The recent long overdue selection of Jerome Bettis to the NFL Hall of Fame brought me back to an old question? Why isn’t L.C. Greenwood in the Hall of Fame?
I’m not overlooking the fact that the Hall voters finally selected a player that should have been an automatic after his five years of retirement was up in Bettis. We all know that he deserves to be in the Hall. He earned the right as one of the greatest power backs in NFL history. But he suffered from the same problem that Greenwood suffered. The Hall voters are reluctant to vote in a Steeler because there’s so many already in the Hall. I would think that would be expected because of the fact the Steelers have more Super Bowl trophies (six) than any other team and they have been to the big dance (along with the Dallas Cowboys) more than any other team, eight times. So it stands to reason they should have more players selected to the Hall of Fame.
During the 1970s the Steelers put together the greatest defensive team in the history of the NFL, led by Mean Joe Greene, the greatest defensive player ever to played the game. And that team has several Hall of Famers; Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount and of course Joe Greene. But the second greatest player on that unit was not Jack Lambert, not Jack Ham, not Mel Blount, not Andy Russell. It was L.C. Greenwood.
Many of the things Greene was able to do he couldn’t have without the great L.C. next to him. They formed half of the greatest defensive line ever. The other two members of the Steel Curtain were Dwight White and Ernie Holmes.
L.C. is another Steeler who should have been voted in as soon as he was eligible which was five years after his retirement. But there were so many Steelers being voted into the Hall at that time voters were reluctant to vote another in. There are almost as many Steelers from the ’70s in the Hall as all the other eras combined. And after several years pass they could not admit they had made a terrible mistake and vote him in so a bunch of inferior, less deserving players kept being voted in and now years later he’s still not in the Hall. He has since died but there will be no justice until he’s voted in, even though he will never enjoy it.
Offensive players from that era in the Hall are: Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster. Players coming later were Rod Woodson, Dermonti Dawson, and Bettis. The players that came before are: John Henry Johnson, Bobby Layne. Maybe the voters will wise up and select him as one of the old timers. Such as Jack Butler, Ernie Stautner, Walt Kiesling, Bill Dudley, John McNally, Bert Bell. Non players in the Hall are: Art Rooney, Dan Rooney, and Chuck Noll. So hopefully L. C. will be selected as an old timer so that the NFL can make up for this tragic oversight.
There’s been much talk about “why isn’t Terry Bradshaw mentioned in the same breath as Joe Montana and Tom Brady when it comes to the greatest quarterbacks who have won multiple Super Bowls. Mostly because the first two Super Bowl rings the Steelers earned were primarily because of the Defense, which I mentioned in the beginning of this column, as the Greatest ever, and the running game. The first half of the ’70s was hand the ball to Franco and run, run, run and throw when the defense was sleep, or wasn’t looking for it. One season both Franco and Rocky Bleier gained more than a 1,000 yards each. That’s why so many old timers are crying in their beer about going back to the old days, back to the basics by running the ball. That’s not going to happen. The game is geared around the passing game today.
Well this group also must have forgotten that in the second half of the ’70s with the maturity of Bradshaw as a quarterback and the maturity of his two receivers, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth, all in the Hall of Fame, the Steelers threw the ball, and threw the ball, but Franco was still picking up his 1,000 plus yards per season. So yes Bradshaw was one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, but he nor any other quarterback can be mentioned in the same breath as Montana because Joe led his team to four Super Bowls despite an average running game, and a good defense.
Tom Brady is not far behind Montana. I know how we Pittsburghers like to hate Brady, coach Bill Belichick and anything related to the New England Patriots, but I have to give them their due. Even though everyone says they are cheaters I say they are the best franchise and even though I don’t like Belichick either, he’s a great coach and Brady is the best quarterback in the game right now. He takes whatever is given to him and wins with it. Because this year they did not have a great defense, they had a weak running game, and so-so receivers, yet they finished with the best AFL record for another trip to the Super Bowl, and even though we all are still trying to understand why the Seattle Seahawks coaching staff called that play which handed the championship to the Patriots, New England is still the champs.
Maybe Belichick slipped that play past Pete Carroll to the quarterback? Well, we blame him for everything else.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
