Steelers Legend Ben Roethlisberger Completely Confident That Mel Blount And Joe Greene Could Still Play 1 Down In Today's NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense in the 1970s was so dominant that after Super Bowl X, when they dismantled the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL knew they had to act quickly. The Steelers were so superior on defense that the year after the Super Bowl X victory the team lost Terry Bradshaw, Rocky Bleier, and Franco Harris for significant periods on offense, but they still put up one of the best defensive seasons ever in 1976 to get to the AFC Championship game against the Oakland Raiders.

Joe Greene and Mel Blount were huge stars on those 1970s defenses as the Steelers’ had multiple All-Pro players at every level of the unit and five defensive players were eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame.

On the most recent episode of the Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger podcast, Ben Roethlisberger was joined by his first coach in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher. The future Hall of Fame quarterback remarked on the phenomenal shape that Blount and Greene remained in decades after they retired from the NFL.

“Whenever you see him (Joe Greene), I shake his hands with two hands,” Roethlisberger began. “He still about breaks my hand every time. It’s amazing, I’ll tell you this Spence (co-host Spencer T’eo) I would say this [about] Joe Greene and Mel Blount specifically. If you ask them to go play one or two downs, they could still do it.”

Cowher nodded along in agreement. Greene is 76 years old and still cuts a fearsome path on a football field when he chooses to visit a practice. The Hall of Fame defensive tackle has worked hard to shed his “mean” moniker and generates tremendous love and respect from Steelers, both past and present. Roethlisberger related to that and despite his legendarily huge hands for a quarterback, Greene made him feel like Kenny Pickett when they shook hands.

“Joe, excuse me, Mr. Greene,” Roethlisberger exclaimed. “[He] would grab a hold of someone with those hands and that lineman is not moving. He could do some stuff and I still think Mel, I mean as big as he is, you know you’re a stud, Spence, when they make a rule in the NFL because of you, you’re a stud. He’s the reason for the passing game changes. He was just like 'you are not going anywhere.'”

During most of the 1970s, a defensive back could ride a player down the field, they could harass the receiver until the ball was thrown and Blount was simply the best there ever was at doing it. Receivers could not break free, and he was so effective he won the 1975 Defensive Player of the Year when he intercepted a career-high 11 passes.

“If you see him now,” Cowher chimed in about Blount. “'What position did you play? Were you a tight end, a linebacker, or maybe a lineman that lost some weight?' 'Oh, I played corner, corner?'”

Blount was the same height at 6'3" as the Steelers’ 2023 seventh-round pick, Cory Trice Jr and was 10 pounds lighter. In modern day's game, Blount would still be an exceptionally big cornerback, but in the 1970s, he was a literal giant. He dominated in the passing game like no one in the history of the NFL. He hit like Ronnie Lott and blanketed receivers like Deion Sanders and despite rule changes to limit his effectiveness, Blount remained an All-Pro and Pro Bowl player. Age, not the rules, slowed him down.

“Could you imagine (Blount) like an outside rusher,” Roethlisberger asked. “He is an outside linebacker right now. Could you imagine bringing him in off a corner blitz? He would kill somebody.”

Steelers Mel Blount Was Not Guilty Of Foul Play During His NFL Days

A popular urban legend was propagated that Blount did kill a player on the field during his playing days. The myth was born out of the NFL Network’s documentary The Top Ten Greatest Steelers of All-Time. It isn’t true, but Chuck Noll’s teams rarely blitzed during the dynasty years. Blount would have been a devastating weapon in the Dick LeBeau schemes and could have maybe been an even greater force in the modern NFL.

Roethlisberger may have been engaging in some good-natured hyperbole, but there is no denying the two Hall of Famers are in tremendous shape for being in their mid-seventies. It is doubtful that Blount and Greene could really play one play in the current Steelers' defense, now the Cleveland Browns on the other hand, are a different story.