1997 Season Report

Here's my observations about the Steelers now that the season is over:

• Team MVP: Gotta give it to the Bus. Jerome Bettis was again a powerful force as he racked up more than 1600 yards in 15 games. The Steelers would have been in deep trouble had Bettis left as a free agent last off-season.



• Offensive MVP (other than Bettis): Yancey Thigpen. After missing most of the 1996 season, Thigpen came back and showed why he is right up there with the NFL's best wide receivers. He came through in huge games vs. Denver and New England.



• Defensive MVP: A tie - LB Levon Kirkland, who led the Steelers to the #1 rushing defense, and Carnell Lake, who again moved to cornerback to help out the secondary.



• Biggest Surprise: Kordell Stewart. Despite making plenty of first-year mistakes, he had 3000 yards and led the Steelers to the AFC Championship game, more than many people thought he could do.



• Biggest Disappointment: Another tie - Greg Lloyd, who sucked during the first half of the season and disappeared during the second half, and Donnell Woolford, who was supposed to replace Rod Woodson but at season's end was playing behind Randy Fuller and J.B. Brown!



• Rookie of the Year: Chad Scott. The number one pick struggled early but came back and earned a starting job, playing great against some of the NFL's best passing attacks.



• Assistant coach of the year: Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. After Sports Illustrated declared that Dick Lebeau's departure would kill the Steelers defense, Haslett had the defense leading the NFL in rush defense.



• Best Games:
  • 1) At Baltimore (week 6)
  
  • 2) At New England (week 16)
  • 3) Jacksonville (week 9)
  • 4) Denver (week 15)
  • 5) At Arizona (week 14)
  • 6) New England (playoffs)



• Worst Games:
  • 1) Denver (playoffs)
  • 2) Dallas (week 1)
  • 3) At Jacksonville (week 3)
  • 4) Indianapolis (week 7)



• Best Plays:
  • 1) Kevin Henry intercepts Drew Bledsoe (week 16)
  • 2) Kordell runs it in for the 74 yard TD at Baltimore (week 6)
  • 3) The Bus beats the Jags in OT (week 9)
  • 4) Carnell Lake runs down Carl Pickens (week 8)
  • 5) Yancey Thigpen beats Darrien Gordon and Gordon lets him go (week 15)



• Worst Plays:
  • 1) Kordell throws costly endzone interception to Allen Aldridge of Denver (playoffs)
  • 2) The botched field goal looses key game at Jacksonville (week 4)
  • 3) Marcus Allen throws a TD pass for the eventual game-winning score (week 10)



• First player who will be cut in off-season: Punter Josh Miller. Cowher made a spectacle of him on national TV. He couldn't punt at all in the New England playoff game. All his job involves is punting footballs and he really had a tough time doing it. He's gone.



• Great story of the year: Veteran kicker Norm Johnson was cut before camp, then re-signed temporarily right before week 1 because Chris Jacke was injured. He was only supposed to be on the roster for a few weeks, but Jacke was out longer than expected and Norm was able to win his job back.



• Crybabies of the year: There were a couple of teams who couldn't believe they blew huge leads against the Steelers but the most crying came from the Broncos after their week 15 loss here. They cried about dropped passes, the Steelers defense, and Bill Cowher being on the field.



• The Woody Hayes Award: goes to Bill Cowher. After the botched field goal in week 4, Cowher almost tackled the Jags' Chris Hudson, who returned the blocked FG. Cowher later apologized.



• The Favorite Opposing Player Award: I know he wins this award every year but he just plain earns it each season. It goes to Vinny Testaverde. In the first Ravens-Steelers game, he blew a 21 point lead. In the second game, he threw three interceptions in the first half before getting benched in a 37-0 loss to the Steelers.



• The Josh Miller Award: this goes to - guess who - Josh Miller. He receives this award of incosistency for punting the ball 72 yards at a key time vs. Jacksonville and reaching such lows as having a 12 yard punt vs. New England in the playoffs. Congatulations!



• Crazy story of the year: Greg Lloyd apparently cheap-shotted WR Keenan McCardell of the Jags because McCardell allegedly made a threatening phone call to Lloyd's house. McCardell denies he made any such call. Lloyd had no comment.



• Amazing feat of the year: The Steelers won a playoff game despite the fact that their only points came on a first quarter TD. Now that's defense.



• The "Controversial": Much was said about Cowher's enthusiasm. The press beat him up for running on the field and said you could always read his lips. Cowher's enthusiasm is what makes the Steelers play at a whole different level than the rest of the league. Shows how much the press knows.



• Ways the NFL screwed over the Steelers:
The NFL scheduled our bye week for week 3. Oh yeah, we really needed a rest after two games! They also scheduled us for two Sunday night home games and no Monday night home games, and they gave us the absolute worst refs in football for every home game.


• Something Different: huge offense; 3 overtime games; a shutout (week 11); no devastating injury on opening day



• Same Old Crap: Opening day blowout and a slow start; WR injuries; interceptions by a Steelers QB



• Grades:
• Rush Offense: A+
• Pass Offense: B+
• Rush Defense: A+
• Pass Defense: B
• Coaching: A-

Here's who yins guys voted for concerning the 1997 season:

• Team MVP:
• Jerome Bettis - 82%
• Levon Kirkland - 10%
• Dermontti Dawson - 8%



• Offensive MVP:
• Kordell Stewart - 40%
• Jerome Bettis - 26%
• Yancey Thigpen - 25%
• Dermontti Dawson - 9%



• Defensive MVP:
• Levon Kirkland - 82%
• Jason Gildon - 9%
• Carnell Lake - 9%



• Most Surprising Player:
• Kordell Stewart - 54%
• Chad Scott - 23%
• Will Blackwell - 10%
• Courtney Hawkins - 9%
• Mike Vrable - 4%



• Most Dissapointing Player:
• Greg Lloyd - 40%
• Donnell Woolford - 40%
• Josh Miller - 20%



• Best Game:
• Broncos regular season game - 40%
• at Ravens (the comeback) - 30%
• Jaguars in OT - 15%
• at New England (Bledsoe and "the pass") - 15%
• New England 7-6 playoff game - 7%



• Best Play / Moment:
• Kevin Henry's interception - 44%
• Kordell's 74 yd TD run vs. Baltimore - 25%
• Kordell's playoff TD run vs. Patriots - 19%
• The shovel TD pass to Bettis in OT vs. Jacksonville - 6%
• Lake chasing down Carl Pickens to force the fumble vs. Cincinnatti - 5%

Related Topics:

Here's what I, and you, said at the mid-season point

Click here for all the recaps of the games of 1997 (with video clips)