Joe Bendel
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, January 20, 2006
In each of the past two seasons, Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has gathered the team around him and recited, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."
Word for word. From memory.
"I don't know how he knows the whole thing," linebacker Larry Foote said. "It's 10 minutes long."
Most players say it is the most captivating 10 minutes they have experienced. LeBeau begins the pre-holiday ritual by discussing the author, Clement Clarke Moore, and he then tells the team what the poem (originally called "A Visit from St. Nicholas") meant to him.
"It should be recorded and put on a CD so people can buy it," cornerback Deshea Townsend said Thursday, three days before the AFC Championship game Sunday in Denver. "You should hear coach LeBeau tell this story. It is amazing. He's telling us something we've heard hundreds of times -- and he has a way of making you want to hear more."
Added safety Mike Logan, "I looked around when he was telling it this year. Not one guy blinked."
The theory goes, if LeBeau can capture the team's attention with a 501-word poem, imagine what he can do when explaining zone blitzes, fire zones and the nickel, dime and quarter packages.
He is like the E.F. Hutton of the NFL -- when he talks, everybody listens.
"I think the important thing to know about him is that you don't want to disappoint him; you don't want to let him down," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "He's one of those people who don't make a big fuss when you make a mistake. And because he's like that, it makes you want to play for him even more."
LeBeau is the oldest member of the Steelers coaching staff at 68 -- he's five years younger than chairman Dan Rooney -- yet he has a way of getting through to players who are as much as 45 years his junior.
That's why he is every bit as effective in communicating with rookie linebacker Andre Frazier as he was in communicating with Frazier's father 25 years earlier. The elder Frazier played linebacker for LeBeau in the early 1980s, when the latter was the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.
"He might be older, but you would never know it," Frazier said. "He's like one of us."
LeBeau has transcended age, finding ways to move forward in the ever-changing NFL. He is credited with creating the zone blitz -- in which defensive linemen drop into coverage where linebackers are typically deployed -- and his weekly game plans are enough to make even the greatest quarterbacks feel dizzy.
Just ask Peyton Manning.
The Steelers made the Indianapolis Colts All-Pro look like a rookie for much of last Sunday's 21-18 Divisional playoff victory at the RCA Dome.
"He always had us in the right places," said linebacker James Farrior, who had 2 1/2 sacks. "If he tells us to be in a certain spot, we know it's going to work. His word is God."
Clearly confused, Manning threw high, threw low, threw wide and threw wildly. He was sacked a career-high five times -- due to LeBeau's blitz scheme with safety Troy Polamalu and the linebackers -- and completed just two passes for 37 yards in the pivotal first quarter, when the Steelers took a 14-0 lead.
Manning quickly discovered why LeBeau is the NFL's version of the "Master of Disguise," as he never seemed to know where the Steelers were coming from. LeBeau's finest work might be unfolding right now with the way he is utilizing Polamalu, who attacks (or fakes attacks) from all angles at any moment.
"We just try to get the best players in the best positions to succeed," said LeBeau, who's defense ranked third against the run and yielded just one 100-yard rusher this season.
Although LeBeau has been in the NFL for 47 years -- 15 as a cornerback with the Detroit Lions (62 interceptions) and 32 as a coach (including two-plus as a head coach in Cincinnati) -- a Super Bowl title has eluded him.
He's been to the big game twice with the Bengals and once with the Steelers in '95, but he has yet to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
"I'm not thinking about those things right now," LeBeau said. "My concern is the Denver Broncos."
LeBeau is scheming to stop the league's No. 2 running game, led by 1,000-yard rusher Mike Anderson and near-1,000-yard rusher Tatum Bell, along with the always dangerous Jake Plummer, who is having his best season as a pro with 18 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
If the Steelers struggle defensively at Mile High, it won't be from a lack of preparation. And LeBeau will surely pass along one of his favorite quotes: "Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes, the bear gets you."
"I apply that to the game of football," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "But I also apply it to life. He teaches us about reality, and we feel honored to have him as our coach."
Joe Bendel can be reached at joecbendel@aol.com or (412) 320-7811.
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