Thank You St Louis Rams

Thank you Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams whoever you are, don’t really care.  I doubt there’s Rams in either place, but like I said don’t really care because this is not about you, but your generosity.

After 3 effective years at Notre Dame a young running back named Jerome Bettis entered the 1993 National Football League draft.  The numbers at Notre Dame were very good.  He got his feet wet the first year, then piled up his stats the next 2 years.  He had 337 rushing attempts for 1,912 yards.  That’s a 5.7 yard average.  Not too shabby.  He had 32 receptions for 429 yards.  Again, not too bad for a big back.  He set a Notre Dame record for Touchdowns, 20, in his second year.  He had 16 rushing and 4 receiving.  He followed that up with 16 TDs his 3^rd year with 825 yards rushing and 239 yards receiving.   Those numbers were even better considering Notre Dame was stacked at that point and they had another running back named Reggie Brooks that was piling up yards and in consideration for the Heisman.

Those 3 years at Notre Dame were enough to pique the interest of many teams in the NFL.  Remember, this was 1993 when teams were looking for running backs in the first round, not 2015 when RBs have been downgraded because of the passing game.  Ironically, the move to a more pass oriented offense was instrumental in a career changing move for JB. 

In his first two years, Bettis’ coach was named Chuck.  As Chuck was good for Pittsburgh, he was also good for Jerome Bettis.  The Chuck that coached Jerome though, was Ground Chuck, Chuck Knox.  He loved to run the ball and so did Jerome. 

But, in 1993 running backs were first round stuff and high first round.  JB ended up with the LA Rams as the 10^th pick in the first round.  He ended up with 1,429 yards, 79 rushing first downs and an NFL Offensive rookie of the year trophy.  He was nicknamed the “Battering Ram” that year and for good reason.  His second year with the Rams he picked up 1,025 yards, but his yards per carry decreased.  Then, the Rams, fired their coach, packed their bags and moved to the Midwest.  They hired Rich Brooks as their coach.  Brooks moved to a passing oriented offense, and JBs numbers dropped like a rock to 637 yards, but that was with about half the carries as the previous 2 years.  So, what do you do with a future hall of famer.  You trade him, right.  That’s what you do if you’re the Rams.  If you’re the Steelers and Bill Cowher, you ride the Bus to Detroit.

Fortunately, for the Steelers and unfortunately for Bam Morris, Mr. Morris and the DEA found a trunk full of Marijuana and that was the end of the road for Bam and the Steelers.  So, they needed a new running back and Rich Brooks and his high flying air attack, were looking to unload a future hall of famer.  So, the Steelers said thank you very much, we’ll be more than happy to take him off your hands.  The Steelers gave the Rams a 2^nd rounder in 96 and a 4^th rounder in 97 and Bettis was a Steeler.

Talk about a good fit.  JB was back on a team that loved to run the ball and knew how to utilize talent and great running backs.  See Franco Harris.  From 1996 to 2001, JB piled up 1,000 yard seasons.  He accumulated 7,785 yards and 40 touchdowns.  He would most likely hold the Steelers single season rushing record if the Steelers had not been so good in 1997.  He was short by 25 yards going into the last game of the season.  The Steelers had already wrapped up their playoff spot and decided to rest him for the last game of the season.  He owns 4 of the top 10 single season rushing performances by a Steeler.

Over his Steeler career he has had various memorable performances.  One of those was pancaking of Brian Urlacher in 2005 in a crucial game marching toward the playoffs, where he ran over him like a runaway freight train or more appropriately a runaway bus.

It appeared that he might retire after the 2004 season where the Steelers fell short of the Super Bowl by one game, but he returned for 1 more memorable season and led the Steelers to the promised land….. Detroit, for a 5^th Lombardi. 

The origin of his nickname, the bus, according to Jerome, came from a teammate in college that called him bussy.  I’ll give Myron Cope unofficial credit for starting it back up when JB came to Pittsburgh because he would carry players on his back while carrying the ball to the endzone.

The Bus has been a Pittsburgh icon since the trade.  Despite the fact that Pittsburgh has had numerous players that are fan favorites, Bettis is right up there on my list of favorite players.  He has a charisma that is matched by few, his smile is right up there with another Pittsburgh icon, Hines Ward and his big play celebration dance is unforgettable to me.  So, I along with the rest of Steeler Nation would like to personally thank the Rams for giving us the Hall of Famer to be, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis.  Congratulations Jerome for being voted to the Hall of Fame.