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ARTICLE
1976 AFC Divisional
Playoff Another in a series of stories about
the 47 playoff games in Steelers history. Colts get steamrolled by surging
Steelers By BOB
LABRIOLA Steelers.com This time, there was not a
discouraging word. This time, in the weeks immediately after the Pittsburgh
Steelers won the Super Bowl, there was no feeling that the outcome had been a
fluke. That they had snuck up on the competition. That the best team hadn't won.
Not even in It was early in 1976, and the
National Football When it began back in 1972 with the
Immaculate Reception, there was a quaint, quirky quality to the way the Steelers
were going about their business; the whole loveable-loser-makes-good motif had
charmed many an observer. But the rest of the NFL had come to see these Steelers
as anything but charming following the back-to-back championships they had won,
and the manner in which they had won them. The Steelers were the best and most
physically punishing team in professional football, and those competitors who
didn't fear them hated them. "When you win, they don't like you.
When they beat your butt, you're one of the good ol' boys down the block," said
Noll on Feb. 12. "We play hard, clean football. Some people think that any time
you hit hard, it's dirty. That's not so." By the time NFL teams reported to
their training camps to begin preparing for the 1976 season, the Steelers had
suffered through some of the inevitable trappings that come to two-time
champions, but they had stayed the same in some significant ways, and they
seemed to be united in the goal to make history as the first team to win three
straight Super Bowls. As usual with teams in this
situation, there were some issues with players, some of those amusing. Terry
Bradshaw married figure skater Jo Jo Starbuck, a pairing that was the Eva
Longoria-Tony Parker of its time: lots of photos of one lovingly watching the
other compete. He also was in talks to star in a 13-week television series while
he was on tour as a country & western singer. "I'd like to turn to my
singing career when the time is right and when I can make enough at it to
support my ranch the way I am now," is what Bradshaw said then. He laughs about
that now. Joe Gilliam had gone from being the
team's starter when 1974 began to a player who was unreliable, prone to
unexcused absences and dogged by a persistent suspicion of drug abuse.
And But when asked why the cover of the
team's 1977 Media Guide bore n All in all, though, it was a rather
tame offseason, and the only thing especially noteworthy to come out of a
training camp and preseason in which the Steelers went 5-2 was that Noll decided
to keep only two quarterbacks -- Bradshaw and rookie Mike Kruczek -- on the
roster for the first time since he was hired here in 1969. The opener was set up to attract
maximum attention to the NFL at the start of the season – Steelers at Raiders –
and everybody in the league office admitted as much. And what a game. The
Steelers build a big lead, but the Raiders came back with 24 points in the
fourth quarter t To a man, the Steelers didn't seem
to be damaged mentally following this loss, but it did turn out to be the start
of one of the strangest five-week period in team history. The Steelers returned home and
handled The next weekend after a 17-6 loss
to the Vikings in Then the Steelers unquestionably hit
bottom the following weekend, when they lost a game and their starting
quarterback in The man running it was Noll, and
that he was able to right this ship without the slightest hint at mutiny was an
amazing feat of coaching on the professional level. Left with a rookie at
quarterback, Noll turned to his defense and running attack to stabilize the
team, and the players were up to the challenge. After the loss in
On the other side of the football,
the running attack was just as scary. It was 201 rushing yards against
When their nemesis, the Raiders,
defeated the Bengals in the penultimate game of the season, the Steelers got
into the playoffs where they would face the skeptical Baltimore Colts in the AFC
Divisional Playoffs. "Look who they've played. Except for
The Colts would be at home for this
playoff, and they came into it with the league's No. 1 offense, and with a
defense that had posted 56 sacks and 36 takeaways in 14 games. Still, it was no
contest. On the third play of the game, a
third-and-8 from their own 24-yard line, the Steelers came out with a
three-receiver, two-back set that forced the Colts to use safety Jackie Wallace
in single coverage on Frank Lewis. Bradshaw threw a perfect pass, and it was 6-0
after Roy Gerela missed the extra point. "We may have lulled them a bit," said
Noll. "They've seen us do nothing but run the ball. This was a new experience
for them." And it got worse for the Colts. On
the next series, Mike Wagner intercepted Bert Jones, and Gerela kicked a 45-yard
field goal for a 9-0 lead. The Colts came back to score a touchdown to close to
9-7, but then Theo Bell returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards, Reggie Harrison
scored from the 1-yard line six plays later, and it was
16-7. After a three-and-out by the Colts,
the Steelers drove to the 2-yard line, when The final was 40-14, and the
Steelers offense converted 90 percent on third down and rolled up 526 net yards,
while their defense sacked Jones five times and intercepted him twice. Harris
had 132 yards on 18 carries before leaving the game in the third quarter;
"It was one of those games where I
knew I really needed a good one," said Bradshaw, who finished 14-of-18 for 264
yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 158.3. "I told myself to
forget about everything that has happened this year. I had to convince myself
that I'm gonna get hurt once in a while and not worry about it. I had to go out
there and just let my physical ability go to work. Right off the bat I felt real
good." Yessir, feeling real good, until
they peeked into the training room and saw the medical staff working on Franco
Harris' ribs, Rocky Bleier's toe and
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