3 unsung Steelers from the 70’s

Did you know Jack Lambert hardly played in the Steelers first ever Super Bowl, Super Bowl IX? One of the main leaders of the Steelers defense and a future Hall of Fame player, Lambert left the game in the second quarter due to an injury.

Yet, the Vikings in that game still scored only six points – only rushing for 17 total yards and completing 11 passes. So, who stepped in then for Jack Lambert and helped the defense dominate in their first Super Bowl?

That player was none other than Ed Bradley – the team’s fourth-round pick in 1972. Bradley (who’s son, Jeff Bradley, was signed by the Steelers in 2009), played a tremendous game.

According to Bradley:

“With Jack’s number 58 and mine 38, and the level of the defense being the same, every play I made at the beginning he called Lambert instead of Brady. How do I know that? My grandmother watching the game back in Connecticut told me. Boy, was she mad at Gowdy for the longest time after that.”

Another player many fans may overlook, but who was a tremendous receiver, was Jim Smith. Stuck behind two Hall of Fame receivers in Swann and Stallworth, Smith still led the NFL with an average of 22.8 yards per reception. In six years with the Steelers, he caught 113 passes for 2,103 yards and 25 touchdowns for the Steelers between 1977-1982. A third-round pick of the team our of Michigan, Smith later went on to play for the USFL, dominating there for the Birmingham Stallions and making the league’s All-League team.

Lastly, Larry Brown was drafted by the Steelers in the fifth round in 1971 as a tight end. He ended up as their starting left tackle in 1977. As a tight end, he was used mostly as a blocker but still caught 47 passes over those six seasons before the move to left tackle. As a left tackle, he was a mainstay of the offensive line, starting at the toughest position on the line for eight seasons. Brown won four Super Bowls with the team, two as a tight end, two as the left tackle.

Said Brown:

“Chuck and I met in his office and he told me that because I couldn’t run due to the injury he was going to have me learn the tackle position. That once I got healthy he’d move me back to tight end. In the meantime, before that, they drafted Bennie Cunningham and signed Randy Grossman. They saw themselves as being in a good position at tight end and had great need at tackle at the same time, so they never moved me back.”

Then they traded away tackle Gordon Gravelle, so I stayed at the position for eight years and won two more Super Bowls!