Former NFL QB Ken Anderson is one of the greatest players to ever play for the Cincinnati Bengals, but he was stuck going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers Steel Curtain defense for the majority of his career. Anderson ended up a respectable 11-13 against Pittsburgh during his career, but during a recent appearance on The Chasing Hardware podcast, he gave some credit to the Steel Curtain defense, in particular Mike Wagner and Mel Blount, and said they were two of the best players he played against in his career.
“Well, you go to the Steelers’ defense, Mel Blount,” Anderson said. “Defensive linemen, you can pick one of their defensive linemen. They were great. I always kid with [Mike] Wagner. I push him to the Pro Bowl every year. We’re behind, and I gotta try to throw the ball down the middle, and you pick me off. You’re in the Pro Bowl, and you won’t even send me a Christmas card,” Anderson said.
While Anderson gave Wagner credit for picking him off, Wagner also laid Anderson out with a blindside hit in a game, one I’m sure that Anderson still remembers.
Anderson also talked about the Mel Blount Rule, which was passed by former Bengals owner Paul Brown after a hit against Bengals TE Bob Trumpy on a pass from Anderson. Even after the rule went into effect, Blount still had 22 career interceptions, solidifying himself as one of the best cornerbacks to ever play the game. Wagner was a two-time Pro Bowler in 1975 and 1976 and was also an All-Pro in ’76. In ’75, three of Wagner’s four interceptions came against Anderson, including two in a 30-24 Week Seven win.
Anderson went on to coach for the Steelers after his playing career was done, serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2007-2009. He was the quarterbacks coach for the 2008 Super Bowl champion Steelers team that beat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, and he has a lot of respect and admiration for current Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, calling him “a great guy and a great coach.” Despite getting beaten pretty often by the Steelers of old, it seems as if he has respect for those teams and players and just how dominant they were.
Anderson was pretty successful relative to the rest of the league against the Steelers, and it’s cool to hear him recall the stories from playing against them and then coaching with the team.
