Jerome Bettis on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 12/21/23

[Applause] Jerome Bettis joining us the Hall of Fame running back and W a Super Bowl six Pro bowls and uh 10th overall pick by the Rams out of Notre Dame back in 1993 busy good to have you back on I want to play something that uh your former quarterback Ben rothberger had to say

Talking about the Steeler tradition then I’ll get your reaction to this here’s Ben rothberger I felt that certain guys on the team aren’t in it for the team they’re in it for themselves well now some of the guys on the team are saying the same thing so maybe I wasn’t too far

Off when I said that but I know that I’m retired I just don’t you know I’m not in the locker I get it but it just feels like that it just feels like that’s something that’s kind of been lost on this team a little bit you it feels like

The Steeler way is just not they just wasn’t that Steeler tradition passed down and I just you have it on defense don’t get me wrong but you don’t have it on offense right now and it’s it’s just making it really hard you’re not seeing in my opinion the toughness on offense

But I just feel like people aren’t afraid to play the Pittsburgh Steelers anymore for for whatever you know whatever that is but maybe the the the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is is is is done maybe it needs to be formed a new kind of way I don’t know

It’s Ben rothberger his football in podcast all right Jerome what do you think uh Ben is getting it well I I think he’s getting at the fact that for one uh they haven’t needed a uh a quarterback for the last what 14 15 years whatever it was he was there so

There was a lot of continuity between uh uh kind of eras if you will so for I don’t a I don’t necessarily agree with that I think they have they don’t have the leadership on offense uh you got a lot of young guys on offense trying to

Find their way and that’s what you’re seeing it’s not that it’s you know it’s not the still away is gone uh it’s just that you just don’t have uh the consistency offensively and and that’s what you’re seeing out there and that’s the problem um the the leadership unfortunately you know got a Young

Quarterback if he’s not in the game then obviously who’s leading the way you know from an offensive line perspective um you don’t have those those personalities uh that stepping that’s stepping up and saying hey I’m GNA be a leader of this offense I’m gonna push us forward you know and then obviously you

Have the wide receiver um uh issues that you that you’re hearing about publicly uh and so what happens is you just don’t have the leadership on offense on defense you do and you you heard um Ben talk about the leadership on defense you just don’t have it on offense and I

Think that’s what they’re missing okay how would you feel if you were the running back for the Steelers and your wide receiver George Pickins is not blocking anybody on a run where you can score a touchdown and the guy he’s supposed to be blocking ends up with the tackle what would you

Say I would I will pull him to the side say come on man listen we all in this together if you want me to block that linebacker when it’s blitz so he can get the ball to you I want you to do the same for me so you wanna you want to

Express to them the importance of you know each and every play right and so yeah you can come down on them in the media uh but I promise you that’s not going to turn turn his switch on uh it’s going to be you putting your armor on

Him say hey man listen we all into this together and if you look good we all look good if you look bad we all look bad that’s the bottom line I think that’s part of that’s part of the the leadership that’s missing you just don’t

Have that that guy to say hey man come here listen yeah here’s the what’s what’s Mike tomlin’s role in all of this you’re saying the players got to be accountable so so yeah yeah it’s it’s a fine line the head coach it’s hard for him to be the Buddy too

Right so he’s got to be the heavy in this in this particular role you need someone internally in that locker room that can pull him aside say listen man I’m in this I’m in the same boat that you’re in I’m with you and so the head coach can’t necessarily play that role

That’s why you you need that strong leader offensively that can pull him aside say look man we all getting hammered here so here’s the deal we all got to put more effort for there we all have to do this and the key word is we and when you don’t have that person

Saying we that’s where it it falls apart you know I started to think about running backs when I knew you were going to be on that at some point it’s going to be hard to quantify who’s a Hall of Famer because it’s probably going to be more about receptions than it’s going to

Be about yards like Christian mcaffrey is he a Hall of Famer ah wow it’s you know what that’s a that’s a tough one early in his career uh you know unfortunately he he didn’t put up those the same numbers that he’s putting up now um you know obviously

Injury and that kind of thing so with him you got to look at longevity you gota look at you know will he be able to to do this for 10 12 years uh so that we can look at his body at work and say absolutely okay but who’s playing now

That you think is going to the Hall of Fame at running back is Derk Henry a Hall of Famer right now he’s he still has to do more I think everybody still has to do more that’s the that’s the thing it’s not it’s not a clear science one

Um I can promise you that uh so that’s that’s part of the issue but you also have to you know have to you know lead your team from a successful standpoint now you know they he’s made some uh I think AFC championship games or something like that so that that bodess

Well for him so that that’s part of um all of that that that they look at so I you know for me to say yeah he’s a Hall of Famer I’d be doing uh the Hall of fam a disservice if I was and if I said he’s

Not I’d be doing I’d be doing the player disservice so I just think they’re they’re on the road if they have to just continue with that with that success for a long period of time but they’re not going to get to 12,000 rushing yards that just not going to happen anymore

And it used to be if you got to 10,000 you got into the Hall of Fame and I don’t know if we go back to maybe that number that’s the magical number and you throw in you know yards some scrimmage with receptions yeah so so here here’s I

Think is is what how we have to look at it you see the receivers um the goal line has been been moved um and I say that because I’ve got a guy who’s who’s his goal line has been moved in Hines Ward he played in an era

Where we ran the football right but he was one of the best uh in that era he did it all and then at the end of his era the goal line move because the goal post move rather because now you got all these guys you know catching 115 120

Balls a year when he was in an era where when you caught 85 balls a year that put you at the top of the league so now his numbers are skewed because he kind of was in both of those eras so I think what you look at with the running back

It’s going to be a different era in terms of the numbers so you’re going to look at it a different way and you’re going to look at those numbers a different way because you know it is a passing era hin W is a Hall of Famer and

You know what I would do if I’m Mike Tomlin I ask Hines W to come in to teach my wide receivers how to be tough and be multi-dimensional not just come out there what is it about Diva receivers in Pittsburgh uniforms and like what’s going on here that’s not a diva

Town it’s not it’s not it’s a blue collar town with um with people who love to to roll their sleeves up and go to work so yeah that that is it’s an issue it’s a concern uh but you know that’s one of those because you don’t have that

Guy to say hey man listen you know get your ass in gear let’s go man bring in hin Ward just bring him in or just show video of Hines Ward and just say that’s that’s all you got to show that’s what I would do that’s what I would do no doubt

About it did Hines ever hit you accidentally he hit me all the time we always had to we had a a little thing we would do that you know about touchdowns whoever scored the touchdown right and so we would yell no no if he was going

In or if I was going in and it was a funni thing because everybody thought we were we hated each other but it was it was this little thing that we used to do uh trying to beat each other at the touchdown so there was a there was maybe

A time or two where he um he he he said he was trying to help push me in the end zone he was just giving me a shot he’s Jerome bet Us by the way Jerome has a blue and gold Golf Classic that takes place in the Hamptons next May 20th and

21st so uh the event benefits Notre Dame endowment and the bus stops here Foundation more information blue and gold classic.com would you have switched positions coming into the NFL if like like if you were coming out of Notre Dame now would you be drafted high as a running

Back wow that’s a great I don’t think so well I I think uh I would be drafted about no not the 10th pick in in the draft like uh I have been um because I think right now you have to be so Dynamic uh catching the football I think

That becomes part of um uh your your DNA it has to be and when you look at the guys who’ve been drafted High that’s that’s a big part of what they do so I think when we look at Christian mcaffrey he’s kind of identified what the new uh

Running back should look like right what he should be what what characteristics he should have but I will say this uh what people don’t really notice about Chris mcaffrey and I’ve watched him ever since he was in Carolina he’s a really good Insider Runner um I watched him

When he was at Stanford they he is and so a lot of people think because of his size you know he’s he’s he’s a really good in between the tackles Runner and I think that’s what you have to be to play in the NFL you can’t be a guy that plays

On the edge you’ve got to be a guy who’s a downhill in between the tackle guy in order to have that kind of success you don’t have to be the biggest guy in the world but you’ve got to know how to to um to work your way U on a on the

Football field in between the tackles that that hurt Reggie Bush that he wasn’t a you know between the tackles kind of running back and and mcaffry is built different than Reggie Bush but Reggie wasn’t a between the tackles running back that’s right and and in the

NFL the difference here is is in college you’re you’re faster than you know a lot of the guys on the edge because a lot of those guys won’t make it to the NFL right well in the NFL every guy deserves to be there and every guy has has that

Talent so you’re not gonna run some outrun somebody to the to the edge to the corner you you gotta get in you go inside to get outside and that’s what that’s what um the the running backs in the NFL that’s the biggest difference from college to Pro you have to learn

You have to run inside to get outside if you don’t do that it won’t ever happen you got to be able to make a guy Miss and I think when you look at the the great running backs they’ve always had the ability to make a guy Miss because

There’s the guy is going to be where he’s supposed to be that’s the NFL these guys are are on defense they’re talented uh they’re disciplined so they’re GNA be there is you got to be able to make a miss and so I think when you look at Christian mcaffrey he does that ex

Exceptionally well uh or you gotta be able to run him over like Dereck hry do you still have a beef with anybody that cheap shotted you no I don’t I don’t I I I had I had you know my my group of guys there was some know

A guy here I it was a guy for the Chargers who I was always after uh a couple guys from the Titans that I was always after but but uh give me a name give me a name no no no no I’m not gonna

Do it I’m not gonna do it I I I kind of I I turned uh you try to take me back to the dark side no I have turned that chapter okay all right all right but I tell you what yeah if I if I

Saw him on the street I I would do a double take like do I do I go in and give a forearm shiver or I like that bus told me one time a couple years ago that he could actually hear a guy kind of whimper when he ran

Into him a defensive player right yes that was that was fun because obviously you you don’t get that many opportunities but how did it sound when you run into this defensive player you see them and you and you you’re breaking their wheel so you can kind of hear it it’s like

And it’s just a long like hurt that you can kind of feel and when you look at in the eyes then they don’t want to look at you that’s when you know you have broken their will and you don’t even have to worry about that guy anymore you know

He’s he’s gonna make it look like he’s trying to dive but he’s diving straight to the ground he wants you to jump over we bring up your your run against Brian irocker whenever we see ear Locker we always bring up the Drome Bettis run and

He’s like oh why you got to bring that up we bring up when Tom Brady uh you know shifted uh you know kind of deed him there and then we always bring up you running over ear Locker yeah he is he’s pissed off about

That to this day um but what I will I tell him that hey think about this we we exchanged shoes after the game so he has that the shoes that actually that ran them over so how many guys in the history of the game have the actual

Shoes from the guy that ran you over you can say you know what these are the shoes but but what’s weird is when he lies down to go to sleep he puts those shoes on his chest because that’s what he remembers about you running him over

Well he knows where they fit he he’s gota kind of knows where to put him right wait why didn’t you GNA kill me he gonna kill me you know that right no no he’s not because we saw what happened on the football field uh but why didn’t you

Exchange Jerseys did you ever do that when you played you know what I did a little bit not a whole lot um it was hard for me to get the Jersey off so so I wasn’t doing much exchanging uh from that standpoint so the shoes were

The right thing to do and what I did was you know a lot of guys do uh the jerseys and so I just I thought so much of of Brian that I went into their locker room afterwards uh out of respect for him and wanted to change uh the shoes because I

Just I felt that there was some things uh that are espe you can get a Jersey from a guy but when you get somebody’s shoes it it it you know it means something and it shows something so I wanted to do something a little different uh so I exchange different

Things from with different people I’m sure herlocker saw you coming into the locker room it’s like you’re the last guy he wants to see coming in how about you send him a Christmas card not hey Brian here’s the shoot I ran you over with the key is to immediately get right

Back in there and make them feel good so that they don’t hate you so the longer you go without that that connection they gets they get madder and madder right they get more pissed off so I was glad I diffused it early but you never did this

You didn’t do this with Ray Lewis did you no absolutely not that the Ravens you would I would not be caught dead in that l room I tell you that but well no you might be caught dead in that locker room that’s that’s right I would be dead

If I was in the locker room I promise you that but I I will say this about Ray Lewis we have become great friends um and we were friends then we just were friends that really didn’t speak to each other um but we have become great friends uh since our time

On the field great to talk to you as always Merry Christmas to you thanks for joining us boss thank you appreciate it that’s a Jerome Bettis Hall of Fame running back MN his golf tournament blue and gold classic.com take a break play of the day up next