Did you ever take umbrage with the fact that the Dallas Cowboys are referred to as “America’s Team”? Especially as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you are certainly not alone. Indeed, it never quite sat well with Pittsburgh Steelers players, either, perhaps especially on defense.
Hall of Fame S Donnie Shell recently shared a story with current and former Steelers DBs Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden on their All Things Covered podcast. He explained that his equally accomplished former teammate, Mel Blount, was no fan of the Cowboys’ designation at the time, either.
“My partner, Mel Blount, didn’t like the fact that they were calling the Dallas Cowboys America’s Team”, he said. McFadden recounted the oft-told tale that the league approached late Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. about themselves being given the name.
As legend has it, he responded that they are not America’s team, they are the Pittsburgh Steelers. And on the eve of Super Bowl XIII at the end of the 1978 season, with the Steelers and Cowboys competing to become the first team to win a third Super Bowl, it was Pittsburgh versus America’s team.
“I didn’t hear it that way, but I know Mel Blount was upset about it”, Shell said in response. “‘They’re not America’s Team. We’re gonna show them who America’s Team is. We’re the team’. We were fired up because they got all the publicity, like they do now, and they don’t win in the playoffs”.
“We were kind of like the second fiddle”, he added. “I said, ‘Okay, we’ll just wait. We’ll wait ‘til game time’”.
Although the defense did not shine that day, the Steelers did emerge victorious over the Cowboys, 35-31. Dallas managed 330 total net yards of offense but lost two fumbles and suffered three total giveaways (as did Pittsburgh’s offense, to be fair).
Blount did get the interception in that game, recorded near the end of the first half in a tie game as the Cowboys were driving well into Steelers territory. The offense responded by authoring a 56-yard touchdown drive to take a lead the Steelers would never relinquish.
Not only did Pittsburgh win that Super Bowl, it won the next as well, becoming the first franchise to win both three and four Super Bowls, and the first to win consecutive Super Bowls multiple times. Dallas would not add to its trophy case until the early 1990s when the Cowboys reached five, a number Pittsburgh surpassed in 2008.
Both the Cowboys and Steelers remain among the most popular teams in the league, but it was never accurate to describe either as “America’s Team”, quite frankly. Especially in hindsight, however, there is no debate over who the best team in the NFL was during the 1970s when that moniker was created. And it wasn’t in Texas.
