October has evolved to be the business months of the year for us as various fall sports seasons ramp up and does not allow me to follow many professional sports including one of my favorite teams in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My interest in the Steelers goes back to my playing days in Tackle football, as the name for our youth football program teams once we got into the Bantam age group (13-14 years of age) was the Steelers and our uniforms were the same black and gold as Pittsburgh Steelers iconic franchise.  How can anyone argue that their 70’s dynasty team was not one of the best EVER as they won four Superbowls under the guidance of the Chuck Noll as head coach, Terry Bradshaw at QB, the iron curtain on defense (Mean Joe Green, LC Greenwood, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White), running back Franco Harris and the infamous Lynn Swan among other Hall of Famers.

This year the Steelers have been served a tough blow losing their QB Ben Roethesberger early in the season for the remainder of the year, and their backup Mason Rudolf who was concussed when he was sandwiched by two Baltimore Ravens players and has been the case with NFL officiating issues there was no penalty called on the play.

The result of the head contact that Mason sustained was something that you never want to see in the game and after the fact, Baltimore player was fined $21,000 for head contact which many argue was the NFL’s attempt to make amends for no penalty being called.

Having suffered 3 major concussions myself, the last I not only was knocked unconscious as Mason was but suffered a memory loss of approximately 2 weeks, I can relate all too well what it’s like to recover from this type of injury.

Although the NFL has made significant improvements in player safety, particularly for the quarterbacks, I don’t think anyone would disagree that they still have their work cut out for them.

As a result of Mason following return to play protocol (thankfully he should be able to return to play this season), the Steelers were forced to play their third-string QB Devlin Hodges,  nicknamed duck caller, who started his first game this weekend and lead the Steelers to their second victory of the season (now 2-4) over the LA Chargers (albeit Phillip Rivers et al did come back from 24-3 to almost tying the game in the 4^th quarter for a final score of 24-17)

During the broadcast, Chris Collingsworth, colour commentator for Sunday Night Football, spoke about the fact that this was the Steelers Way, they have been known for their strong defense, gritty coaches (i.e. Bill Cower and his infamous scowl) and their tough defensive play since the inception of the franchise in the 60’s.

What many don’t know is that current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is second in all-time winningest NFL coach who has coached for over 10 years only to Bill Bellichek, the long-time head coach of the New England Patriots dynasty team with Tom Brady at the helm.

Not only are they having to sustain the season-ending injury of Ben this year, they also had to deal with offseason theatrics from two of their former Killer B’s, Antonio Brown and Le’ Veon Bell.

Bell opted to sit out all of last season to hold out for a better contract (is now with the New York Jets), and the antics of AB became so ridiculous that I shook my head in disbelief from his demand for a trade, the LA (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders taking a chance on him only for him to be let go and outright disappointment by head Coach John (Chucky) Gruden due in part to his whining about having to wear a new helmet, then the very same Patriots committing to a contract after he was released for AB only to reneg on it a few days later because of sexual abuse allegations that have come forth.

Good luck getting any of that $40 Million in guaranteed salary AB you are seeking, you demonstrated to the masses via your selfishness and lack of character why you do not deserve it.

Both players proved to be major distractions last and in the offseason but the Steelers found a way to overcome the adversity as they always have.

James Conner, the new tailback for the Steelers story has been well documented, growing up in Pittsburgh, playing for Pitt in college, suffering an MCL tear in his Junior season and then was diagnosed with Hodgkins in his 3rd year at Pitt.

He immediately underwent chemo with his coach and fellow teammates at his side while he fought his battle while he continued to work out with his team to stay in game shape.

Just 4 months after final chemo treatment he successfully fought cancer and returned to play for his team and was selected as one of the captains in his senior season.

Following that season, in 2017 his dream was realized and he was drafted by the Steelers in the third round and is now their starting running back, replacing Who?

The reason that I can relate to his story of the fight he went thru, I lost my mother to Cancer and remember all too well talking about winning the battles of the day to ultimately win the war, something I learned from my many years of playing and now coaching competitive sports.  Both my inlaws have dealt with Cancer and yet again we recently found out my mother in law has been diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time, in the very same month that the NFL and numerous other organizations are doing awareness campaigns for same.

 

Ironically I watched the Steelers game this past weekend when I was up in the interior to shut down my inlaws trailer and we spent a lot of time with them over the course of the weekend and I was reminded of the importance of fighting thru adversity yet once again by my mother in law.

One of former Steelers player DeAngelo Williams lost his mother to breast cancer and recently committed to pay for 500 Mammograms. Jerome Bettis, AKA The Bus, also received tons of support from his Steelers organization when his mother fought and successfully won her battle with Breast Cancer including a huge hug from Ben last season prior to a home game.

 

 

Like James Conner, my mother, Jerome Bettis’s Mother, my mother in law refuses to go down without a fight and will be undergoing her second surgery and chemo to follow starting Oct. 23rd so like it was the first time the support people provide via fundraising activities for those impacted is really close to home for us.

Per the late great coach that Scott Stuart shares in the video we highlight in this weeks newsletter;

Don’t Give Up.

Don’t EVER give up.

Kudos to the Steelers, the leadership of Mike Tomlin, players like James and all the others that adhering to the Steelers way as a blue-collar team from Pittsburgh whose uniform colours highlight the steel industry in their town, Black and Gold.  The fact that they iconic helmet stickers are based on the original steel mark of the steel industry Pittsburgh is known for and are only placed on  the right side of the helmets as a result of the early success they had in the 60’s when they were testing how the stickers would look.  The Pittsburgh Steelers epitomize the very city they represent where many are employed by various US Steel manufacturers.

The same uniform colours hold true for The Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) and Pirates (MLB) teams as tributes to their hard-working blue collar origins.

Ironically, Penguins former player, captain and now owner Mario Lemieux also dealt with Hodgkins and has been instrumental in rebuilding the Penguins to be one of the NHL’s top franchises thanks to drafting another pretty good player, Sidney Crosby among others.

Kudos to the Steelers for continuing to demonstrate their blue-collar routes, they nor the fans for never giving up and waving their terrible towels no matter what the circumstances of forms of adversity they face.

I suspect whatever other hurdles they face the remainder of this and seasons to come in future will continue to be dealt with “The Steelers Way”.