Another series to finish out a quiet Pittsburgh Steelers offseason. Today, we’re looking back on some of the best individual playoff performances throughout the team’s postseason history and focusing more on the forgotten and overlooked ones. Maybe it wasn’t a star player or maybe it was a playoff run that didn’t end in a Super Bowl, overshadowing the accolades. Whatever the reason, they’re players and performances that have been left on the cutting room floor, but ones worth remembering.
Moving to our third in this series, RB Merril Hoge’s performance in 1989.
Merril Hoge (1989) – 33 carries, 220 yards (6.7 YPC), 2 TDs
Quick. Who are the only Steelers in playoff history to rush for 100 yards in back-to-back games? There are only three. Franco Harris makes the list. No surprise there. Le’Veon Bell does, too, a star at his best. And Merril Hoge, who did so in the Steelers two playoff games of the 1989 season.
What makes it more impressive is how efficient Merril Hoge was at it. Averaging nearly seven yards per carry across two postseason games, contests that aren’t blowouts against the league’s worst defenses, is hard to achieve. In fact, in single-season playoff history, Hoge is just one of 10 players in NFL history to carry the ball at least 30 times and average 6.5 yards per carry or more. Others on that list? Marcus Allen, Fred Taylor, and Brian Westbrook. Good company to keep.
The fact Pittsburgh even made the 1989 playoffs is a miracle. They began the year with two of their worst losses in franchise history, blown out by the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals a combined 92-10. The season looked doomed before it barely began. Hoge had just an average season, splitting time with Tim Worley, and was often used as a hammer to finish off drives. He led the team with eight touchdowns, all coming within the 5-yard line. Only once in the regular season did he rush for more than 70 yards. Most of the time, he was held well under 50.
Merril Hoge became a changed man for the playoffs. He took a front seat to Worley for the team’s Wild Card win over the Houston Oilers. A game best remembered for Gary Anderson’s 50-yard field goal to win it in overtime, but Hoge tied the game in the fourth quarter, scoring from 2 yards out. He ended the day with 17 carries for a crisp 100 yards, his first triple-digit game of the season.
His biggest run of the game came in the first half. Using Worley split out more often this game, Hoge took a quick draw, made the linebacker miss in the hole, and was off to the races for a 56-yard scamper.
Hoge took the handoff on the final two plays of an 11-play drive to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. It was another draw to get Pittsburgh down to the Oilers’ 2 and a dive that just barely got over the goal line (ignore the refs missing a half-dozen false starts and offsides pre-snap – these were simpler times).
Anderson’s field goal sent Pittsburgh to the Divisional Game against John Elway’s Denver Broncos. Merril Hoge was even better, carrying the ball 16 times for 120 yards and a second-quarter score that put the Steelers up 10-0, making an upset feel like a real possibility.
His first carry of the game set the tone, a tough-mudder of a run to pick up a first down.
Pittsburgh utilized the trap game in this one, pulling the likes of RT Tunch Ilkin as Hoge ripped the ball up the gut. His score, however, came on a run around the end, out in front of his blockers, with green grass the only thing ahead.
Merril Hoge impacted the passing game, snagging 8 balls for 60 yards. He also led all Steelers in rushing and receiving that day, an impressive feat.
In classic Elway fashion, the Broncos stormed back to win the game 24-23. Viewed as 10-point favorites, Denver was lucky to merely come away with the win. But playoff victories are all that matter, regardless of how you achieve them, and the Steelers’ season was over.
It would be Merril Hoge’s finest playoff performance. Frankly, there weren’t many others. Pittsburgh made it back in 1992, but Hoge didn’t touch the ball in a 24-3 loss against the Buffalo Bills. In a 1993 playoff game, he quietly registered six carries and chipped in three receptions as Pittsburgh was dispatched by QB Joe Montana (the Chiefs’ version) and RB Marcus Allen (also the Chiefs’ version).
Unlike our previous entries of 2005 Cedrick Wilson and 2008 LaMarr Woodley, the ’89 Steelers won’t be remembered for a Super Bowl run. Despite its turnaround, their year is still remembered for its terrible start. But Hoge’s run was a special one. It would’ve been something to see Pittsburgh advance at least one more game. Maybe Hoge would’ve come up large again.
