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Bill Cowher’s “Best” Season · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am Tim Hannon.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Steve Wirt.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, we're gonna take you back in time.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this episode, we're gonna go all the way back to the year 2000.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna sing like the cone in a in the year 2000?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: How weird is it?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: How weird is it that the year 2000 is now 20 years ago?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, remember like our whole lives, like the year 2000, like to your point, the Conan O'Brien sketch.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: That was always like the future.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's literally two decades.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: I've never like Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1980, 1990, the year 2000.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: The year 2000.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I just want my flying car.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's hard to believe.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we're gonna talk about Bill Cower.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Bill Cower, of course, is the legendary head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Cower coached the Steelers for 15 seasons, and during those 15 seasons, uh he captured eight division titles, uh, took the team to the playoffs 10 times.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: He took the team to six AFC championship games, two Super Bowls, and of course they won the Super Bowl uh in his second to last season in 2005.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, great resume, lots of success for Bell Cower.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he was asked what he thought his best coaching job was and he said, quote, if you ask me my best coaching job I ever did, I'd say it was the 2000 season.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what happened in the 2000 season, Steve?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was actually a season where they didn't they didn't win make it to the Super Bowl, they didn't make a deep playoff run.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they didn't make the playoffs, though.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: They did not make the playoffs in the year 2000.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what in the heck is Coward talking about when he says the 2000 season, the season where they didn't even make the playoffs, was his best season.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe just like the 20th century a lot.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're gonna delve into, yeah.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it was a new millennium.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Not quite.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um so until the next year.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yes, sorry.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um we're not gonna delve into that controversy.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: But uh we are gonna delve into the 2000 season and and we're gonna talk about why Coward thought it was his best season.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, it it is a really significant season and a very pivotal season in Cower's tenure as head coach.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So so let's talk about what happened before the 2000 season.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So Cower comes in, uh he's he's hired in 1992 and immediately has a ton of success.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers make it to the playoffs each each of his first six seasons, they make it to the Super Bowl in 95.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: We did an episode about that.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and then the window kind of starts to close.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um the players that he had are starting to age.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's some some big free agency departures, we'll talk about that.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in 1998, the Steelers kind of have a mediocre season, they don't make the playoffs, and then in 1999, they just have an outright disastrous season.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they lose seven of their final eight games that year to finish six and ten.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only season in the history of the Pro Bowl that the Steelers do not have a representative selected for the Pro Bowl.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, really bad team.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that happens in 1999, uh so the quarterback, the starting quarterback in this era is Cordell Stewart.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when Cordell Stewart came onto the scene, uh you know, for those of you that that maybe are too young to remember, if if you think of um Lamar Jackson in in in 2019, you know, he he came he came in and defenses had no answer for him.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was dynamic, he could run, he could he could throw, he could do everything, and and just teams had no answer for him.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: That was like what Cordell was when he first came in with the Steelers.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he took the team to the AFC title game his first year as a starter, and he could beat you any way possible, and no one had an answer for him.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then man, he just fell off a cliff.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 1998, Steve, you remember the game at Tampa Bay in 1998?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: That was Yeah, he well that added to Yeah.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean it hurt his reputation because I think if it happened once again, well tell everybody what happened.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he was on the sidelines and they were losing, and I think he got benched and and he started crying.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: And you back then, like, you know, this is football, this is like manly man men stuff.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you're gonna cry, you can't you can't do it on sideline, like go home and do it in front of your family or something, you know.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: You don't want to get caught on camera.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: And especially like maybe it lost some respect in the you know locker room and stuff.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was like how different was that when well it was different when Heinz well Heinz Ward cried because he was sad because Jerome Bettis was leaving.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a little different than than why Cour Cordell was like more poor me, you know.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this was on the sidelines.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It it definitely, you know, and they were they were they started losing after that.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, they had a terrible 99 season.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that, you know, fans definitely that was a little bit of a turning point where the fans kind of turn against him.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Had had he come back and started winning after that, I think that's probably everybody would have forgot about it.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody would have forgot about it, but because it's just like we forget about uh Terry Bradshaw's country music album.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, winning hides a lot of those things, but because they were losing, you know, so so yeah, by the by the end of the 99th season, Cordell is benched, and Mike Tomzek, who's uh at this point a journeyman, uh older veteran quarterback, he's he's the starter.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: He had been the starter before Cordell, and they make him the starter again for the end of the 99th season.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Cordell Stewart, you know, after after being this guy that you thought was going to be the future, um, his time as a steel maybe is you think it might be over.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um so a a new millennium, maybe, uh, dawns.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and I always called this the off-season from hell.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: The the in between the 99 and 2000 seasons was just the worst off-season ever.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and the and the big thing that happens, there's a rift between Bill Cower and the team's general manager, Tom Donohoe.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about who Don Tom Donoho was.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had he had been the general manager since 1991, so he was actually there before Cower.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a he was a Pittsburgh guy.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um his grandfather was actually David L.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lawrence.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't either, who was the governor of Pennsylvania and who who mayor of Pittsburgh for years.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh in the in the convention center was named after.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so um, you know, a Pittsburgh guy.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And early in his tenure, uh the NFL adopts unrestricted free agency.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is another thing that's hard to remember.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: But but before 1992, you you you really didn't have free agency.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like you kept guys as long as you wanted to keep them.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there was no salary cap, there was no you sometimes you'd have a guy hold out.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Steelers had a linebacker in the 80s named Mike Merriweather, who they had to trade because he he just was like, I'm not just not gonna play because you're not gonna pay me.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But that was really the only option that guys had was to hold out.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: There was no going to another team when your contract expired.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And they had strikes too and stuff over that.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the players eventually get free agency, which they deserved.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the NFL implements a salary cap as well.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really tough to navigate in those early years because it's new for everybody.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know quite what to do with it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And Donaho's philosophy seems to be basically to let guys go when their contract's up.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a long list of pretty significant Steel Orp players who departed during free agency under Donahue.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a very partial lips list here, but um Lewis Lips, Yancy Thigpen, Ernie Mills, Kevin Green, Chad Brown, Greg Lloyd, Carnell Lake, Rod Woodson, Merrill Hodge, Leon Searcy, Eric Green, Neil O'Donnell, Gary Anderson.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, out of all those guys, like really Chad Brown, maybe.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what Lewis did Lewis Lips do any?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even where did he go?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: So so let's talk about let's talk about that because that's the right.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Rod Woodson had one good year at corner after that, one Not even good, I would call mediocre years.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he had some very good years at safety.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but he went to San Francisco.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it took him a year to figure out it took him a year for the light bulb to go over Rod Woodson's head.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Wait a minute, I gotta play safety.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Agreed, agreed.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here's here's the rub with Donahoe.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you look at Donaho's tenure, a lot of people will say if you look at all those guys he left, almost all of them never even came close to matching the success they had in Pittsburgh.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's accurate.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Chad Brown would be the exception.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Chad Brown would be the exception.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's probably a few other guys, but but the large majority of them definitely never did as well as they did in Pittsburgh.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, on the flip side of that, you could make the argument that, okay, but what if they stayed in Pittsburgh?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you look at if you look at if you compare the 90s against the 2000s, and what the the Steelers totally reversed that course in the 2000s and they kept guys.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if in the 2000s, if the Steelers let Casey Hampton or Aaron Smith uh or Tripali, yeah.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well even not even like Hall of Fame caliber, like just the guys that were really key.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you let if you let Casey Hampton go to another team, if Casey Hampton signs a big free agent contract with the Jets, I bet you he's not as good as he was on the Steelers.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I bet he's a disappointment for whatever big money the Jets paid him.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the Steelers kept him.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that kind of happened though with key move on all offense.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: If you remember that, like he signed speaking of the Jets, that's who he signed to.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I remember.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: But but if the Steelers keep But that was his third contract.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if the Steelers keep those guys, and the Steelers did keep a lot of those guys until the end of their careers.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of those guys in the 2000s were tired of Steelers.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And and because they kept them, they played very well on the Steelers.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they went somewhere else and stunk, but what if they stayed on the Steelers?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they know the system.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: The Steelers kind of know them, know how to use them.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's kind of like the DeShea Townsend kind of quant.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like he wasn't the greatest corner at the end of his career, but they knew how to use him.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: He knew how to play the position and the role he was asking to play.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot about some of these guys in previous episodes.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Ernie Mills.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about him a lot in the Trevor Burrus.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: But he had a success, though.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean But but I'm just saying Ernie Mills isn't quite as much as Chad Brown, because he had a success with Dallas and he had a really good year with Carolina, if I remember too.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying he was he was not a star player.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was never a pro bowler, he was never a uh high-caliber receiver, but he was such another.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and we talked about in our in our um episode about the our three more yards episode, how they don't make the Super Bowl without Ernie Mills that year.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and so there's just sort of these key cogs that had you kept them, again, it's it's an argument that you really don't have an answer to.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big what-if argument.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you know that's that's kind of what happens.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: He lets a lot of guys go.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they survived that for the for the greater part of the 90s because Donaho does make some really good draft picks, and he kind of does he makes some smart under the under the radar free agent signings um to replace some of these guys.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: He also makes some smart trades, like he gets to own bettes for like nothing from the Rams.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um so Donahoe is a very smart general manager.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I would say, Steve, my my biggest knock with Donahoe was um that not only letting guys go, but refusing to ever bring them back.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if you remember the Salvation Army quote, yeah, we're not the Salvation Army.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so in 1998, you mentioned Rod Woodson went to the 49ers.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So he leaves the Steelers in '96, has a terrible year for the 49ers in 97, and then he's out on the market again in 98.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people are saying, hey, pick him back up, have him play safety.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Tom Nano says, We're not the Salvation Army.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then Woodson goes and plays for the Ravens and wins the Super Bowl.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but he you gotta remember, he got I just remember playing for the Ravens like getting burned as a corner.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: As a corner.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like for the first half of, and then finally, like I don't know if it was like Rod figured it out or like somebody finally had like a come to Jesus meeting it, you know.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like when he moved to safety, he was he made Pro Bowl, I think, at safety.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: He was a Pro Bowl safety.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he was the he, you know, I I take this this one's a little personal for me because he's my favorite stealer of all time.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I that really upset me when they said they wouldn't like run out to Salvation Army.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it was just like a like you shouldn't, these things shouldn't be personal.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like this should be business.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if he fits your football team, he fits your football team.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't, if you think he's not going to move to safety and he's not worth it, fine, then say that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, the Salvation Army thing was like like Donahue was just mad that he left and it was a personal vendetta.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that always that always rubbed me the wrong way.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, the the Steelers at this point, they haven't they haven't also the the last couple of drafts also at this point have not gone well.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at those mid-90s drafts and guys like Domain Stevens and Chad Scott, um it wasn't the best times of drafting either.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and the franchise quarterback again had had you know also.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't think they ever drafted high enough to get a quarterback.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I'm saying the the the the drafts didn't go well, and then the franchise guy, the guy that you thought was going to be the long-term franchise quarterback, now isn't isn't doing that anymore.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So just not a good time for the general manager.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Cower is feeling the heat too.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's no longer winning.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so it's like, okay, maybe you're not putting the best team around him, but he's not winning.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there's all these rumors about like infidelity in his marriage.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's ridiculous.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's as bad as the other rumors about Stuart.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: I uh it was always just yeah.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Just blowing smoke because you don't like, yeah.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, that th those were the rumors.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Cower was cheating on his wife, and Cordell was in some kind of um homosexual relationship with somebody.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it it they were vicious and they were totally unfair.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, uh Did you ever see the interview with Cower saying like after after a win he would fill up his car and get gas in his car during the day, after loss, he'd do it in the middle of the night?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was like I I can't see why Bill would want to retire after like 15 years and never come back.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That was tough.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, when you're not winning, everybody hates you.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's just the nature of sports in this town, unfortunately.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so those were the unfounded rumors.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: The rumors that were actually true were reports that the working relationship between Coward and Donahoe were no longer sustainable.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um we I don't know that we know exactly why.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Those two guys are classy and they've always refused to discuss it.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But what we do know now is that they just weren't getting along and they could, they they got to a point where they just couldn't work together anymore.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the the 1999 season ends with a home loss to the Titans on January 2nd, 2000.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Steve and I had the unfortunate um experience of attending that game together.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that was the the last game of a miserable '99 season, Steve.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you remember that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was like an unseasonably warm January 2nd day, and that was the game.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: That was the Bobby Shaw game.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I thought.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I thought.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember, yeah, I think we yeah, and yeah, we didn't even say for the whole game.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think we did.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember hearing the crowd cheering and like, I wonder what happened.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, oh yeah, Bobby Shaw opened up like a Superman because that was Tom Zach, out there, a touchdown or something at the end.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was too much.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was like the meaningless touchdown, too.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so so what happened if you don't know what we're talking about?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers had a receiver named Bobby Shaw, and he caught a touchdown pass as they were losing by like double digits, and he pulled up his jersey to reveal that he had a Superman t-shirt underneath with like the Superman crest on it.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that caught that a lot of people were upset about that.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of thought it was fun.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know our producer Dave always loved that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Bobby Shaw was his favorite player after that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of people were like, you know, this is the this is who the Steelers are now.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: A bunch of, you know, gunk players who, you know, uh celebrate, act like they're Superman when they when they're getting blown out by the Titans in a game that meant nothing to the Titans because they had already clinched their their division.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And uh even Jack Lambert cited that as one of the reasons he quit coming back to the games.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he hasn't been back to a game like he actually cited that as a reason.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, it was it was it was definitely one of those like all these young kids today kind of thing.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, uh so that was how the season ends.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And after the game, Cow's doing his post-game press conference, and he very boldly makes the statement that there will be no coaching staff changes.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like his whole coaching staff is being retained, there will be no changes.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think people saw that as like a middle finger to Mr.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Rooney, because like that's not your call.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: You don't you you know, you don't get to say like who, you know, who who's gonna stay and and that there's not gonna be any changes.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think people were kind of expecting an imminent announcement that Coward was gonna be fired.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and that that was his way of just directly counting, like, go ahead, fire me.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh instead, uh on January 12th, Rooney issues a statement saying that Coward and the coaching staff will indeed be retained.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then two days later, the team announces that Tom Donohoe has quote unquote resigned.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um here here's the quote from Art Art the Second.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Art Rooney II said, Um, we said in our discussions this isn't working, we've got to do something about it.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um both men felt it was a problem, and the only solution was was for one of them to leave, and in the end, we felt that way too.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the Rooneys agree, like, this isn't working anymore, one of you needs to go.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they choose to stick with Cower.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: If you think back and we've done other podcasts about this, with I think the Steelers 80s or yeah, I mean Dan Dan, this isn't the first time Dan's had to make this choice.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like in the in the 80s he had to make, and it was actually with his brother, he and he had to fire his one brother from scouting, you know, and it is what and he stuck with Noel.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: So he kind of does the same thing here.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: He he gets rid of the executive and Keats is the coach.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, and just I don't know, do you review Tom?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Donahue actually did have success after that and did get a Super Bowl ring with Philadelphia, if I do I do believe so.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean i i i I don't remember what I honestly don't remember what happened to Donahue after this.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: I heard he went to Buffalo for a while.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he didn't do very well in Buffalo.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: He kind of got them okay and then they fell apart.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then he went to Philadelphia and he and him and that mode because him and that Moe Drack, it was like a big Steeler scout, went to Philadelphia too at that time.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they they ended up, I think they were involved with the t the Philadelphia team that ended up winning a Super Bowl a couple years ago.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: All all I know is that at the time it was devastating because this was the guy that had, again, even though I I like I said, he rubbed me the wrong way with the Salvation Army thing.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: This was the guy that had taken the the miserable eighties era and had turned it into, you know, uh a team that that was within one Neil O'Donnell interception and winning the Super Bowl.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And he architected that team and now he's gone.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're heading into the offseason without a general manager.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you mentioned Steve the 1980s.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is what it felt like.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: It felt like we were getting into another miserable 1980s era.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so that's the first thing that happens right off the bat, they they lose their longtime GM because he the he and the head coach can't get along.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was the other thing that stunk.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like if he leaves to go to another team or if he retires, that's a different story.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: But he left because he couldn't get along with the coach.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we don't know the the ins and outs of that, but it just seemed like uh people couldn't set their ego aside or or what, right?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was just it was upsetting.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the other thing that happens, so so as bad as the Steelers were in 1999, they still had a top 12 defense.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And even that glimmer of hope evaporates on February 3rd when the New Orleans Saints hire um Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Hazlitt as their new head coach.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they so now the defensive coordinator is gone, and that was your only semi-bright spot on that terrible 99 team.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Tim Lewis is a secondary coach, he's promoted to be the new defensive coordinator, and you know, they're so that so there's a lot of consternation over the fact now the defense is is gonna fall off a cliff as well.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers head into free agency still without a general manager, um, badly needing some pieces to help them rebuild, um, needing to retain some of the talent they have.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they come out and they say publicly, and they don't steel don't do this very often, but they come out and they publicly say that their number one priority in free agency is to re-sign Orpheus Roy.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Orpheus Roy was a defensive end who um was young.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: He had just he was in his third or fourth year, he had just started coming onto the scene, he just made his way into being a starter.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was a very um solid defensive end.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the steelers saw big things for him ahead.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then they said, you know, that's our number one priority is to sign this guy who's really important to our 3 4 scheme.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, on the very first day of free agency, they lose him to the Cleveland Browns.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So not only do they lose Lose their number one free agent priority, but they lose them to a division rival.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so that looks just really, really bad.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And during this free agency uh offseason, they're they're not super active.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um they they said goodbye to some other guys that were Star Wars from the 90s.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Joel Steed, the the defensive tackle, he is released and ends up ends up retiring.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um Brendan Sai, Chris Oldham, some of these guys that were kind of role players for a couple years, they leave.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um they don't really sign anyone of note.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: They do sign Kimo Vonell, who often who you mentioned earlier, Steve.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: He ends up being a pretty good player.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um they also tender restricted free agents uh Richard Huntley.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I remember Richard Huntley.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Richard Huntley was a running back who um who who was young and who had some flashes of greatness that previous season.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a restricted free agent.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that the Steelers made the effort to keep him, a lot of people thought, oh, okay, that that probably means Jerome Bettis is finished.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because by this point, Jerome Bettis had had um two kind of down seasons, and everybody thought he had he wasn't old, but he had a lot of, you know, go back to the Indiana Jones quote and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not the years, it's the mileage.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And and Bettis had a lot of mileage on him at this point.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people think Bettis is probably finished as well.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers do hire a general manager in February, it's a guy named Kevin Colward.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we all know now that this hiring is monumental.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like it literally leads the Steelers to their fifth and sixth Super Bowls.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, so he he was the scouting director for Detroit.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at the time, though, it was like, okay, we hired a scouting director from the Lions.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like it certainly was underwhelming, and nobody was like, oh, we're going to the Super Bowl.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so they do get a GM.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: And one of one of the first challenges that Kevin Colbert has is hey, what are we going to do about the quarterback position, which of course, you know, is probably the most important position in football.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they decide they're not going to renew Mike Tomzak's contract.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's over the hill, he's done.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're not going to bring Mike Tomzak back.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then they cut the third string quarterback, Pete Gonzalez.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Pete Gonzalez was a kid from Pitt who probably wasn't good enough to be an NFL quarterback.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I I at the end of that 99th season when they were losing.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was like, why not put him in and nobody would put it was just like, yeah.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: He must have been really bad in practice or something.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: I guess.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, I was I was in that boat because uh you and I both loved Pete Gonzales at Pit.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's like, what's the point?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: If you're and why not cut him after the season then?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you're never gonna play him at the end of a like really disappointing season, then why are we paying him?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: Why are we keeping him on the roster?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, why didn't they just play him in one of those games?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I never understood that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so now the only quarterback on the roster is Cordell.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, his future with the team is also uncertain.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So so what do they do with quarterback?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they actually try to woo Danny Marino to Pittsburgh.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um Marino had recently voided his contract with the Dolphins, which which the goal there was to retire, which he eventually did retire, but he didn't come out and retire.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: He actually had his contract voided.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there was like this little opening where Marino could have potentially signed with another team.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and the Stewart's actually tried to talk him into signing with Pittsburgh.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Marino.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: 20 years too late, but uh Yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Marino said thanks, but no thanks.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I I can't I can't blame Marino at that point.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how cool would that have been to bring Dan Marino back to Pittsburgh?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look at the state of where the team was at that time, I mean, he would have been a fool to come back and play one more year for a team that was going into the into the tank.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So finally on February 28th, the Steelers go out and they sign.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Wait for it, wait for it.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Kent Graham.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Who doesn't love Kent Graham?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: He's a Hall of Famer.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Kent Graham, yeah.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Fun fun fact about Kent Graham, uh, he played for 47 different uh NFL teams, which is pretty impressive because there was only 31 NFL teams at the time.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: But he managed to play for 47 different teams.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he was the definition of journeyman, uh, never did anything.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and during this time, there were quarterbacks out there um that had these like uh what what do you want to call them?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like Twilight Year comebacks.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like remember Randall Cunningham with the Vikings.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or um Vinny Testerdi with the Jets or Steve DeBerg with the Falcons.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like there were these guys that had these even even the guy with the Falcons, uh Chris uh Chris Chandler.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, not Steve DeBerg, that's what I was thinking of.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Chandler.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Chandler.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my bad.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: But but those guys at least had some pedigree before this.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Kent Graham was never anything.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he he had been He's kind of like a Josh McNown.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, Josh McNown might have been better.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, quite honestly.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know who to compare him to.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: He just was a guy that was out there for years and years.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Who's the guy that used to back up the Dolphins in the 80s?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Don Strack?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Don Strock.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: He was like a golf pro.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:15
  unknown: Yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Kent Graham was not your answer, but that's who the Steelers signed.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Again, no one no one was excited about that.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there was speculation that in the NFL draft, you know, so they signed the veteran, but in the NFL draft, because the Steelers had a high draft pick, they were they were six and ten.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think they had a top ten pick.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh oh yeah, they had the eighth overall pick, actually.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: So there was some speculation that they would draft Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington with that pick.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but they opt for Plexico Burris instead in the draft.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't a horrible draft pick.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't horrible.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say Plexico Burris, Chad Pennington, that's probably almost the same, really.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, well, I I just think it would have been had the Steelers drafted Pennington, and they passed on Pennington because he he was still available.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think that would have made the Kent Graham signing seem a little more reasonable.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, he's just gonna keep the seat warm for the rookie.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the fact that they didn't, you know, they they actually waited until they they didn't pick up a quarterback in the draft until the fifth round.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when they take uh Tennessee quarterback T Martin in the fifth round, passing on Michigan quarterback Tom Brady.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, they weren't the only team that passed Tom Brady.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know, but I just had to mention that.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, the biggest pass was San Francisco, and they picked uh who was it?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh was it Giovanni Bernard or I think so.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Or somebody horrible.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Giovan Giovanni Corvisa, I forgot.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's some it's a guy who did nothing, did absolutely nothing.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, T.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Martin didn't exactly like the road on fire either.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: But T Martin was a fifth-round pick.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: They had like a top ten pick.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: It just hurts because the Steelers drafted a quarterback when Tom Brady was still on the board.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just hurts.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, moving on from that.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's it's a disappointing offseason.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Steelers are in rebuilding mode and they don't really do a lot.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think the the reason it was really disappointing, that that that little era of NFL football was I I think people don't remember how unique those three years were, 1999 through 2001.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: You you literally had three years in a row where the Super Bowl champion was a team, it was it was the Rams, Ravens, and Patriots.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's three teams that came out of nowhere.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Came out of nowhere, were really bad before that, and were all playing their backup quarterbacks.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: All three of those teams were starting their backup quarters.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: Trent Dilford doesn't back up anybody.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: He he did that season.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: So who was their starter?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: Tony Banks.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_02: That was Tony Vanks.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought, wow.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll talk about him actually later.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but uh uh so in that in during that time, for whatever reason, you didn't have you know, this was kind of in between like the the quarterback heavy.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: So this is like Elway, Marino, Montana, that era's over.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the Brady Manning Yeah, that hadn't happened.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: That hadn't happened yet.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: So for whatever reason, this little era, you you could you could overnight turn a team around and the and the Steelers Well, I mean, I guess two of those quarterbacks you could think, like what'd you say, Patriots, Rams, Ravens.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, besides Trent Dilfer, you have two Hall of Famers.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: He is wedged in between Kurt Warner and Tom Brady.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I would always argue that if Kurt Warner just played, if Kurt Warner played on the Steelers, Kurt Warner has four Super Bowl rings, and uh no doubt.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about them passing on Brady.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just the fact that they're not making the moves.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is a time where you can turn a team around.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, it takes a couple years to turn a team around.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, during this little era of football, it's for whatever reason very easy to turn a team around, and the Steelers just aren't making those kinds of moves.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's that's sort of the free agency draft period.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest news from the summer is that there's a massive brawl in the Steelers' locker room.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember this, yeah.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it and apparently it starts between Earl Holmes and Richard Huntley.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um there they they had some words out on the practice field, and then it kind of spills into the locker room.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And but it's not a fight between those two guys.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's literally like turns into a brawl with the whole team.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are guys swinging cares at each other, like WWE style.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if there was like turnbuckles that people were jumping off of, or if there was a steel cage.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was it was literally a brawl.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: I forget it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Holmes who said something to Hunt, like like in the locker, he said, like, come at me or something, and that was it.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: It was on.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was on, and the whole team.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just those two guys and people trying to break it up.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that took place in front of all the media.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was really embarrassing because this like this team that you rooted for your whole life, this is what they become.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're bad.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're not making any moves or signing Kent Graham to be their quarterback, and now they're all brawling with each other, throwing chairs at each other in the locker room.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's where we are in the sub in the summer of 2000.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: So offseason from hell indeed.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: And to me as a fan, I mean I it was so discouraging heading into that season.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like this this is not this is not good.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when the season begins, um things don't get any better because the season begins uh with a 16-0 loss at home against Baltimore.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so Baltimore ends up winning the Super Bowl this year, and then Baltimore ends up having a historically, historically good defense, like maybe top three NFL all-time defense.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: So losing, getting shot out by Baltimore, you look back on that as okay, they they were that good.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: But not at the time.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not at the time.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, the Ravens were this very mediocre team.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: So in four seasons of existence, they had never posted a winning record.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and their starting quarterback was Tony Banks, as we said, for this game.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: That was their opening day starter.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Kent Graham starts this game, does nothing.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Cordell is the backup.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Bacauer comes out and says, Well, we're gonna we're kind of gonna use Cordell.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're gonna Kent Graham's gonna be the quarterback, but we're gonna kind of put Cordell in in the game at opportune times.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like slash, like break tape, bring back the slot.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, like at quarterback.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: So like when he was slack, he was receiver.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: So so like in this game, they they they do have one instance where they're um inside the red zone, they're in like they're near the goal line.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: So for that series, like it's first and goal from the whatever, they bring in Cordell because what are we gonna do?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna pass it or is Cordell gonna run?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't work at all.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and so the whole offense is a joke.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: They can't, they can't, you know, they give up 16 points to Tony Banks.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: So Terry.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Tony Banks was really good in '98, Madden.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: At least when I played.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: I always use the right.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he wasn't very good in 2000 real life.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's week one.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Week two, they have a bye week.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: So so the weird thing about again, about this era of NFL players.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: He had bye weeks all over the place.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because there was only there was 31 teams.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Browns had come back in 99, the Texans were admitted into the league in 2002.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: But during those that three year strike, you had an uneven number of teams.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: You had 31 teams.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: But was this the year San Diego had a by-week week one?
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: You had to.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was like you get to play 16 games in a row.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: You had to because you you had a you had an uneven number of teams that you couldn't have an opponent for everybody every week.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the bad teams always got stuck with the you know, week one, week two, bye week.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: The stewards are one of the bad teams.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they get their bye week in week two.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um then they had to Cleveland in week three.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and this game is a little bit more.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I remember this game.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's back and forth.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a very back and forth game.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a lot of emotion.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is was this this was a game where um their punter flipped off uh.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: A future steeler.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Did he flip off the sideline, the steeler sideline?
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was a cower, okay.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: So so just yeah, good, like, you know, this was again, Cleveland had just come back into the league, and it was like, oh, this is kind of like the old Steeler Brown rivalry.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a fun game.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um late in the game, it's tied.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: The Cleveland has a ball inside their own five-yard line, uh, but Tim Kelch hits Kevin Johnson on a 79-yard bomb.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: The defensive back that Johnson beat was Scott Fields, who for some reason they gave number 47 to.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was Mel Blunt's number.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Scott Fields was terrible.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was just a terrible safety.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was a weird too.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was a weird, he was like big and like he could run fast, but like he wasn't quick.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like it seemed like it would take him like two to three steps to get up to speed.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: And as a that doesn't seem to work too well as a football player, like at least his def defense, especially on defense.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't I don't know if he ever really got into many games after that.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: He he was I remember him getting burned badly there because he ran him down.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because like I don't think that guy scored on that.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think he did run him down on that.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're right, he did.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's key.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a perfect example of like the problems with Scott Shields.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's like he can't really cover because he's not quick, but he's fast.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can catch the guy after he gets burned.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was that.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that was actually important because the defense actually buckles down and they hold the Browns to a field goal.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: So now the Steelers are down by three instead of by seven, and they mount their own kind of last-minute drive.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Graham gets them all the way to the Cleveland 10-yard line.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they have first and goal at the Cleveland 10-yard line with 30 seconds left, but they have no timeouts.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so what are you gonna do, right?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can run three plays, you have to be careful because you have no timeouts.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can run three plays with 30 seconds and then try to get the field goal unit out to send them in at overtime if you can't get into the end zone, right?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like the worst case scenario here is overtime.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what happens?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: First down, they run a draw play.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the killer there.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: You can't, you just on first down, you can't run the ball there.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: They run a draw play and it goes nowhere.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I know they were trying to catch him by surprise.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they'll never see this coming.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: That we have to throw the ball, they'll think we have to throw the ball.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Coaches sometimes outthink themselves, and this was a terrible call.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: That runs a clock all the way down to 14 seconds.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they lose half their time running that play.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh second down, Graham has to spike the ball to stop the clock.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then third down, okay, now with 14 seconds left, you're at like the nine-yard line, just throw it in the end zone.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't see anybody, throw it away, and we'll get the field wheel unit out there.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do, don't take a sack.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Kent Graham takes a sack.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: He was kind of big and slow and Ofish.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was big and slow and oh fish, but you can't take a sack there.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and so now like the field wheel unit runs on as fast as they can to try to line up, but time runs out.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Time literally runs out as they're trying to line up for the field goal.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember that.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it it was it was the the single I if I had to pick a time in all my years as a Steel War fan when I was just done.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't want to be a Steeler fan anymore.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was after that game.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was so disgusted.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I said at the time, this is this is my quote that I wrote down.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: I went and unearthed it.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sick of the Steelers finding the most unheard of ways to lose games.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we go on 16 just so we can draft Drew Brees, who was at Purdue at the time.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the the other thing about that game, Steve, was um that was the weekend that Pitt beat Penn State 12 to nothing at Penn River Stadium.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was on such a high that day.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because Pitt beat Penn State, that was such a big deal.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think if Cleveland would have won that game 32 to nothing, I wouldn't have cared.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the Steelers, like, they play they played this close game, and then they have it where all they have to do is kick the hip shock field would ascend in overtime and they can't even get a field goal attempted.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was such an embarrassing, horrible way to lose a game.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um at this point, the Steelers have lost nine out of their previous ten games dating back to the previous year.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, the future could not look more bleak.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can start to climb out.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens the next game is really uh where things start to turn.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: So in week four, they're playing at home against the Titans.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tennessee is the defending AFC champions.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and in 2000, they actually go on to post elite's best overall record.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So the Titans are a powerhouse team.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um that's gonna be obviously a game where the way the Steelers are playing, they're gonna have no chance.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: But they do catch a break because um Steve McNair, the Titans quarterback, um the the the in their previous game in Kansas City, he had taken just a vicious hit uh that severely bruised his sternum and actually put him in the hospital.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: And from his hospital bed, McNair actually tells Jeff Fisher, the Titans coach, that he's done with football.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm just done, I'm not playing anymore.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where Steve McNair is before this game.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's in a hospital bed telling his coach that he's retiring because he can't do this anymore.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that game in Pittsburgh, he does rejoin the team, um, but he's in no condition to play.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the Titans start a guy named Neil O'Donnell, who we all know and don't love so much.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and the Steelers actually play really well.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: The defense is very sharp and very physical.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they create multiple turnovers.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cad Scott had two interceptions in that game.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you I don't know if there's ever been a game where Chad Scott had multiple interceptions or even one interception, but he had two in this game.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the Steelers actually hold a 26 20 to 16 lead with two minutes left.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it looks like they're they're actually gonna pull off this huge upset, even though you know the backup quarterback, but it's still a pretty big upset.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jason Gilden makes the mistake of this is probably yeah, the worst sack you could ever Yeah, he sacks Neil O'Donnell, but he hits him so hard that O'Donnell's unable to continue in the game.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so um Fisher looks at McNair and he says McNair winks at him.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: And McNair goes into the game with his Bruce Durnham, was in his hospital bed, drives the Titans 70 yards in 35 seconds for the game-winning touchdown, and and beats the Steelers.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um it it's a tough loss, and the team's now 0-3.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: But they you know, they show a lot of guts versus the best team in the NFL, and maybe it's something they can build off of.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I was at that game, Steve, and and the two biggest memories I have number one was it's like I wanted to stand up and like slow clap for McNair.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like, oh my god, this guy was just amazing.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: The way he just came in and just was that that was they had uh Waicheck or who was the who was their uh tight end?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: They had that tight end.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: That was Waitcheck.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they couldn't stop him either.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and so that was that was, you know, I mean Steve McNair just used to kill us all the time, but I always respected him so much.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing I remember is that I I that day I had so I went to the Steeler game.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: I also had tickets to a Penguins preseason game that started like right after that.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking, I was I was like planning out my day, I I actually thought I don't want to miss the opening face-off of the Penguins pre-season game.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I thought I was I said I'm probably just gonna leave the Steel War game early so I can make the the pre like that's where I was as a Steel War fan.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just was so apathetic at that point.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so that game was important because it it kind of showed like maybe the Steelers, maybe these guys do care.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because in the Cleveland it didn't seem like they cared much about, you know, football or winning or, you know, like uh doing anything right.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh what happens next is actually very remarkable.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers, who are 0-3, go on a five-game winning streak that no one saw coming.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they knocked the first win of the season in Jacksonville in week five.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: They'd never won in Jacksonville before.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that happens in the Tennessee game at the very end, not only does Neil O'Donnell get hurt, but Kent Graham gets hurt for the Steelers.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so Cordell actually starts that Jacksonville game and he plays pretty well.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the next week they go to New York to face the Jets, who at the time were undefeated.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: And they beat the Jets 20 to 3.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: And Bettis, who again, like we said before the season, a lot of people thought he was done.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: He has a huge day.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of like defense, strong defense, strong running game formula with Cower had had so much success in the 90s with, is starting to return.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the next two games, the defense actually pitches back to back shutouts against Cincinnati and Cleveland.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now those teams weren't weren't great that year, Cincinnati and Cleveland, although Cleveland had already beaten us, obviously.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the offense really isn't lighting the rod on fire either.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um the Bengals game, they actually set a team record by having to punt twelve times.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: But when you when the defense doesn't allow any points at all.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: you know, you have a pretty good shot at winning.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh Graham and Stewart are kind of going back and forth in the lineup.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um but again the defense is playing well.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bettis is starting to turn up yards on the ground.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: And with and with those two shutouts, the Steelers are now over 500.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that sets up a huge week nine showdown at Baltimore.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um by this time it's it's really starting to become clear that the Ravens do have something special going on.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Their defense is already starting to show signs that yeah, you know, like we said historically good defense.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and this game also kind of kicks off that low-scoring Steelers Ravens era.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you knew you knew for the next 15 years that whenever the Steelers and Ravens played each other, it was going to be a very low scoring game.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the only touchdown of the game is is scored by Heinz Ward on a 45 yard uh touchdown reception from from Stewart.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Heinz Ward, that's another guy that we should talk about because Heinz Ward's in his third year at this point.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: They kept trying to get rid of him.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and and in 99 he had had he had shown some flashes like hey this guy's pretty good.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well they kept they draft did they was this the year they drafted Troy Edwards.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: So in 99 their first round pick in 99 was Troy Edwards a receiver.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in and we already mentioned in 2000 their first round pick was Plex.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: So with two first round receivers they started those guys by default and they demoted Heinz to be the third receiver.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Heinz Ward who thrives on being disrespected whether that's you know real or or in his head disrespected he took that very personally and he this this season this 2000 season really becomes sort of his breakout year and he scores the only touchdown of this game.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers hang on for a nine to six victory again like we said low scoring Baltimore Pittsburgh game.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I think my favorite thing about this win was um so so going back to week one when the Ravens shut out the Steelers uh Shannon Sharp who was the the very opinionated tight end for the Ravens uh expresses his pity for the Steelers.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: His quote is that the Steelers have some real problems and a lot of internal internal turmoil which you know of all the things Shannon Sharp has said over the years I mean that one was kind of accurate at the time but eight weeks later when the Steelers beat Baltimore and and also at this time they passed them in the standings um Cower said quote tell Shannon Sharp I appreciate his concern but we're fine over here.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I loved that I loved how Cower took a moment to to just jab Shannon Sharp um in the U I think that was the last time the Baltimore lost that year too I think very well maybe.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah I I don't know if that's right.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Baltimore um only lost three or four games that year and so yeah you might be right about that.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers are now five and three and actually maybe have a chance to contend for something.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: But then like reality kind of comes back and hits them.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: So week 10 they have a rematch against the Titans in Tennessee I we already said the Titans end up with the league's best record that year.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the Steelers have a 7-6 lead in the final minute of the game.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: So like they're they're potentially going to beat the Titans in Tennessee and and move into first place.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: But McNair again leads the Titans on a last minute drive and they win nine to seven on a walk off field goal.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a tough loss.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: I there was a play on that drive where the Titans had fourth and I want to say fourth and eight and um if the Steelers could have stopped them there that would have been the end of the game.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the Steelers are one play away from winning that game.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: The next week they come home to play Philadelphia and suffer one of the most brutal losses that that I've ever been a part of I was at that game.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's one of those games that we lost that a lot of people won't remember but it it was pretty brutal.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the Steelers have a 10 point lead with three minutes left and the Eagles are out of timeouts which you know you think that's that's pretty much a four fire victory.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: McNabb Donovan McNabb was a quarterback for the Eagles he drives them for a touchdown.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Eagles then recover an onside kick.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: There was some controversy over that onside kick because Heinz Ward uh was interfered with the NFL actually admits later that they botched it like they should have called kick interference and Heinz Ward that should have been a penalty but regardless they recover the onside kick they tie the game with a field goal they win the game and overtime with a field goal and the Achilles Hill for the Steelers this season is like their inability to basically perform in the clutch you know they they they they just didn't know how to win these close tight last minute games and the defense had been so good you know they they shut teams out they had held teams to only field goals but they collapsed in this game when when the team needed them the most they had a 10-point lead and they just needed the defense to hold and they couldn't do it.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that hurt then week 12 is also at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars and that game's ugly Fred Taylor the running back for the Jaguars wrecks up 234 yards and a blowout win against the Steelers.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: So now the defense is really starting to show cracks uh the Steelers after winning five in a row have now lost three in a row uh so a very streaky team you know so lose three to start the season win five lose three again and now as a fan you're you're kind of not sure what to think you know was that win streak an aberration um is this team really not just not that good after all did they just have a couple good games um so so the following week they they go to Cincinnati and they they write the ship there.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: Cordell Stewart's essentially back as a starter at this point which uh kind of unofficially ends the the Kent Graham era mercifully and and Cordell has three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in this game.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers actually score a lot of points so um that's good.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: The defense is still a little chicky especially against the run.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: That seems to be their weakness this season but they but they come out with a win against Cincinnati and at this point they're six and six and they're they're competing for a wild card.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: They they have a shot at a wild card in the AFC and their next game is a really big one it's at home against the Oakland Raiders.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: So one thing I didn't mention this this 2000 season was the final uh season for three river stadium uh they they had they were building Heinz Field next door and this was going to be the the the end for three river stadium so there's a lot of um hoopla over that the final season of three rivers and uh this game is the penultimate game at Three River Stadium and it's against the Raiders and there's obviously a lot of history there the Immaculate Reception will happen at Three River Stadium against the Raiders you know all those games in the 70s.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this this is a big deal also it's a big deal because Oakland is 10 and 2 coming into this game.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's at the time the best record in football so um you know a lot of history three River Stadium and and you're playing the best game in football and the Steelers are still in the thick of the wild card race.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: So in this game uh Cordell actually gets hurt in the first half and Kent Graham comes in and plays like Kent Graham his his first play he throws a pick six to Eric Allen um the Steelers are struggling they're they're losing 17 to seven at halftime and on the first possession of the second half Stewart actually comes back into the game and this is I I think this was a watershed moment in his career because when he came back into that game and I I was at this game too he got a huge ovation from the crowd.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: That would have been unheard of months even just a month or two earlier.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about all the rumors and all the he was crying on the sidelines and he when he came back into this game everybody just stood up and cheered and he starts leading them back.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: He makes all these great plays uh there there was there was a a play where they had a second and 16 deep in their own territory and a guy from the Raiders hit him from behind and he fumbled and he actually picks up the ball and runs 17 yards for the first down that was that was just an amazing play.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh there's another great play where Mark Bruner tight ends yeah that's yeah I remember that one.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah he he catches like a short pass in the flat near the goal line and he literally just drags a guy for the Raiders into the end zone.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: I remember Myron Coke called it the Mark Brunner rodeo but yeah it was just like the one of those great effort plays and the Mark Brunner was always a fan favorite.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_02: He was he caught it and he was kind of like at the three and the guy jumped on his back and it was just like he kind of started pushing him back but then Brunner like goes forward and just ends up in the end zone.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like what the heck I I took I took a camera with me that day to Three River Stadium because again it was like the end of the stadium and I wanted to capture some stuff and I actually filmed that play from my seat.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'll post it on our website so I could have the view of that play from my seat at Three River Stadium.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: Was that in your end zone?
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: No it was in the office and it's a little grainy because this was before the days of like cell phone cameras and all those things.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well you might have been a better shot because I remember in your seats like people like complain about three rivers for baseball.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: I thought three rivers was way worse for football sometimes like because I remember you couldn't see the corner of your corner of the one end zone from your seats.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because you were like in those the red seats we were in we were in left yeah like them red seat the red seats that were under the roof.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah it was it was not it was in a it wasn't really a good stadium for any sport.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's the classic case of like when you try to like split the difference you make nobody happy.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah Heinz Field is you're a lot closer to the field um but at the time that's all we knew and we loved Three River Stadium.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this was a great you know um uh again a great way to sort of bring in the ending to that stadium so uh that game's going back and forth it's starting to get ugly uh Regan Upshaw of the Raiders he actually spits in punter Josh Miller's face so it's turning into one of those ugly like old timey Steel or Raiders matchups and it comes down to at the end of the game the Steelers are up 21 to 20.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: I remember this I remember this yes but the Raiders have time for one final drive.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they get to about midfield and their their their um their kicker is Sebastian Janikowski who's a who's a rookie kicker who has a very strong leg.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if they can just get maybe like 10 more yards it'd be a long field goal but Janikowski had that kind of range.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the the quarterback for the Raiders is Rich Gannon and he throws an incomplete incomplete pass on what the entire Oakland team believes is third down.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so they they marked Danikowski out to attempt the the you know the game winning field goal the long game winning field goal is going to be like 50 something yards um but the CRs say no no no that wasn't third down that was fourth down and you're out of downs and the referees all huddle and they they agree with the CRs that no that was fourth down the game's over.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_02: No it really was fourth down.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: It really was fourth down I can't remember the sequence but I remember it definitely was because I remember when fourth down happened I said well that's the game and then it was like they're coming out like what?
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was like they're gonna give them like two fourth fifth downs like what what is this Colorado Missouri?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: Come on and I think I don't remember what happened.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if the sticks said third down or if the scoreboard said third down.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: There were there was some reason that the Raiders believed it was third down but it it was fourth down you're right.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: It was if you go back and replay it they got it really was they got it right and like but the Raiders like you said did I I remember because like I remember people thought well maybe they were just trying to pull a fast one they just figured oh let's run out there and see if they'll just let us do it you know no they they like John Gruden the the Raiders coach he's on the field he's furious Rich Gannon I remember he's walking up holding up three fingers like it's third down and the refs are telling him no the game's over uh man so so not only do they beat the best team in football but what a great you know I it's unfortunate that that was only the second to last game at the River State Yeah that really would have been a great way to send it out because because you you have you know what a fitting in to beat the Raiders in a big game that was embroiled in controversy right just like the Immaculate Reception, just like all those other other games in the 70s.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: So so that was a an amazing win and now people are really starting to believe hey you know maybe this team has a chance to actually make the playoffs and and maybe even make some noise in the playoffs.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: The unfortunate thing about that year was the season the schedule was just brutal.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: So so after playing the 10 and 2 Raiders now they have to go to New York to take on the team that ultimately represents the NFC in the Super Bowl that season it's the New York Giants uh and the the Steelers just aren't up to the task for that game and the Giants beat them 30 to 10 and that really throws a wrench in their playoff hopes.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: They do come back home the next week for one final game at Three River Stadium.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: The opponent is the Washington Redskins as they were called at the time uh and they're not very good.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: Washington was a team that year who um who had a lot of hype like they did so many other years they'd signed like big free agents.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_02: Was that the Bruce Smith Deion Sanders all those yeah like they hired they they signed like people like like not if five not even five years past their prime I mean woo.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and then they proceeded to not be very good.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers win that game easily 24-3 uh Bettis has a big game he has 104 yards and I remember at one point um he he hugged Franco Harris on the sidelines because they had all the old time Steelers there.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: That was kind of cool seeing those two.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think Hank Botit had a punt return for a touchdown in that game.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're right Hank Bouteet from Pitt had a return a punt for a touchdown and uh br Richard Huntley I think did score one of the final touchdowns I think it was the final touchdown at Three River Stadium Yeah and if you and if you watch that play that's the only thing memorable about Richard Huntley beside he fumbled a lot.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah if you watch that play it it it's you can you can pinpoint the the moment that the the Redskins players all gave up on the season because they they barely try to tackle Huntley like he gets he he he catches a swing pass and he runs down the sideline and he makes some good moves but he's he's stopped at the 10 yard line like they have him stopped at the 10 yard line and these guys just kind of like fall off of him and he runs the rest of the way into the end zone.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's it's the worst tackling ever.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Redskins had completely given up on the season uh and and so that closes out three river stadium um I I I I remember being there for that game too and uh they they had like a post-game ceremony it was a little disorganized it was a it was December it was like a rainy December day which is like an ugly grave yeah well that's three or that was that's Pittsburgh it's a classic three river stadium game yeah and they had this they had this like I said kind of disorganized um ceremony after the game but the last thing that they did is they played the um the Guy Lombardo version of Old Lang Zion.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: That was the last thing that happened before before they closed like they turned off the lights and everybody left.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_02: And that that version of Old Lang Zion it's kind of a uh I don't know how to describe it like a it's more melancholy uh yeah that's a good word for it like a melancholy version of old language and that was that was kind of sad like that was that was a very they used to play it at the end uh on New Year's Eve right before the you know as the old year went out New Year came in.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess at the old like you know Biltmore or whatever hotel or you know whatever hotel was up in New York.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's so that's the way Three Rivers closes out it's very bittersweet um and and you knew that was the last game because even if the Steelers would have made the playoffs they weren't going to have a home game.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it was kind of nice to have that finality rather than like having to be a playoff game.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: So so now the Steelers are eight and seven their final game of the season is at San Diego and at this point heading into the last game of the season they're they're battling two teams for the sixth and final playoff spot it's the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Jets.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: And what what they have to have happen in order to make the playoffs is they have to beat San Diego and they have to have both Indianapolis and New York lose.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Colts are playing the Vikings the Jets are playing the Ravens.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: I remember I remember who plays quarter do you have who plays quarterback?
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: Who's coming so so um the uh the the the again the Steelers are going out to San Diego.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Chargers were were one in 14.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_00: Chargers are the worst team in the league that year uh so the Steelers are are easily able to take care of business they they beat the Chargers 34 to 21 the the Jets are beaten by the Ravens because again the Ravens are on their way to the Super Bowl and they steamroll over the Jets.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_00: So now this the Steelers need Minnesota to beat the Colts.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately Minnesota had already clinched the NFC Central division they had their playoff spot locked up they had nothing to play for so they decide to trot out backup players they decide to trot out their backup quarterback and their backup quarterback is well two times Super Bowl winner Bobby Brister.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Bubster it's the bubster the Steelers need the bobster to outplay Peyton Manning in order to uh make the playoffs and of course that doesn't happen uh the Colts win and the Colts claim the final playoff spot in the AFC and you know really I mean you can blame Bubby but really in the end you know you you can't you you can't have two three-game losing streaks in the same season and and expect to overcome that right I mean it would have been very fortunate they finished nine and seven but but they would have had to have a lot of luck to get into the playoffs and it just doesn't happen.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a season of you can look at it a couple different ways right it it is a season of missed opportunities.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_00: If if Kent Graham doesn't take that seg in Cleveland the Steelers are in the playoffs.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: If Philadelphia doesn't recover the onside kick the Steelers in the playoffs.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: If if the defense stops McNair on fourth and eight in Tennessee the Steelers are in the playoffs.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_00: All they had to do is win one of those games that they lost on one play literally one play.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_00: If any of those plays go differently they're in the playoffs.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you know if they make the playoffs who knows what happens but what I do know that happened is that the AFC championship game that year ends up being Baltimore versus Oakland and those are two teams that the Steelers had beaten.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know those those two teams didn't lose a lot of games that year.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think they lost a combined seven or eight games I think was Tennessee the top seed that year they were the top seed.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah but Baltimore Baltimore went to Tennessee and TC beat them yeah so yeah it was Baltimore versus Oakland in the championship did a game everybody complained about I remember everybody complained about that game.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yes because there was like no offense.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right but that's that's that was the championship game and those the Steelers had beaten both those teams.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not saying that they beat those teams again in the playoffs or that they're able to beat a Tennessee in the playoffs or even whoever they played in the wild card round but you know they they they could they could have made some noise who knows um but so so again you could look at it as missed opportunities but really I mean that season was all about making gold out of a a a turd sandwich.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it was just a bad situation going into that season.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_00: So so here was here was the Cower quote that kind of inspired me to to do this episode.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and when Cower made this quote it was during the it was at the end of the 2019 season and they were talking to Cower about Mike Tomlin.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: They were getting his take because in 2019 Mike Tomlin was was handed the the the unfortunate you know um he was dealt some bad cards with Ben Rothelsberger getting hurt having to start Doc Hodges and Mason Rudolph and you know they were asking Cower about that and he was saying well you know he was reflecting on his own time as coach and here was his quote about the 2000 season quote that was a huge huge year.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Rooneys had just committed themselves they said we're sticking with you to turn that thing around I thought it was actually truthfully one of my best coaching jobs.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know it didn't result in a playoff win let alone the playoffs and when I talk about Mike Tomlin I think about you know what was my moment and that was it for me.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you asked me the best coaching job I ever did I'd say it was the 2000 season.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's what Cower said and you know what I mean you gotta say he's right.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: They this offseason from hell they had this huge divorce big public messy divorce between coach and GM they had an 0-3 start they had uh basically no quarterback they had no quarterback I mean to to take that and turn it into a season where you know you were you were one Bubby Brewster start away from making the playoffs it was pretty remarkable.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well they had in internal turmoil too I mean you know fights in a locker room yeah yeah yeah yeah things were going real real bad um and so it's a great comeback story for for not only for Coward but you know Bettis and and then Cordell Stewart.
• 1:05:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean Cordell Stewart was done and then he comes back to be the starter after this uh and and the next season the Steelers go 13 and 3 and Cordell actually finishes fourth in the league MVP voting that next year.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he was not the starter he was done he was finished and he goes from that to to finishing fourth in the MVP voting.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Steelers lose the AFC championship game that next year to New England but they do continue to rebuild and then of course you know Coward finally does capture that elusive Super Bowl title four years later.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you know again we we do a lot of what ifs on this on this uh show because we're talking about these these moments in Pittsburgh sports history but this was a really pivotal year.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean the Steelers made a choice they said we're gonna stick with Bill Cower.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_00: Even though Tom Dono had built this team as the general manager, we're going to stick with this coach.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so so what happens if you know so they start 0-3.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if they finish 2-14?
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if they just keep losing?
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I know I know the Rooney stick with coaches a long time, but at that point there's a lot of the fans are going to be saying, well you've made the wrong choice.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_00: And even when they were 0-3 and swinging chairs at each other in the locker room, a lot of the fans were saying you made the wrong choice.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_00: And would they have stuck with Cower?
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_00: Would Cower have been there in 2005 to win the Super Bowl?
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean this is a big deal that he turned this around.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you know the the he he took that team and the players you know as well obviously deserve a ton of the credit.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_00: That was a franchise on the brink of total collapse and they made it competitive again.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_00: So when Bill Cower calls this his best season I I think it makes a lot of sense and I think you know if he if he again if he has a bad season if he gets fired the year or two after that Bill Cower's not in the Hall of Fame.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bill Cower's not a legendary head coach.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_00: Bill Cower's maybe like a Ron Rivera, like a guy that had some good seasons, maybe even made a Super Bowl, but no one's putting him in the upper echelon of you know Hall of Fame coaches.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_00: So so I you just wonder what happens if if he doesn't turn this around.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely like yeah when you think of it like that and then the people they brought in they brought in Colbert who like really over the next four or five years has like really good draft and even free agents because he brings in Deuce Staley and you know just you know really drafts Troy Paul Malu, Ben Rothelsberger like I mean it's you know he really sets the table there.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you know Mr.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_02: Rooney obviously as he did a lot for you know when he was running the team made a lot of right decisions.
• 1:07:57
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I I always knew I knew though at the end of that year I thought the Steelers were going to be good the next year because I thought this team is better than they looked and just they had some flaws still and definitely they couldn't they didn't find their quarterback until you know years later because that was definitely you know a a a you know a blind spot.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know they don't or you know missing piece was still Ben Rothelsberger really.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's what finally put him over the top.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was and and I I think it was I want to say it was Peter King from Sports Illustrated used to always say if you if you want to try to predict who the like come out of nowhere team's going to be look at the eight and eights nine and sevens that finished strong the year before.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the teams that won their last five or six games.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know I think I think even even uh the San Francisco 49ers last year in 2019 they made it to the Super Bowl and I think they were one of those teams that like finished strong the previous year.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_00: I it just if if if if you yeah if you're in that sort of middle tier but you're building and that's what the Steelers did.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_00: They they won 13 games the next season.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and they had an easier I think they had an easier schedule in 2001 than they did you know that that other year.
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know Baltimore kind of came back to the pack you know Baltimore didn't really have a quarterback either and you know Cleveland still was Cleveland and Cincinnati for them to to go from you know two losing seasons and then an 0 and three to AFC championship game the next year it was just it was a it was a pretty monumental turnaround.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: And and again no one really saw that coming and it didn't seem like they were making the moves or doing the things to do it but but the but Cower really turned it around and he got the most out of his players.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_00: He he resurrected you know helped help guys resurrect their careers so I I just it's it's it's a season that a lot of people won't remember but I think it's it's worth it's worth remembering because again what happens if if he doesn't if he's not able to turn that around.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it was the last season at Three River Stadium too so it's it was yeah it was any other thoughts Steve?
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_02: No I I enjoy I I I kind of forgot for a minute about that fourth down play against the Raiders but that was always a fun one because it was it's always fun to yell at John Gurdon so it was it was and it was great that it happened at Three Rivers.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was again a a nice way to close out that stadium with those two wins.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well everybody thank you so much for listening our website is Pittsburghsportsmemories dot weebly dot com or on Twitter and Facebook as well and uh if you like what you hear please leave us a review.
• 1:10:46
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• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks everybody and we'll see you next time.