Former Pittsburgh Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey re-entered the conversation on Thursday when his name was invoked by head coach Mike Tomlin. The context was an expression of regret over having never enabled him to turn a Super Bowl title.
While they advanced to the championship game in Pouncey’s rookie season of 2010, an ankle injury kept him sidelined for the contest, and the Steelers lost. The closest they ever came to returning was an appearance in the conference finals in 2016. He retired following the 2020 season.
Just about any coach with a career of any length short of Bill Belichick is bound to have a list of names like this, of course. Pouncey is certainly not the only one on Tomlin’s and he’s hoping not to have to add Cameron Heyward’s to his. There are enough names as it is.
That includes the majority of the Killer Bs-era offense short of QB Ben Roethlisberger, starting with that offensive line. Pouncey was a part of that, but even before him was Ramon Foster, a 2009 college free agent. Then came RT Marcus Gilbert via the second round in 2011, followed by RG David DeCastro (and LT Kelvin Beachum) in 2012, and eventually LT Alejandro Villanueva a couple years later.
All of them are now retired, short of Beachum. All of them failed to secure a championship, either in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, though DeCastro and Foster never played anywhere else. It was arguably the best offensive line in Steelers history and they have nothing to show for it.
Nor do the Killer Bs, WR Antonio Brown and RB Le’Veon Bell. While they both wore out their welcome in the city, they were the driving forces behind the most prolific offense in team history in the mid-2010s. Brown eventually won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay.
One might also include WR Emmanuel Sanders on that list, another player from the 2010 class brought in Brown who also went on to win a Super Bowl elsewhere. Sanders was one of the few players who went on to have a better career after leaving Pittsburgh following his rookie contract. He was also in that Super Bowl game as a rookie but injured his foot and had to exit in the second quarter.
Then there was a trio of defenders from 2013-2014 who made up a core part of the defense. ILB Vince Williams was the heart of that unit for years, regardless of what his role might have been at any given time. He decided to retire as the team convened for training camp going into the 2021 season.
There may not be a more unfortunate case than that of ILB Ryan Shazier, their 2014 first-round draft pick, because his career-ending spinal injury in 2017 coincided with the downfall of the defense as a whole. Perhaps the Steelers go all the way that season if he doesn’t get hurt. They still have yet to fully replace him on the field, turning over the inside linebacker room in 2023 yet again.
And just behind him, drafted in the second round that year, was DL Stephon Tuitt, who made an incredible pair with Heyward when both were healthy. After his brother was struck by a car and killed in 2021, he never played again, ultimately retiring in 2022.
This is, in a sense, the lost generation, some of the great players of the Tomlin era who came and went without winning it all. One can only help but wonder how many more names we will have to add before it’s all over. T.J. Watt? Minkah Fitzpatrick? Joey Porter Jr.?
