Missing Jerome

Missing the Bus
Saturday, May 13, 2006
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Somehow, it just didn't seem right. Since the Steelers moved into their South Side headquarters in 2000, the same name had hung over the locker in the corner. BETTIS. Sorry, but it was more than a little unsettling to check it out yesterday at the first day of minicamp and see 15 REID.

No offense to rookie wide receiver Willie Reid, who couldn't possibly know what Jerome Bettis meant to the team or this city.

It's funny, all of us have spent a lot of time and energy wondering how the Super Bowl champion Steelers are going to replace Antwaan Randle El and Chris Hope. Hardly anyone has asked about replacing Bettis' estimable presence.

It is not an insignificant issue.

The Steelers are lucky. They have a great coach -- safe to say now, a Hall of Fame coach -- in Bill Cowher, who always sets the right tone for the team. They have proven, respected veterans in Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings and Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward, who show how to be a professional by how hard they practice and play. And they have emerging superstar Ben Roethlisberger, who has come so far and done so much since he first stepped on the field for a minicamp practice two years ago.

They also have Joey Porter.

"It's Joey's team now," Bettis said in the wee hours after Super Bowl XL, not long after he parked the bus for the final time in Detroit.

Endorsements just don't come any better than that.

"I'm ready to fill that role," Porter said yesterday.

"I asked Jerome for the blueprint a long time ago. If you're going to learn, why not learn from the best? I watched Jerome. I saw how he handled himself. He got along with everybody. You can't just think about the guys on your unit. You have to be there for everybody. I think I can be that guy. I'll be there for all my guys, setting the tempo. Even the kickers."

You read that right.

Even the kickers.

Porter also learned about leadership from Levon Kirkland and Dermontti Dawson early in his career. "Everybody followed Levon," he said, the respect still obvious in his voice. "He always had the final say about everything."

As solid as Kirkland and Dawson were, they didn't have the locker-room impact that Bettis did. You have to go back to the 1970s -- to Joe Greene and Willie Stargell -- to find a player who was so respected and admired.

You saw that during the Steelers' march through the playoffs last season, the goal seemingly every week to win another game for Bettis, to give him a chance to go out as the ultimate winner in Detroit, his hometown.

You also saw it before Super Bowl XL when the Steelers gave Bettis the incredible tribute of sending him out alone for the pregame introductions. It was Porter's idea. You can see him on the tape of the game coverage, No. 55 standing with his arms outstretched, holding back his teammates who couldn't wait to play the biggest game of their life, yet thought so much of Bettis that they gladly allowed him one final terrific moment in the spotlight.

It turns out Porter -- who often comes across to the rest of the NFL as a big-mouthed jerk -- has a heart.

Not that he wants other teams to know.

"It wasn't a hard sell to the other guys," Porter said of his Bettis tribute. "They love Jerome, too."
Porter should be so lucky to be so loved when he retires.

It is a natural progression, Porter becoming more of a leader. He long has provided the emotional energy for the Steelers. His face -- usually snarling and yapping at opponents at the 50-yard line during the pregame stretch -- has been a prominent face of the team, almost as much as Cowher's with that glare and big jaw.

Sometimes, Porter doesn't even wait until game day to snarl and yap.

It happened before the Indianapolis playoff game last season when he insinuated the Colts were soft. He then walked the walk, playing a marvelous game, sacking Peyton Manning twice late in the fourth quarter.

It also happened before the Super Bowl when he used the word "soft" -- the heck with insinuations -- to describe Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens because he thought Stevens had disrespected Bettis and his wonderful homecoming story. It's fair to assume, after watching Stevens drop several passes, that his head wasn't in the game.

That part of Porter's persona won't change.

"I've got to play angry to play good," he said.

But Porter's role must expand, especially now that Kimo von Oelhoffen has moved on, too. It's instructive that Bettis and von Oelhoffen were the two players who spoke to the team the night before the AFC championship game in Denver.

Like Porter said, he has to be there for everybody.

Even the lowly kickers.

"We've got a beautiful opportunity in front of us," Porter said. "We have a chance to win it all again.

"We'll be getting a lot of accolades from now until the season starts. People will be telling us how great we are. We can't buy into that because, once we get playing again, teams will be coming after us. We've got to show up and play."

Look for Porter to lead the way.

(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1525.)