Power back has powerful opinions
Hall of Famer says football is going small
When The Bus gets going, it’s hard to slow him. That applies to both his batteringram running style and his motor mouth.
Legendary Steelers running back Jerome Bettis was on hand at his North Shore restaurant Thursday afternoon promoting his recent partnership with sports gambling powerhouse Fan Duel and the launch of mobile gaming in Pennsylvania.
He was also more than game to discuss everything from how he feels about the 2019 Steelers, to his thoughts on how the running back position has evolved, to catching deep balls thrown by former Steelers quarterback Mike Tomczak.
Strap in and enjoy this talk with The Bus:
Q: How did you get involved with Fan Duel?
A: They reached out to me and let me know what they were doing. It was an interesting program they’re putting together.
Q: Are there any Steelers- related bets that you like this year?
A: You know what, none that I can actually talk about. What I hate to do is influence people’s betting ideas. You say, ‘ Oh, I like this,’ and then you lose. They say, ‘ Hey, man! What happened?’ That’s the one thing I do stay away from, is telling people the way I bet, because I don’t want them in any way to think I was the reason they weren’t successful. Whenever someone loses, it’s always someone else’s fault. You don’t want to be part of that. [ laughs]
Q: What do you think of the squad this year, especially the offense?
A: You know what, I think they have a chance to be really good. Some guys have to step up, obviously. James Washington has to play big this year for them. He’s the unknown kind of factor. James Conner has to stay healthy for the entire year. They have some question marks they have to answer internally. But they have a chance to be really good.
Q: In terms of the Cleveland Browns’ hype, are you a believer?
A: Seeing is believing. You’ve got to see it. So right now, everybody’s talking about them. But you have to jell into a complete football team. Right now, they’ve got a lot of really good football players, but can they put it all together? And you’ll only know when the season starts.
Q: Can you expand a little bit more about how you’re feeling about Conner in his first full season as a starter?
A: I love what he did. I watched him in college, so I knew quite a bit about him in terms of his running style and how physical he was. So now it’s, can you take that to the next level? You had an opportunity, you had a taste, you had a really good year last year. Can you take it to the next level and become that very special running back? He understands what’s next, but he’s got to go out and do it, and he has to stay healthy for an entire season.
Q: How are you feeling about the evolution of the running back position in general?
A: The running back position made this dramatic change when colleges started to go to this air- it- out system. This four-, five- wide kind of philosophy. What that did was it brought one running back into play, and then they said, ‘ OK, we’re not going to be a power running team, we’re going lateral. So we’re going to need a quicker guy.’ So then, that led to smaller running backs. As a result of that, in high school — if I’m a 6-[ foot]- 2, 220[- pound] running back — the odds of me going to college to play running back are slim.
There are only [ a few] schools I can go to, whether it’s Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, [ Southern Calfornia], that’s about it. If you didn’t go to those schools, you probably weren’t going to play running back in the NFL. So that’s what’s happening. You don’t have as many featured backs anymore because they’re not coming out of these schools because none of them are running the football the same way they used to run it back in the day. Now you have maybe 10 schools that run it, and if those 10 schools don’t have a special back that year, then you won’t have one in the first round.
That ultimately affects the NFL because you don’t have the talent pool, so now ... that position isn’t worth as much because we don’t have the same quality of player at the position. That’s how you devalue a position. It’s not because you don’t have them, it’s because they’re rare. But when you find the rare ones, they shine like a star and you see the difference between a back and a franchise back.
Q: You have what Le’Veon Bell did last year, you have what Ezekiel Elliott is doing this year. How do you feel about these franchise running backs trying to get their money?
A: They deserve it. They’re going to carry the load. These guys are going to have upwards of 330 carries a year. That’s production; you have to pay for that. But what they do is they change the landscape of your offense if you have one of those guys who can take pressure off their defense. This is why you take Ezekiel Elliot with the fourth pick — he’s going to help your defense. ... He’s going to keep them off the field. Time of possession is a direct correlation to how good your defense is. So now, once they control the time of possession, the defense becomes fresher, better and the Cowboys have a good defense. That’s how it works.
When we played, we had a direct correlation between our defense being ranked No. 1 and our time of possession being No. 1. We had a power running game and our defense, you couldn’t figure them out because they were only out there a certain amount of plays. ... All that factors into that franchise running back.
Q: How much more juice do you think Ben [ Roethlisberger] has left in him?
A: I think he’s got a few years left, at the very least three very high- level, productive years, if he can stay healthy. ... What’s happening now, because it’s becoming more of a passing league, it’s not as physically demanding on the quarterbacks. They’re able to shine a lot longer, and it’s a different era. Everybody’s getting smaller.
In my era, everybody was 320, 330 [ pounds]. It was a proud thing to have your offensive line at 330, 340, but now the idea is smaller is better, which leads to a longer career. I think with that, if he can stay healthy, [ he has] three more highly productive years maybe followed by another two years of good football.
Q: Anything you want to say about [ former Steelers running back] Rocky Bleier before the documentary on his life airs on ESPN?
A: Rocky has always been a great human being, not just a great football player but also a great man. Obviously, his commitment to our country, a great American as well. I’m just proud that he went to Notre Dame [ laughs]. Go Irish!
Q: Anything you want to say to Steelers nation?
A: Be patient. The winning has not stopped. They just reloaded. They’re going to be good.