1981 Pittsburgh Steelers: 8-8-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (185 points scored, 122 allowed) Road record: 3-5-0 (171 points scored, 175 allowed) Head Coach: Chuck Noll 356 points scored (8th of 28 teams), 297 points allowed (11th) NFL Averages: 20.7 points/game (330.8 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 247 461 3,226 (13) 6.61 25 19 554 2,372 ( 5) 4.3 21 5,598 (11) 41 Defense: 302 544 3,783 (26) 6.48 22 30 500 1,869 ( 8) 3.7 10 5,652 (22) 47
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 David Trout K 16 5'6 165 23 1 Pittsburgh 5 Craig Colquitt P 16 6'2 185 27 4 Tennessee 12 Terry Bradshaw QB 14 6'3 215 33 12 Louisiana Tech 16 Mark Malone QB 8 6'4 223 22 2 Arizona State 18 Cliff Stoudt QB 2 6'4 218 26 2 Youngstown State 24 J.T. Thomas DB 16 6'2 196 30 8 Florida State 27 Greg Hawthorne RB 10 6'2 225 25 3 Baylor 29 Ron Johnson DB 12 5'10 200 25 4 Eastern Michigan 30 Larry Anderson DB 16 5'11 177 25 4 Louisiana Tech 31 Donnie Shell DB 14 5'11 190 29 8 South Carolina State 32 Franco Harris RB 16 6'2 225 31 10 Penn State 38 Sidney Thornton RB 16 5'11 230 27 5 Northwestern State-Louisiana 39 Rick Moser RB 6 6'0 210 24 4 Rhode Island 42 Anthony Washington DB 16 6'1 204 23 R Fresno State 44 Frank Pollard RB 14 5'10 210 24 2 Baylor 45 Russell Davis RB 16 6'1 231 25 2 Michigan 47 Mel Blount DB 16 6'3 205 33 12 Southern 49 Dwayne Woodruff DB 16 5'11 189 24 3 Louisville 50 David Little LB 16 6'1 220 22 R Florida 51 Loren Toews LB 16 6'3 222 29 9 California 52 Mike Webster C 16 6'1 250 29 8 Wisconsin 53 Dennis Winston LB 14 6'0 228 26 5 Arkansas 54 Zack Valentine LB 16 6'2 220 24 3 East Carolina 55 Jon Kolb OT 15 6'2 262 34 13 Oklahoma State 56 Robin Cole LB 14 6'2 220 26 5 New Mexico 58 Jack Lambert LB 16 6'4 220 29 8 Kent State 59 Jack Ham LB 12 6'3 225 32 11 Penn State 61 Tyrone McGriff OG 12 6'0 267 23 2 Florida A&M 62 Tunch Ilkin OG 16 6'3 253 24 2 Indiana State 65 Tom Beasley DE 13 6'5 253 27 4 Virginia Tech 66 Ted Petersen OT 2 6'5 244 26 5 Eastern Illinois 67 Gary Dunn DT 16 6'3 247 28 5 Miami 68 L.C. Greenwood DE 14 6'5 250 35 13 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 73 Craig Wolfley OG 16 6'1 258 23 2 Syracuse 74 Ray Pinney OT 16 6'4 240 27 5 Washington 75 Joe Greene DT 14 6'4 260 35 13 North Texas State 76 John Banaszak DT 12 6'3 244 31 7 Eastern Michigan 77 Steve Courson OG 16 6'1 260 26 4 South Carolina 79 Larry Brown OT 14 6'4 265 32 11 Kansas 82 John Stallworth WR 16 6'2 183 29 8 Alabama A&M 84 Randy Grossman TE 16 6'1 225 29 8 Temple 85 Calvin Sweeney WR 14 6'2 180 26 2 Southern California 86 Jim Smith WR 15 6'2 205 26 5 Michigan 87 Johnnie Dirden WR 6 6'0 184 29 3 Sam Houston State 88 Lynn Swann WR 13 6'0 180 29 8 Southern California 89 Bennie Cunningham TE 15 6'4 260 26 6 Clemson 90 Bob Kohrs DE 16 6'3 245 22 1 Arizona State 95 John Goodman DE 15 6'6 250 22 1 Oklahoma
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Terry Bradshaw 370 201 54.3 2,887 7.80 14.4 22 5.9 14 3.8 17 155 83.9 Mark Malone 88 45 51.1 553 6.28 12.3 3 3.4 5 5.7 10 76 58.6 Cliff Stoudt 3 1 33.3 17 5.67 17.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 53.5
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD John Stallworth 63 1,098 17.4 5 Bennie Cunningham 41 574 14.0 3 Franco Harris 37 250 6.8 1 Lynn Swann 34 505 14.9 5 Jim Smith 29 571 19.7 7 Frank Pollard 19 156 8.2 0 Sidney Thornton 8 78 9.8 0 Russell Davis 4 34 8.5 0 Greg Hawthorne 4 23 5.8 0 Randy Grossman 3 19 6.3 1 Calvin Sweeney 2 53 26.5 0 Mark Malone 1 90 90.0 1 Rick Moser 1 5 5.0 1 Ray Pinney 1 1 1.0 1 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Franco Harris 242 987 4.1 8 Frank Pollard 123 570 4.6 2 Russell Davis 47 270 5.7 1 Sidney Thornton 56 202 3.6 4 Terry Bradshaw 38 162 4.3 2 Mark Malone 16 68 4.2 2 Greg Hawthorne 25 58 2.3 2 John Stallworth 1 17 17.0 0 Jim Smith 1 15 15.0 0 Cliff Stoudt 3 11 3.7 0 Craig Colquitt 1 8 8.0 0 Rick Moser 1 4 4.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Larry Anderson 37 825 22.3 0 Greg Hawthorne 7 138 19.7 0 Rick Moser 3 76 25.3 0 Johnnie Dirden 3 45 15.0 0 Russell Davis 1 8 8.0 0 Mark Malone 1 3 3.0 0 Sidney Thornton 1 1 1.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Jim Smith 30 204 6.8 1 0 Larry Anderson 20 208 10.4 8 0 |
1981 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 17 DE Keith Gary 86 Oklahoma 2 44 DB Anthony Washington 57 Fresno State 3 73 C Rick Donnalley 71 North Carolina 4 100 WR Robbie Martin 72 Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo 5 127 WR Ricky Martin New Mexico 6 156 LB Bryan Hinkle 163 Oregon 7 183 LB David Little 179 Florida 8 209 RB Frank Wilson 1 Rice 9 239 OT James Hunter 9 USC 10 265 DB Mike Mayock 9 Boston College 11 292 QB Rick Trocano 8 Pittsburgh
Traded draft picks: #12 to SF (Joe Adams)
Transactions:
| 08-18-1981 | traded Steve Furness to Buccaneers for a conditional draft pick |
| 09-01-1981 | Saints claimed Bill Hurley on waivers |
1981 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/06/81 vs Kansas City Chiefs L 33-37 0-1-0 09/10/81 at Miami Dolphins L 10-30 0-2-0 09/20/81 vs New York Jets W 38-10 1-2-0 09/27/81 vs New England Patriots W 27-21 (OT) 2-2-0 10/04/81 at New Orleans Saints W 20-6 3-2-0 10/11/81 vs Cleveland Browns W 13-7 4-2-0 10/18/81 at Cincinnati Bengals L 7-34 4-3-0 10/26/81 vs Houston Oilers W 26-13 5-3-0 11/01/81 vs San Francisco 49ers L 14-17 5-4-0 11/08/81 at Seattle Seahawks L 21-24 5-5-0 11/15/81 at Atlanta Falcons W 34-20 6-5-0 11/22/81 at Cleveland Browns W 32-10 7-5-0 11/29/81 vs Los Angeles Rams W 24-0 8-5-0 12/07/81 at Oakland Raiders L 27-30 8-6-0 12/13/81 vs Cincinnati Bengals L 10-17 8-7-0 12/20/81 at Houston Oilers L 20-21 8-8-0