The Good Rashard Shows Up

When the Steelers drafted Rashard Mendenhall, I wasn't overly enthused.  The Steelers were thrilled though so I deferred to the brilliance of Kevin Colbert's drafting expertise.  Still, Mendenhall came from Illinois, a program that has struggled for many, many years to get respect.  He had an outstanding year there his final college year with almost 1,700 rushing yards, but still I was not all that familiar with him..  Who was the last Steeler that did anything from Illinois.  You know who, it was, oh, it was.........  Well, I can't find one.  I don't know any Illinois player that had been a contributor for the Steelers.  But still, I saw a story that said Mendenhall was the Illini's best running back since Red Grange.  Maybe that's why I couldn't find an Illini player that had contributed, because the only ones that existed played decades ago.

So, I was a little cautious about this Mendenhall guy that the Steelers took that year.  His premiere was delayed by his fumbling issues and his lack of familiarity with the playbook. He was talented and fast, but fumbling doesn't get any rewards.  Then, he got his first chance to play by default when Fast Willie couldn't against the Baltimore Ravens.  The Ravens wanted a piece of the rookie and that was the extent of his first season.  30 yards and finished with a broken collarbone.  But still, you can't judge a player by that short of an audition.  But, still he treated the team like they had the plague for the rest of the year.  He stayed away while the team marched to the Super Bowl.  He rejoined the team and made appearances at the end of the seasong, but the time away from the team made an unfavorable impression.

He then began his steady climb to be a respectable running back in the league. He has had a couple 1,000 yard seasons and a near thousand yarder last year, which was actually a pretty good feat with the Steelers offensive line last year.  But then, he made regrettable comments after the military caught up with Bin Laden.  He was put under a magnifying glass and became very well known, but not for good reasons.
The point is that Mendenhall has had his ups and downs in his time with the Steelers, but yesterday was definitely one of the ups.  He had a victorious return on Sunday and he looked like he wanted to run hard to prove something.  At the beginning of the year I was looking forward to seeing what Isaac Redman could do.  After the lack of production the first 3 games I was hoping to see the good Rashard Mendenhall, and that's what I saw.  I saw a running back that helped the franchise quarterback drive the team down the field to set up a Shaun Suisham game winning field goal.  I saw a man on a mission to prove his knee rehab was done and he was ready to see some action.  Let's hope we continue to see the good Rashard this season.  Let's hope we only hear the good Rashard too.