With the Steelers heading back to the playoffs for the second consecutive season, it has been a widely discussed fact that the Steelers have not won a playoff game since 2010. An NFL roster is a constantly changing makeup of long-term veterans, role players and recent draft picks and the Steelers have seen their share of turnover in the last 5 seasons with aged veterans retiring and emerging stars cashing in elsewhere in free agency. As veterans have retired or moved on, the Steelers have lost a significant number of players from their roster that had experience winning games in the playoffs.
Here’s a breakdown of the Steelers 53-man roster as we head into the playoffs:
0 Playoff Games (14)
- Jordan Berry
- Chris Boswell
- Anthony Chickillo
- Sammie Coates
- Ross Cockrell
- Bud Dupree
- LJ Fort
- Doran Grant
- Jesse James
- Landry Jones
- Byron Stingley
- Jordan Todman
- Alejandro Villanueva
- LT Walton
0 Playoff Wins (23)
- Marcus Gilbert
- Martavis Bryant
- Daniel McCullers
- Ryan Shazier
- Stephon Tuitt
- Chris Hubbard
- Terence Garvin
- Jarvis Jones
- Cam Heyward
- Shamarko Thomas
- Ross Ventrone
- Markus Wheaton
- Vince Williams
- Antwon Blake
- David DeCastro
- Robert Golden
- Will Johnson
- Sean Spence
- Arthur Moats
- Cody Wallace
- Brandon Boykin (2014 with PHI)
- Steve McLendon (on 2010 roster but inactive for playoffs/Super Bowl)
- Mike Mitchell (2013 with CAR)
0 Conference Championship Games (4)
- Darrius Heyward-Bey (2013 with IND)
- Cam Thomas (2013 with SD)
- Fitzgerald Toussaint (2014 with BAL)
- DeAngelo Williams (2008, 2013 and 2014 with CAR)
0 Super Bowl Appearances (1)
- Mike Vick (2002 and 2004 with ATL, 2010 and 2011 with PHI)
0 Super Bowl Wins (4)
- Antonio Brown
- Ramon Foster
- Doug Legursky
- Will Allen
1 Super Bowl Win (3)
- William Gay
- Matt Spaeth
- Lawrence Timmons
2 Super Bowl Wins (4)
- Heath Miller
- Greg Warren
- Ben Roethlisberger
- James Harrison
Another way to look at this list is that with the departures of Ike Taylor and Troy Polamalu, only 4 players remain from the team that won Super Bowl XL under Bill Cowher and only 7 of the 53 have a Super Bowl ring. 11 of 53 have played in a Super Bowl and 12 have played in at least one conference championship game. Shockingly, less than a third of the current roster (only 16 of 53) have won a playoff game and a quarter has no playoff experience. While this team might be a little short on players with experience winning in the playoffs, that also means that those players are that much hungrier to taste the glory some of their other teammates have had. The Steelers have treated the month of December like their own personal playoffs and have won four of their last five heading into the postseason. The time has come for this generation of Steelers to make their mark in the postseason, and there is no better opponent for their playoff initiation than the Bengals, who served as a springboard for the legendary run a decade ago.
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