Long before the era of the high-flying, dynamic tight ends such as Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Travis Kelce and George Kittle, a big, athletic, moveable tight end with dominant traits resided in the Steel City in an era built on smash mouth football and suffocating defense.
That tight end, of course, was former Steeler Eric Green — all 6-foot-5, 279 pounds of him.
Green was a first-round pick in the 1990 NFL Draft at No. 21 overall out of Liberty in the second to last season of the Chuck Noll era.
Though his career with the Steelers got off to a slow start due to a holdout that lasted into the regular season, causing him to miss the first game of the 1990 season, Green quickly became a massive piece for the Steelers offense. Prior to him debuting in Week Five of the 1992 season, the Steelers hadn’t scored a touchdown that season.
Then, Green went nuclear.
His performance as a rookie in 1990, which earned him Pro Football Writes of America All-Rookie Team honors, carried over into the 1991 season. Green’s versatility was shown in his rookie season by him playing several different positions, including wide receiver, slotback, wingback, H-back, and even running back. That year, he had the best game of his career, etching himself in the Steelers record books at the tight end position for most receiving yards in a game.
That came on Sept. 22, 1991, at Three Rivers Stadium against the Jim McMahon-led Philadelphia Eagles.
Green hauled in an impressive eight receptions for 158 yards, but it ultimately came in a losing effort as the Steelers blew a 14-7 lead and lost to the Eagles 23-14 in what ended up being Noll’s final season at the helm.
Against the Eagles that day, Green showed just how tantalizing of a weapon in the passing game he truly was.
Early on at Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers turned to Green offensively as quarterback Bubby Brister looked for his big, physical target over and over again in the first half.
On the first drive of the game on a third and short, Brister found a wide-open Green — who was split out wide in a stack formation with fellow tight end Mike Mularkey — up the seam for a 32-yard gain.
The Eagles linebacker got lost carrying him up the seam and resulted in Green finding himself wide open for the easy pitch and catch with Brister, resulting in an early explosive play.
A few drives later, Brister dialed up the deep ball to Green.
Green, lined up as an H-back here before the snap, ran a wheel route out of the backfield and did a good job of continuing his route and working towards the sideline to show Brister his numbers. That led to the bomb from Brister right into Green in stride for the huge gain.
To cap the drive and continue building on his big day, Green then hauled in an 8-yard touchdown from Brister on the very next play, again showing off his versatility under offensive coordinator Joe Walton.
Lined up top of the screen as a wide receiver split out wide, Green was a hulking presence over safety Andre Waters. Waters never had a chance on the play as Green won easily on the slant and score.
What a sight to see.
Things slowed down from there for Green as the Eagles adjusted and tried to take away the tight end in the passing game.
Green had one more catch in the first half on a designed rollout from Brister to his left with Green lined up as the in-line tight end.
He certainly was something to see galloping in the open field like he did here at the end of the catch and run.
Entering the half, Pittsburgh held a narrow 14-13 lead over the Eagles. The second half would be all Philadelphia though.
Green — along with the Steelers offense — was essentially taken out of the game in the third quarter as the Eagles held the ball for more than 12 minutes in the quarter and took the lead.
Aiming to get things going late while trailing, Brister again started to look Green’s way, even force-feeding the ball his way at times.
Lined up in-line as the left-side tight end, Green runs a seam route here. Brister throws a good ball with perfect placement between the two defenders high and low, but look at the body control from Green. He was so far ahead of his time.
Imagine Green in today’s NFL. He’d be a superstar. Instead, he played far ahead of his time based on his skill set and his position.
After that 158-yard performance against the Eagles, Green played three more seasons in Pittsburgh, though the 1992 season was marred by a six-game suspension from the league for violation of the drug policy. Green went on to earn Pro Bowl nods in 1993 and 1994 with the Steelers though, hauling in 63 passes for 942 yards and five touchdowns in 1993.
Following his five years in Pittsburgh, Green spent one season in Miami, three years with the Baltimore Ravens and one final season with the New York Jets in 1999. None of his stints in the league came close to the damage he did in Pittsburgh though, especially that 1991 game against the Eagles, which remains the most receiving yards in a game gained by a Steelers tight end.
