Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be reviewing the decade that was in Steelers football. For many of us, this was the greatest decade in Steelers football we have ever seen. For those of our readers that remember the 70s, this was the second greatest decade in Steelers football.
Despite the disappointing end to the decade, the Steelers won two Super Bowls, went to three AFC Championship games, and won five division titles, putting them up there amongst the most dominant teams of the decade. Only New England won more division titles (7 if they hang on this year), and Super Bowls (3). But Pittsburgh was never accused of cheating.
We’ll have a whole series of these, and while we could make quite extensive lists, people love top 10 lists. 10 is a great round number, and it leaves plenty of room for people to debate. Of course, these are just our opinions, so feel free to give us your own in the comments!
Today’s list is the Top 10 Offensive Performances of the decade. We have been blessed to see some very good individual performances. Of course, it was hard to determine a relative scale for them, as some of our biggest performances came in games that we lost. When looking at individual performance, we inevitably tried to ignore the outcome of the game and just look at the numbers.
Honorable Mentions
- Jerome Bettis vs. Oakland (2004) 5 att, 1 yd, 3 TD
- Hines Ward vs. Tennessee (2002) 10 rec, 168 yds, 2 TD
- Ben Roethlisberger vs. Cleveland (2009) 417 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 113.6 rating
- Willie Parker vs. Houston (2008) 25 att, 138 yds, 3 TD
Top 10 Offensive Performances
10. Plaxico Burress
2002 vs. Atlanta
9 rec, 253 yards, 2 TD
The biggest performance of the decade by a receiver comes in at #10. Why is that? Because Plax got tackled on the 1 yard line as time expired in overtime and the game ended as a tie. If Plax scores that touchdown, it’s probably the #1 performance of the decade.
9. Jeff Reed
2002 vs. Jacksonville
6/6 FG, long of 50, 1/1 XP, 19 points scored
The highest scoring performance of the decade by any one player. Kickers generally outscore the rest of the team over the course of a season, but to put up 19 points in one game is ridiculous. To top it off, Reed connected from 46 and 50 yards. The Steelers won the game 25-23.
8. Rashard Mendenhall
2009 vs. San Diego
29 att, 165 yds, 2 TD, 2 rec, 26 yds
With the Steelers reeling early in the 2009 season after losses to Chicago and Cincinnati, word came out that Willie Parker had come down with a turf toe injury. After being benched the week before, Mendenhall exploded for 165 and two scores to help the Steelers pull out a much needed win at home on Sunday night. In the Bruce Arians era, big rushing games were a rarity. However, Mendenhall’s performance showed that he was the real deal and shut up all the local media fools who were ready to proclaim him a draft bust less than a year and a half after he had been selected.
7. Mewelde Moore
2008 vs. Cincinnati
20 att, 120 yds, 2 TD, 5 rec, 14 yds, 1 TD
With their top two running backs down with injury, Mewelde Moore stepped in and rumbled over Cincinnati. There weren’t many 3 TD games by Steelers players in the decade, and Moore was able to find the end zone both on the ground and through the air, giving the Steelers a stabilizing presence in the backfield.
6. Willie Parker
2006 vs. Cleveland
32 att, 223 yds, 1 TD
The biggest rushing performance of the decade was turned in by Fast Willie against the lowly Browns in 2006. Parker didn’t have a rush over 40 yards in this game, but managed to tear through the Browns for 223. This was not only the biggest rushing performance of the decade, but also the highest in Steelers history, breaking Frenchy Fuqua’s record of 218 from 1970.
5. Willie Parker
2006 vs. New Orleans
22 att, 213 yds, 2 TD
Why does this performance rank higher than the largest rushing performance in Steelers history? Well, look at the numbers. In this game, Parker ran for 10 fewer yards on 10 fewer attempts and reached the end zone more. In the Cleveland game, Parker averaged 6.97 yards per carry. Against the Saints, in a game that was an offensive shootout, Parker put up an astounding 9.68 yards per carry, the highest of the decade.
4. Tommy Maddox
2002 vs. Atlanta
473 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT, 129.4 rating
The biggest passing performance of the decade came during a tie. Despite throwing for over 470 yards, Maddox and the Steelers weren’t able to put up any points in overtime. Nevertheless, Maddox’s performance was one for the ages. That being said, don’t be surprised if Ben takes a run at it. Ben already has two 400+ games in his career.
3. Tommy Maddox
2002 vs. Cleveland
367 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT, 89.5 rating
On paper, this doesn’t look like a top performance. However, considering the situation, it most definitely was. Maddox brought the Steelers back from a 17-point deficit with a furious second-half comeback. Running the spread “Tommy Gun” offense, Maddox, with the help of Plax, Hines, and Randle El, brought the Steelers all the way back from 24-7 to take a 36-33 lead with 50 seconds to play.
2. Ben Roethlisberger
2007 vs. Baltimore
209 yds, 5 TD, 158.3 rating
Only once during the past decade did a quarterback throw five touchdowns. As we saw in 2006 and this season, racking up a bunch of yards doesn’t really matter if you’re not scoring points. Which is why, in this ranking, we valued scoring above yardage. Ben tore through a depleted Ravens secondary, racking up 5 touchdowns on a sloppy field on Monday night. This game was one of the reasons why Baltimore whined to the league that they didn’t want to play a night game in Pittsburgh this year. Nate Washington and Santonio Holmes each had 2 touchdowns as Ben made Baltimore’s secondary look like a block of swiss cheese.
1. Hines Ward
2006 vs. Atlanta
8 rec, 171 yds, 3 TD
As we said with #2, we valued scoring over yardage. Only one receiver this decade put up a 3 TD performance. Hines Ward, returning to his home town of Atlanta, racked up over 170 yards and found the end zone three times. The Steelers did lose this game, but Hines did his very best to make sure they didn’t. After losing his shoe on a post-pattern, he outran the fastest corner in the league, DeAngelo Hall, to the end zone.
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