I was there for Steelers first shotgun snap under Noll

Former Steelers head coach Chuck Noll was so stubborn, he refused to use the shotgun formation for 20 years, this despite most of the NFL long-since adopting it.

Maybe this is why my middle school social studies teacher once compared the British Army’s predictable tactics and stubbornness to Noll’s style as a way to teach my class about the Revolutionary War.

I learned about the Revolutionary War in the mid-80s, which was about the time the Steelers Super Bowl dynasty of the ’70s became a distant memory as the team began to struggle, and people of all walks of life–including school teachers–started criticizing the head coach.

However, despite some lean years in the mid-to-late ’80s that included finishes of 7-9, 6-10 and 5-11, Noll simply wouldn’t budge on the shotgun embargo. He didn’t budge after Terry Bradshaw retired, and David Woodley and Mark Malone battled it out for starting time over the next few seasons. He didn’t budge in 1988, when young and boisterous Bubby Brister became his quarterback.

But maybe the Bubster’s vocal ways (and perhaps that five-win season the year before) forced Noll to get with the times as the Steelers convened for training camp in 1989.

Brister, who lobbied for the shotgun, talked about the change in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 28 of that year:

” It’s going to be good for us. We’ll do a lot of things off the shotgun. I like it. I just hope we keep improving it so we don’t ditch it. But I don’t think they’re going to ditch it. I think it’s here to stay.”

Of course, there were still two weeks or so before the team’s first exhibition game, which gave Noll ample time to, in-fact, ditch a formation he had resisted for so long:

“We had a few bad snaps today, which we expected to have,” said Noll. “For the most part, we’ll see how it goes.”

Fast-forward to August 12 and Pittsburgh’s first preseason game.

The Steelers were set to take on the Redskins at old Three Rivers Stadium in a Saturday night match-up on ESPN.

You know what that means? It means the whole world was watching (well, it was 1989, it was the preseason, and cable wasn’t as popular as it is today, so maybe only Western Pennsylvania, the DC Metro area and relatives of rookie hopefuls were watching).

I was actually in-attendance for this game, as I took in the action with my grandparents. It was my second Steelers game ever, in-fact, and my second one in a short period of time. I was at Three Rivers the previous November to watch one of Pittsburgh’s 11 losses in ’88 (amazing how you can score tickets to your first Steelers game during an 11-loss season), and now I was back for their first preseason game in ’89 (amazing how you can score preseason tickets the year after an 11-loss season).

Dermontti Dawson, who started five games at right guard during his rookie year, was about to begin a Hall of Fame career at center as he prepared for his second season. But along with everything else about his new position, he also had to learn how to execute the shotgun snap.

And, according to the archived Post-Gazette article previously referenced, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows in training camp, as Dawson “popped one 2 1/2 yards back instead of five” on one occasion.

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Anyway, back to the preseason clash against the Redskins.

Obviously, there was buzz all training camp about Noll’s decision to go with the shotgun formation, and people were waiting to see it put to use for the first time.

I don’t remember the exact moment in the game that Brister dropped back into the shotgun formation, but I do know it was pretty early-on, and the offense was driving.

So, what happened when Dawson unleashed the first shotgun snap of the Noll regime, you might be asking if you haven’t stopped reading by now. The crowd reacted in unison. Only fans didn’t cheer or clap. Instead, they gasped, as Dawson’s snap sailed way over Brister’s head.

I don’t recall if Brister recovered the ball, but I do remember thinking it was a bad sign.

Dawson recalled his first regular season start at center in an interview with Steve Doerschuck of Cantonrep.com in 2012, as he prepared for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In that game, a 51-0 Week 1 pasting at the hands of the hated Browns at Three Rivers, Dawson’s first regular season shotgun snap was apparently also bad:

“I remember my first shotgun snap. I snapped it over Bubby’s head.”

Honestly, I’m not sure if Dawson was mixing up his first regular season shotgun snap with his first preseason snap, because I do not recall that happening against Cleveland. (Although, it was 51-0, so many, many, many bad things happened in that game–maybe even a bad shotgun snap).

It would fit, considering the bad snap Dawson, by then a four-time Pro Bowler, unleashed six years later in the first half of Super Bowl XXX.

But, while Dawson may have had a bad shotgun snap in his first regular season start at center, and he certainly had one in Super Bowl XXX, I was there for his very first bad shotgun snap in August of 1989.

Thousands upon thousands of Steelers fans insist they were in the stands at Three Rivers to witness the Immaculate Reception in 1972.

However, very few will admit to being in those same stands 17 years later when Dermontti Dawson executed the first (bad) shotgun snap of the Chuck Noll era.

I was one of those people.

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