Welcome back to part three of five in my series counting down the most unbreakable Steelers’ records of all time.
Here are links to the first two parts, I would recommend reading them before reading this:
Without any more delay, here’s number six.
#6: Jack Butler’s Four Interceptions In One Game In 1953
Jack Butler is one of the more forgotten greats in Steelers’ history. He was born in Pittsburgh and played his whole career for the Steelers in the 1950s. Butler ranks second in franchise history in interceptions with 52 and recorded those in just 103 career games. Even in that era, averaging over half an interception a game is truly impressive. Butler was named an All-Pro three times and was also honored with his inclusion in the NFL’s All-1950s team.
A 2012 Football Hall Of Fame inductee, Butler had quite the game in December of 1953 against Washington. Not only did Butler record four interceptions that game, but late in the fourth quarter he returned one of them for a touchdown. This touchdown gave the Steelers a 14-13 edge that would hold and become the final score in a win.
Four interceptions in a game by one player has happened 20 times in NFL history, but only three times in the last 35 years. Most recently, Washington’s DeAngelo Hall picked off Jay Cutler (of course) four times in a 2010 game. This is something that is happening less and less in the league, and in the last ten years, only Andrew Adams and Kevin Byard have had even three interceptions in a single game.
Steelers-wise, no one has ever even tied Butler’s record. The most recent player to have even three interceptions in a single game was Darren Perry all the way back in 1994. In fact, the 2022 Steelers only had one player, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who recorded more than four interceptions over the entire season.
What also makes this record tough to break is that teams rarely even throw five interceptions in a game to give this record a chance at being broken. The last guy to do this was Jameis Winston in 2019. Although passing continues to increase, it doesn’t seem like single-game interception numbers are increasing quite at the same rate.
And if we want to be technical, this series is called unbreakable records, not records that are impossible to tie, and someone would need an unprecedented five interceptions in a game to break this one. Either way, four interceptions in a game is hard enough, and it deserves a spot on this list.
How would it be broken?
For this record to be broken you would need a lot of luck. That much is obvious, but you would also need an every-down ballhawk with good hands to statistically have any real chance at this. The Steelers actually do have two guys who might qualify for that, Minkah Fitzpatrick for sure, and potentially Patrick Peterson, depending on what his role is.
Both guys have posted multi-interception games in their careers, but it would take terrible QB play and being in the right place at the right time quite a few times for this to happen. As the AFC QB play gets better and better, and offenses become more and more focused on not turning the ball over, breaking this record gets less and less likely.
#5: Jack Lambert’s Eight Fumble Recoveries In a Season In 1976 (By A Defensive Player)
The first disclaimer here is that it has to be a defensive player, as it feels a little lame to count something Kyler Murray falling on his own fumble 13 times in 2021 as a big accomplishment.
1976 was an unreal season for Jack Lambert. He easily took home the Defensive Player of the Year award, and even gave the Colts’ Bert Jones a run for the MVP Trophy, as he finished second in voting. Lambert had a Hall of Fame career, and ‘76 is often considered his best campaign.
What was somehow even more astounding about his 1976 campaign than his accolades was his eight fumble recoveries. Unfortunately, forced fumble data is impossible to come by during this time period, so we can’t be sure how many of those fumbles he forced himself. Despite this, I think we can say with a fair bit of confidence that he forced at least a handful of those.
While this isn’t an NFL record (the Vikings’ Don Hultz had nine in 1963), it really hasn’t even been flirted with in the modern NFL. In the last 30 years, the only player with even six fumble recoveries on defense is a young Jared Allen in 2006 with Kansas City. While good defenders who rally to the ball and even force fumbles themselves are more likely to recover fumbles, there is still a good layer of randomness to it that makes it hard to be a real repeatable skill.
If we look at the Steelers’ history in regard to this record, Lambert’s total seems pretty safe. Former All-Pro defensive back Carnell Lake had six in 1989, but no one else has even hit six before or since Lambert’s eight. New Steeler Patrick Peterson led the league with five in 2012, but outside of that season, he’s posted only seven other recoveries over the rest of his career.
We are getting to the point where all these records seem pretty tough to break, and it becomes very nit-picky to rank one of them over another in terms of difficulty. My reasoning for having this one over number six is simply sample size. It is easier to have a fluky, wild game where records are set than it is to have an entire fluky season. But again, if you wanted to switch their order I wouldn’t argue with you.
How would it be broken?
Similar to the last record, you would need probably either a linebacker or a safety who was playing every down. You’d also want someone who was helpful in the run game and a good tackler, so they are often around the ball when players fumble. On the current roster, we’ve seen Patrick Peterson have a season with a lot of recoveries, but he seems a little past his prime to lead the league again.
No one had more than one recovery for the team last season, so there doesn’t seem like an obvious candidate on the current team to break this.
