not in Pittsburgh.
33:49It's never in the bag with the Raiders.
33:52On the final play, Kenny Stabler looked for Cliff Branch down the icy sideline.
33:58And Mel tackled him.
34:00And I think I was sitting on my butt just going, oh, thank God.
34:03Thank God.
34:04And it was over.
34:33Let's go, Joe.
34:35Let's go, T-Badie.
34:38The pregame talk centered on the health of Lynn Swan.
34:43I did not think I was going to be able to play.
34:45I was certainly unsure.
34:47I'd never sustained a concussion of that level.
34:50You know, I was in the hospital, I think, for two or three days.
34:53Wasn't catching the ball extremely well at practice.
34:56Frankly, my confidence was a little bit low.
34:58And the doctors essentially left it up to me as to whether or not I felt like I could play
35:03the game.
35:04Later on in the week, I picked up an article.
35:07And Cliff Harris makes a comment about how physical the Dallas Cowboys are.
35:16And that ticked me off.
35:19Nobody can tell me I can't play this game.
35:22And so I took the challenge.
35:26Swan was not the only stealer who would be challenged.
35:40The Cowboys scored on a play which we had studied.
35:48And I said, geez, I think this play is going to happen.
35:50This is a formation.
35:51And I'm trying to check out of it.
35:53And it was very noisy.
35:54So I wasn't comfortable that everybody was getting the check.
35:57So being a safety, I decided to play it safe.
36:00And I just backed up.
36:03Mike Wagner's cautious decision resulted in the only first quarter touchdown allowed by the Steelers all season.
36:12And as I went to the sidelines, I just said, oh, shoot.
36:15And I said, that was the play, you know, screwed up.
36:19If they do this again, I'm not going to hesitate.
36:21I'm going to go.
36:24The most important thing to me when I stepped onto the field was to make the first catch.
36:29I had to make that catch.
36:31I don't care where the ball was.
36:33I had to catch it.
36:35And back goes Bradshaw.
36:38The fire to the near stride.
36:39And it made the intercept.
36:40Keeping cross with him.
36:42And they roll a good catch at the Dallas 16-yard line.
36:46And Swan beats it eventually back.
36:47Mark Washington on a great play.
36:49That sideline catch, I was actually looking down and I'm going, how do you do that?
36:56How do you do that?
36:58Yeah, it probably, in all rights, it shouldn't have been thrown to me.
37:01Mark Washington, number 46, excellent coverage, excellent position.
37:09Once I had that catch under my belt, I was back in the ballgame.
37:16Swan's soaring catch was a work of art.
37:18His levitating leap was a masterpiece.
37:35You plan for some things and other things you don't plan for.
37:40Mark Washington had great coverage throughout the entire afternoon.
37:44Well, I found a way to make the catchers and found a way to make the players.
37:47And we needed it.
37:49At the end of the day, we needed him to play that kind of game because the Cowboys were that
37:54good.
38:00We didn't play them very often.
38:02And they ran a different type of offense than we were customary to.
38:06The Cowboys run a lot of motion and set changes.
38:10The Cowboys, all that smoke and mirrors, okay?
38:12There's a rule that one second before the ball is snapped, everybody's got to be in place.
38:19So you can run around, do all the stuff you want to do.
38:22You can run him up in the stands.
38:23You can go get a Gatorade.
38:25But we know where you're going to end up.
38:27And we're going to be looking right at you.
38:31The Steelers had never seen an offense quite like the Cowboys.
38:35But the Cowboys had never seen a defense like the Steel Curtain.
38:39Yep.
38:48The Steelers sacked Roger Stalbach seven times and dominated the game.
39:01No one left a deeper impression on Dallas than Jack Lambert.
39:30No one's going to intimidate any of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
39:35And if you don't understand that, we're going to show you that.
39:40It can help further define what Pittsburgh Steelers football, Jack Lambert is all about.
39:46It was the right thing to do.
39:48It was the right thing to do.
39:50And I don't know what Cliff was thinking.
39:54Two mistakes.
39:55One pre-game.
39:58One during the game.
40:00Wagner did not make a second mistake.
40:03They get in this formation.
40:05They start running these motions.
40:07You know, I said, damn it, here's the play.
40:09I think they're going to run the play.
40:10And so I just started running.
40:11And sure enough, Roger didn't even look.
40:14Stalbach, cool as a cucumber, lines them up.
40:16Bringing a man in motion from wide right to left.
40:18Stalbach, double fake, drops back and throws.
40:21Down to the middle.
40:22Intercepted.
40:22Big level, Wagner.
40:23He's coming over to 15 to 10.
40:25He's down to the six-yard line.
40:28Wagner's interception helped the Steelers take their first lead.
40:33As usual, they'd save their best for last.
40:37Bradshaw's back.
40:38He wants to throw.
40:39Now he fires for the ball.
40:41And Lynn Swann going for it.
40:42Swann holds it in for a touchdown.
40:45Lynn Swann beat his fans on the ball.
40:49Swann's got a step beyond Mark Washington.
40:51He's been on him all afternoon.
40:53Swann's touchdown came at a heavy cost.
40:59I believe it was Larry Coles.
41:01Just as Terry released the ball, he stuck his helmet right in Terry's ear hole.
41:09And I see Terry down.
41:11I'm going, he's in the end zone?
41:13I'm going to run out there and see if Terry's all right.
41:20His eyes were kind of rolling around pretty good.
41:23He didn't have a clue what was going on.
41:29Bradshaw was forced to leave the game, which left the Steelers in a bind.
41:36A Dallas touchdown cut the lead to four.
41:39With backup quarterback Terry Hanratty in the game, Chuck Knoll made an unusual decision.
41:45On fourth and nine at the Dallas 41-yard line with a minute 28 left in the game,
41:51the Steelers ran the ball up the middle instead of punting,
41:54giving the ball back to the Cowboys near midfield.
41:58That's one of those situations where you say to yourself,
42:03what the heck?
42:04And then you go, oh, what the heck?
42:06This is great.
42:07You've basically just been told, I believe in you,
42:10and you guys are a game for us.
42:14You don't need any extra yards.
42:16Just go out there and do your thing.
42:18It is basically the message without it being said.
42:26With three seconds left, the Cowboys had one last chance.
42:33He threw a ball down about the goal line.
42:37And it's in my direction.
42:44And it went off my finger, and then I panicked.
42:47And I came to the ground, and I looked back, and Glenn Edwards had caught it.
42:52I go, oh, thank God.
42:53And then he starts running out of the ends, though.
42:56And I'm laying there going, what's he doing?
42:58Glenn, stop.
42:59Run abounds.
43:00Fall down.
43:02But there was nothing left to worry about, and nothing more to prove.
43:12Again, the man who didn't think he could play became the first wide receiver ever named Super Bowl MVP.
43:19Last Super Bowl, I didn't catch anything.
43:21You know, in this Super Bowl, I caught three or four.
43:23I don't know, I caught three or four catches, and hey, you know, I just left it.
43:26I had a great time.
43:27All right, what is that you're holding right there?
43:29This is the game ball for the Super Bowl.
43:33It's all mine.
43:34That back-to-back win legitimizes you as a champion.
43:41And what do you do for an encore?
43:43When are you ready for next year?
43:44Next year.
43:46Even the second championship was not going to be enough.
43:49You know, the follow-up story to this one would be, you know, what happened the next year, the next
43:54year, the next year.
43:55And this is probably what Coach Knoll wanted, is the players, they realized that if you're a tomorrow person,
44:02you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but it could bring some good things if you work hard to
44:07make tomorrow better.
44:09Tomorrow brought two more Super Bowl victories for Chuck Knoll's Steelers.
44:13The only team in history to win four Super Bowls in six seasons.
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