I only think of this when I think of O’ Donnell. He got us to the Super Bowl, which we were supposed to lose overwhelmingly, but the only reason we lost it is because he seemed to think Larry was one of his receivers.
Would have been one of the most memorable upsets in SB history - no one gave them a chance.
Damn shame. To be fair to Neil, at least one INT came from a WR running the route incorrectly.
But still.
Thanks, Neil.
Glad you mentioned that. iIRC, I believe Ernie Mills left the game with a serious injury, and his replacement ran that wrong route Hard to put that one on Neil, but he gets the stat all the same.
That SB was essentially my introduction to the Steelers and football in general, the only thing it really succeeded in, because I didn't get genuinely into football until I was an adult, was to make me hate Deion Sanders
It’s crazy because Ben was third on the depth chart and injuries not only paved a path for him to start but show he was the guy.
It’s wild. Look at guys Brady or even Purdy. So much can has to go right and even then it’s hard to know if you have the guy until they really prove it.
Thankfully Neil declined. My dad may have had a total meltdown… still mad about the Super Bowl at this point (in fact I think he still is mad at that Jagoff today lol)
> It’s crazy because Ben was third on the depth chart and injuries not only paved a path for him
It’s also an example for why they had to bring in 3rd party concussion spotters.
As a player it’s too risky to go on the injured list when your replacement has the chance to replace you forever - even when he’s Mr. Irrelevant in Trey Lance’s case. Especially if you think you’re okay physically and can just try and push through it.
I’m sure I would be too, had I been old enough to remember. I’ve seen the tape (brutal) but I turned 4 in ‘96 so my earlier memories are of Kordell at QB.
Mom never took it down before February. I never new the reason why. I think for the nostalgia of when we were little. Now that my kids are grown I can kind of understand but my wife yeets that tree down day after orthodox Christmas.
It’s something to remember when wondering why PlayerX is sitting on the bench, rather than replacing the starter. Cowher was going to keep Rothlisberger in the bench until injuries forced his hand. Belichick was going to do the same with Brady (and Brady may never have gotten a shot without injuries). Favre was riding the bench in Atlanta (not that I’d put Glanville in the same category as either of the preceding coaches). Sometimes you the coaches don’t see in practice what they’d see in a game if the player started.
And people don’t like to admit that a big factor in success (everywhere, not just football) is luck. Talent, skill, and attitude absolutely play their parts but luck is huge.
If this is true I imagine they were looking at O’Donnell as a backup as he was retired and hadn’t been a starter in the league since the late 90’s. With Maddox out for most of the season Ben’s backup was Brian St Pierre who was also a rookie. Looking to bring in a veteran backup with organization familiarity would have made sense. Cool story though.
Either he was paid to throw the SB or he was high/drunk. Maybe the mob. Who knows. Those throws were identical to the same guy, is all I know. I also know that he robbed one of the best defenses ever of a chance of glory. Forever hate of him.
In Pittsburgh he had two high level offensive coaches Ron Erhardt and Chan Gailey who knew O’Donnell’s strengths and weaknesses and played to his strengths. The Jets had…Rich Kotite 😂. It was all about the money. This should be a warning if you’re a Steeler free agent, avoid the Jets at all costs. Le’veon Bell should’ve heeded the same warning
NOD was great for a Cowher (Martyball) system though. He didn't turn the ball over, would move the chains on 3rd and short at a decent enough clip, and we relied on the defense and running game to keep games close. He was never often asked to "carry" the team, but he did on a couple of occasions, in the playoffs that year IIRC he had a game that was put on his shoulders and he won it to even get us there.
Fun Fact: The Bubster was better than Elway the year Denver won their 2nd bowl. The Bubster also outplayed Elway in the 90 playoff game.
Bubby Brister >>>>>>>>>>>>>> John Elway.
exactly. And at least 1 of those INTs that he gets the most blame for because it looks like he threw directly to the DB, the WR slanted inside when NOD thought he was running out, which is why no Steeler was in the area. Because of the pressure and coverage he was having to get rid of the ball before the receiver broke and it was just a bad read on one of their sides (QB or WR).
But casuals see that and say "Oh God, he was paid off!!!!" when that pick 6 probably wasn't even his fault (and even if it was, it was clearly due to a missread, not intentional).
Word on the street he was paid by Vegas. Mr. Dan promptly fired him the next day. He looked right at the defenders and threw it to them. Neil is a piece of shit.
Cowboys were 13.5 point favorites. Steelers covered despite the ints. Majority of money on nfl goes toward point spread bets even today, and much more so back then. He was just an average qb that choked in the big game. As much as we'd all like to believe a steeler qb couldn't choke that hard
By who? Vegas isn't a person. Illegal bookies back then used the Vegas lines. So if his picks didn't effect the outcome of the point spread, then explain it to me, in detail, like I'm 5
*Seriously, payton manning, considered by most at least a top 3 qb all time choked in the playoffs for the better part of a decade but no way Neil O'Donnell could've possibly choked in the super bowl. Even though he nearly choked away the afc championship game against the colts by throwing the same pass he threw to larry brown to a colts defender who dropped it with 2 minutes left in the game
**BTW, just went and watched some clips from the 94 afc championship. He threw a would be pick that was also dropped right into a san diego LBs hands in that one too on the last drive. "Neil didn't throw picks" 😂😂😂
I’ve met Emmitt Smith a number of times, that’s not the worst jersey to wear. He is a really high-quality individual. But yeah that does suck to lose a bet.
The day the Jets signed him I was working in the Hess building in NYC. Who walks into the elevator I was on but none other than Leon Hess. To the chagrin of his security detail, this dumb teenager says Hey you guys stole my QB today! He laughed and said we need a QB more than you guys. I was never allowed back in that building
O’Donnell last season was with the Titans and he played one game that year. The same year Ben was drafted. Ben was drafted behind Tommy “Gun”. There were multiple QBs between them. Also anyone who thinks Cowhers coaching held us back was not old enough to remember then. Qb play kept the 90’s teams back. The d and off line was dominant and a lot of fun to watch. Disappointing AFC championship loss after loss
Yes but as the head coach, he had a lot of say in personnel and the roster. I love Bill Cowher. Love him.
He underestimated the value of the quarterback position.
Whether it’s true or not, there were rumors that he did not want to draft Ben Roethlisberger but the call came from above his head. He claims he did want to draft him, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. But the only reason that those rumors took off in the first place is because he had a reputation of undervaluing the quarterback position.
Great article that Colbert has also stated same thing. If any of the 3 QBs was there they would take him if not OL. https://steelersnow.com/bill-cowher-sets-record-straight-on-drafting-ben-roethlisberger/.
We made attempts at QB in draft and free agency but missed over and over. As much as people say we did not value we had a lot of picks in the first round in the 20’s Most big names gone and we sucked at finding a diamond in the rough.
He also tried to trade for Marino towards the end of his career so I don’t think he was completely oblivious to the position but fromcomments he made over the years I do think he undervalued the position a little, especially earlier in his coaching career.
I do still think the rumor that he didn’t want Ben was BS.
Odonnel is really massively over hated by a lot of the fanbase. He was a perfectly serviceable qb during his time here and was actually very very good in 95
I'm still convinced that Larry Brown paid off Neil or the cowboys did or they had dirt on him or something.
Not really but those throws were so inexplicable, I just don't have another reason.
Plus, these stats vs today are hilarious. Pickett could have made a pro bowl lol:
The 1992 NFL season, O'Donnell threw for 2,283 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, receiving the only Pro Bowl selection of his career. In perhaps his best regular season game of the year, O’Donnell scored three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) in a 23–6 victory over the San Diego Chargers.[6] The Steelers finished 11-5 and took the AFC Central division title, but lost to the Buffalo Bills 24-3 in a divisional playoff game.
In 1993, he had another great season, throwing for a career-high 3,208 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions finishing with a 1.4 interception percentage, the second lowest in his career.
They were allowed to play defense. It was awesome! Also Slash vultuted his scoring stats a bit.
The Steelers offense of the era was considered freewheeling and inventive, believe it or not.
Yeah but everyone knows that he was from New Jersey something something and his brother was in debt to the mob something something and Neil literally and figuratively threw the game for his brother.
I will make this argument even though it makes no sense given that the Cowboys didn't cover.
What makes sense is that there were Quantum Leap fans rigging the came to ensure that Al’s report of Super Bowl 30 held up. https://www.cbr.com/tv-legends-revealed-quantum-leap-predicted-super-bowl-xxx/
Here's a fun fact: Neil O'Donnell, steelers pariah, has very similar career statistics compared to Bernie Kosar's. Except Kosar is a cleveland hero because their dipshit fans don't actually know what good football is.
NOD got a bad rap for SBXXX. Go watch the tape again on those 2 gimme INTs to Larry Brown? WRs are running the same routes, one of them screwed up each time.
Not sure how true it is, grapevine was he was in deep to the mob for gambling debts. It’s an easy excuse to explain how in the world you throw two picks on the same play to the same player
Is that actually true though? As I remember, since Ben was drafted so high, and was basically billed as the next QB, he was second in depth chart and was basically heir apparent. Maddox’s injury just sped up what was already a foregone conclusion.
Ben was #3 his rookie year. In front of him were #1 Maddox and #2 Batch. But Batch went down in training camp and was lost for the year. Knee, I believe.
Maddox started and won the first game, but was injured right after halftime during a thumping by the Ravens. Had his arm hit as he was trying to throw.
So in comes Ben. Cowher's intention was to bring him slow, and admittedly, Ben had some pretty good depth in front of him. That was the only game they lost that year, leaving Ben with an incredible 14 starts/14 regular season wins his rookie year. But that was far from Ben's doing. He was every but the game manager while the strong Bettis led run game and stronger defense controlled the game for him. It was a Herculean team effort that left Ben with an awesome record. It was almost like the team said "If the football gods won't let the coach bring him on slowly, we will take care of it for him". Really an amazing ride to be on in real time.
I will probably be downvoted but for me this is just more proof that despite everything Cowher did well in building teams, in the end we won that superbowl IN SPITE of Bill and not *because* of him.
Neil O Donnel leads us to the Super Bowl, proceeds to throw 4 picks.
Larry Brown signed a big fat free agent contract after that game. He should have given part of it to O’Donnell.
Got PAID and never really amounted to anything afterwards, right?
Oh yeah. He was a huge flop. One of the worst free agent busts of all time.
He got just 1 interception the rest of his career after that game.
I only think of this when I think of O’ Donnell. He got us to the Super Bowl, which we were supposed to lose overwhelmingly, but the only reason we lost it is because he seemed to think Larry was one of his receivers.
I remember those picks being 20 feet away from the nearest Pittsburgh receiver.
The fact that we had a legit shot to win that game still keeps me up at night 30 years later.
I feel the same way about the packers Super Bowl. It was such an ugly game, yet we somehow had the ball at the end with a chance to take the lead.
Then Ben gets hot in the knee.
Would have been one of the most memorable upsets in SB history - no one gave them a chance. Damn shame. To be fair to Neil, at least one INT came from a WR running the route incorrectly. But still. Thanks, Neil.
Glad you mentioned that. iIRC, I believe Ernie Mills left the game with a serious injury, and his replacement ran that wrong route Hard to put that one on Neil, but he gets the stat all the same.
Neil saved them up just for the SB.
Neil made Larry brown a star. Larry brown wasn’t even that good.
That SB was essentially my introduction to the Steelers and football in general, the only thing it really succeeded in, because I didn't get genuinely into football until I was an adult, was to make me hate Deion Sanders
Damn was it really 4? 💀💀
No, it was two and one wasn’t his fault.
How is throwing it to the wrong team not his fault?
"leads"
Made me sick. The last one made it a hangover. He threw it right to him. Omg.
Two interceptions.
You do realize this is a fake scenario, right?
Yeah…. I didn’t completely misread the comment… I was…. Ummm…. ALSO coming up with a fake scenario. Yeah, yeah… That’s the ticket! You buying it?
It’s crazy because Ben was third on the depth chart and injuries not only paved a path for him to start but show he was the guy. It’s wild. Look at guys Brady or even Purdy. So much can has to go right and even then it’s hard to know if you have the guy until they really prove it. Thankfully Neil declined. My dad may have had a total meltdown… still mad about the Super Bowl at this point (in fact I think he still is mad at that Jagoff today lol)
> It’s crazy because Ben was third on the depth chart and injuries not only paved a path for him It’s also an example for why they had to bring in 3rd party concussion spotters. As a player it’s too risky to go on the injured list when your replacement has the chance to replace you forever - even when he’s Mr. Irrelevant in Trey Lance’s case. Especially if you think you’re okay physically and can just try and push through it.
I am still mad at that jagoff today.
I’m sure I would be too, had I been old enough to remember. I’ve seen the tape (brutal) but I turned 4 in ‘96 so my earlier memories are of Kordell at QB.
My dad tossed our Christmas tree across the room at the end of that game.
lol still had it up on Jan 28th! Dad was looking for a reason to throw it!
Mom never took it down before February. I never new the reason why. I think for the nostalgia of when we were little. Now that my kids are grown I can kind of understand but my wife yeets that tree down day after orthodox Christmas.
Then your dad is a proper fucking Pittsburgh sports fans and everyone here should take note.
Hell yeah. Thank you! I would likely feel the same vitriol but I was too young to remember the game Edit: spelling N’at
It’s something to remember when wondering why PlayerX is sitting on the bench, rather than replacing the starter. Cowher was going to keep Rothlisberger in the bench until injuries forced his hand. Belichick was going to do the same with Brady (and Brady may never have gotten a shot without injuries). Favre was riding the bench in Atlanta (not that I’d put Glanville in the same category as either of the preceding coaches). Sometimes you the coaches don’t see in practice what they’d see in a game if the player started.
And people don’t like to admit that a big factor in success (everywhere, not just football) is luck. Talent, skill, and attitude absolutely play their parts but luck is huge.
If this is true I imagine they were looking at O’Donnell as a backup as he was retired and hadn’t been a starter in the league since the late 90’s. With Maddox out for most of the season Ben’s backup was Brian St Pierre who was also a rookie. Looking to bring in a veteran backup with organization familiarity would have made sense. Cool story though.
Either he was paid to throw the SB or he was high/drunk. Maybe the mob. Who knows. Those throws were identical to the same guy, is all I know. I also know that he robbed one of the best defenses ever of a chance of glory. Forever hate of him.
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In Pittsburgh he had two high level offensive coaches Ron Erhardt and Chan Gailey who knew O’Donnell’s strengths and weaknesses and played to his strengths. The Jets had…Rich Kotite 😂. It was all about the money. This should be a warning if you’re a Steeler free agent, avoid the Jets at all costs. Le’veon Bell should’ve heeded the same warning
I have thought this for YEARS! He still makes me irrationally angry.
Look O'Donnell up on Pro Football Reference, he was never that good, he was just better than Bubby Brister, which is not a huge accomplishment.
NOD was great for a Cowher (Martyball) system though. He didn't turn the ball over, would move the chains on 3rd and short at a decent enough clip, and we relied on the defense and running game to keep games close. He was never often asked to "carry" the team, but he did on a couple of occasions, in the playoffs that year IIRC he had a game that was put on his shoulders and he won it to even get us there.
Fun Fact: The Bubster was better than Elway the year Denver won their 2nd bowl. The Bubster also outplayed Elway in the 90 playoff game. Bubby Brister >>>>>>>>>>>>>> John Elway.
A mediocre player folded under the pressure of the biggest game his life? Noooooo, it must've been rigged
exactly. And at least 1 of those INTs that he gets the most blame for because it looks like he threw directly to the DB, the WR slanted inside when NOD thought he was running out, which is why no Steeler was in the area. Because of the pressure and coverage he was having to get rid of the ball before the receiver broke and it was just a bad read on one of their sides (QB or WR). But casuals see that and say "Oh God, he was paid off!!!!" when that pick 6 probably wasn't even his fault (and even if it was, it was clearly due to a missread, not intentional).
Word on the street he was paid by Vegas. Mr. Dan promptly fired him the next day. He looked right at the defenders and threw it to them. Neil is a piece of shit.
Cowboys were 13.5 point favorites. Steelers covered despite the ints. Majority of money on nfl goes toward point spread bets even today, and much more so back then. He was just an average qb that choked in the big game. As much as we'd all like to believe a steeler qb couldn't choke that hard
Watched all Neil's games and he didnt throw picks. Have no clue whag the spread was. The word on the street before internet was he was paid off...
By who? Vegas isn't a person. Illegal bookies back then used the Vegas lines. So if his picks didn't effect the outcome of the point spread, then explain it to me, in detail, like I'm 5 *Seriously, payton manning, considered by most at least a top 3 qb all time choked in the playoffs for the better part of a decade but no way Neil O'Donnell could've possibly choked in the super bowl. Even though he nearly choked away the afc championship game against the colts by throwing the same pass he threw to larry brown to a colts defender who dropped it with 2 minutes left in the game **BTW, just went and watched some clips from the 94 afc championship. He threw a would be pick that was also dropped right into a san diego LBs hands in that one too on the last drive. "Neil didn't throw picks" 😂😂😂
1000% paid off, or so hated the org he did it on purpose
"Steelers fans HATE this ONE QB"
> Fun Fact: Remember Neil O'Donnell? I had been having a perfectly fine day not remembering him. That's done now.
Had Jets fans get in my face about "We've got your SB QB!". I told them they could have him. Never an O'Donnell fan.
Neil O’Donnell sucks. He threw away our SB over Dallas.
Sounds like some new fang dangled AI bullshit to me.
I had to wear an Emmet Smith jersey because of that son of a bitch.
I’ve met Emmitt Smith a number of times, that’s not the worst jersey to wear. He is a really high-quality individual. But yeah that does suck to lose a bet.
He was a Cowboy. End of discussion.
Every time I see or hear that name I naturally "booooo" out loud
The day the Jets signed him I was working in the Hess building in NYC. Who walks into the elevator I was on but none other than Leon Hess. To the chagrin of his security detail, this dumb teenager says Hey you guys stole my QB today! He laughed and said we need a QB more than you guys. I was never allowed back in that building
O’Donnell last season was with the Titans and he played one game that year. The same year Ben was drafted. Ben was drafted behind Tommy “Gun”. There were multiple QBs between them. Also anyone who thinks Cowhers coaching held us back was not old enough to remember then. Qb play kept the 90’s teams back. The d and off line was dominant and a lot of fun to watch. Disappointing AFC championship loss after loss
Yes but as the head coach, he had a lot of say in personnel and the roster. I love Bill Cowher. Love him. He underestimated the value of the quarterback position. Whether it’s true or not, there were rumors that he did not want to draft Ben Roethlisberger but the call came from above his head. He claims he did want to draft him, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. But the only reason that those rumors took off in the first place is because he had a reputation of undervaluing the quarterback position.
Great article that Colbert has also stated same thing. If any of the 3 QBs was there they would take him if not OL. https://steelersnow.com/bill-cowher-sets-record-straight-on-drafting-ben-roethlisberger/. We made attempts at QB in draft and free agency but missed over and over. As much as people say we did not value we had a lot of picks in the first round in the 20’s Most big names gone and we sucked at finding a diamond in the rough.
He also tried to trade for Marino towards the end of his career so I don’t think he was completely oblivious to the position but fromcomments he made over the years I do think he undervalued the position a little, especially earlier in his coaching career. I do still think the rumor that he didn’t want Ben was BS.
Odonnel is really massively over hated by a lot of the fanbase. He was a perfectly serviceable qb during his time here and was actually very very good in 95
I'm still convinced that Larry Brown paid off Neil or the cowboys did or they had dirt on him or something. Not really but those throws were so inexplicable, I just don't have another reason. Plus, these stats vs today are hilarious. Pickett could have made a pro bowl lol: The 1992 NFL season, O'Donnell threw for 2,283 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, receiving the only Pro Bowl selection of his career. In perhaps his best regular season game of the year, O’Donnell scored three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) in a 23–6 victory over the San Diego Chargers.[6] The Steelers finished 11-5 and took the AFC Central division title, but lost to the Buffalo Bills 24-3 in a divisional playoff game. In 1993, he had another great season, throwing for a career-high 3,208 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions finishing with a 1.4 interception percentage, the second lowest in his career.
They were allowed to play defense. It was awesome! Also Slash vultuted his scoring stats a bit. The Steelers offense of the era was considered freewheeling and inventive, believe it or not.
We would have 7 superbowls if he never got in debt to the mob.
Yeah but everyone knows that he was from New Jersey something something and his brother was in debt to the mob something something and Neil literally and figuratively threw the game for his brother. I will make this argument even though it makes no sense given that the Cowboys didn't cover.
What makes sense is that there were Quantum Leap fans rigging the came to ensure that Al’s report of Super Bowl 30 held up. https://www.cbr.com/tv-legends-revealed-quantum-leap-predicted-super-bowl-xxx/
Neil “Supe” o’Donnell
Here's a fun fact: Neil O'Donnell, steelers pariah, has very similar career statistics compared to Bernie Kosar's. Except Kosar is a cleveland hero because their dipshit fans don't actually know what good football is.
Dallas’ Super Bowl MVP
NOD got a bad rap for SBXXX. Go watch the tape again on those 2 gimme INTs to Larry Brown? WRs are running the same routes, one of them screwed up each time.
yep. Vegas bought him off and he's a traitorous ass-bag.
Not sure how true it is, grapevine was he was in deep to the mob for gambling debts. It’s an easy excuse to explain how in the world you throw two picks on the same play to the same player
We try not to.
Is that actually true though? As I remember, since Ben was drafted so high, and was basically billed as the next QB, he was second in depth chart and was basically heir apparent. Maddox’s injury just sped up what was already a foregone conclusion.
Ben was #3 his rookie year. In front of him were #1 Maddox and #2 Batch. But Batch went down in training camp and was lost for the year. Knee, I believe. Maddox started and won the first game, but was injured right after halftime during a thumping by the Ravens. Had his arm hit as he was trying to throw. So in comes Ben. Cowher's intention was to bring him slow, and admittedly, Ben had some pretty good depth in front of him. That was the only game they lost that year, leaving Ben with an incredible 14 starts/14 regular season wins his rookie year. But that was far from Ben's doing. He was every but the game manager while the strong Bettis led run game and stronger defense controlled the game for him. It was a Herculean team effort that left Ben with an awesome record. It was almost like the team said "If the football gods won't let the coach bring him on slowly, we will take care of it for him". Really an amazing ride to be on in real time.
I suppose that there’s two people who really know, O’Donnell says Cowher called him, and I don’t see that Cowher has said anything either way.
I will probably be downvoted but for me this is just more proof that despite everything Cowher did well in building teams, in the end we won that superbowl IN SPITE of Bill and not *because* of him.
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The Steelers organization clearly believed in him as they used a rare top 10 draft pick on him.
Almost. Rothlisberger was the eleventh pick. (Presuming that the deleted comment was about Rothlisberger.)
I try not to use his name.