Steelers’ Harrison is AP Defensive Player of Year
NEW YORK — Kent State once sent a linebacker to the Pittsburgh Steelers who epitomized everything the Steel Curtain was about.
That was Jack Lambert.
The current version of the hard-hitting, versatile and dynamic former Kent Stater in Steel City is James Harrison, The Associated Press 2008 Defensive Player of the Year.
The linebacker, who had a career-high 16 sacks to set a team record and led the NFL with a career-high seven forced fumbles, beat Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware in balloting by a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters announced Monday. Pittsburgh was the league’s stingiest in total defense, pass defense and points allowed. Harrison was its main hammer.
“That’s something that everybody in the league would love to have, to be voted the top player in the league for that year,” Harrison said. “In my mind, I think I do—and it’s going to sound boring—what the defense allows me to do and what my teammates allow me to do.”
Harrison earned 22 votes to 13 for Ware.
Baltimore safety Ed Reed, the 2004 winner, got eight votes. Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth had five and Harrison’s teammate, safety Troy Polamalu, got two.
“It couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Steelers veteran receiver Hines Ward said. “He’s worked his tail off to get to where he is. You appreciate it more, considering where he came from and how he got here.”
Harrison credited defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s schemes with allowing him, an undrafted free agent who was cut several times by Pittsburgh and once by Baltimore, to eventually become a star.
“The defense is built to play with 11 guys, and if all 11 guys are on the same page, playing the same defense on the same play, there’s nothing that can go wrong and that’s just how we feel about it,” Harrison said.
But fellow linebacker James Farrior, who has seen Harrison develop from a backup to Joey Porter into one of the game’s biggest playmakers, sees Harrison as the key.
“His whole attitude about football, I think he works harder than anybody else in this locker room,” Farrior said. “He has a great work ethic. He’s very tuned in to what he has to do to make himself better. That’s all he strives for, to try to be better than anybody else, and you can see his determination when he’s out there on the field.
“We’ve got good players on this team, and every team has good players, but he seems to be—this year and last year—making the plays that made the difference in the game.”
Harrison is the fifth Steelers player to win the award, including three Hall of Famers from the original Steel Curtain: Joe Greene (1974), Mel Blount (1975) and Lambert (1976). In 1993, Rod Woodson was AP Defensive Player of the Year, and he’s eligible for the Hall for the first time this year.
The Steelers didn’t allow a 100-yard rusher or 300-yard passer in 2008. Harrison didn’t limit his work to that stingy unit, though: Harrison also had 12 special teams tackles.
“People said I couldn’t do this or couldn’t do that,” he noted. “I was too short, too slow. Basically, I play and prepare myself in the offseason with the thoughts of what people said I couldn’t do.”
And he’s proven he can do just about everything.
January 05, 2009
January 03, 2009
Steelers revere LeBeau, the coach they call Dad
PITTSBURGH — NFL players make headlines for cursing a coach. Criticizing a coach. Calling out a coach. Demanding that a coach be fired.
Loving a coach? Now that’s a new one—except in Pittsburgh, where Steelers players have long talked of their respect, admiration and, yes, love for defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. Here’s another one: Some of them call the former star defensive back Dad.
“We love coach LeBeau,” Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu said. “I don’t think there’s anything we wouldn’t do for him.”
During a time when Chad Ocho Cinco sits out a game for getting into a dispute with a coach, and Terrell Owens makes a career out of coach-baiting, LeBeau’s relationship with his players is more like that represented in the hero-worshipping Chip Hilton and John R. Tunis football novels of a half-century ago.
And this seems so schmaltzy, it’s hard to believe it occurs in the current-day NFL. One of his players’ favorite days every season comes when LeBeau recites from memory “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” as he did last week.
His players are so devoted to LeBeau, they purchased $300 throwback LeBeau jerseys to wear to the Hall of Fame game in Canton last year to lobby voters for his enshrinement.
“I just have a lot of respect for the man,” defensive end Aaron Smith said. “What he’s done as a player and what he’s done as a coach speaks volumes for him, the way he conducts himself and carries himself and treats people.”
The way he coaches, too.
At age 71, and in a remarkable 50th NFL season—14 as a standout defensive back and 36 as a coach—LeBeau is enjoying one of his most satisfying seasons.
The Steelers’ defense is one of the NFL’s most dominant in years, allowing the fewest yards for the second successive season, plus the fewest yards passing and least number of points. The Steelers missed by fewer than 60 yards rushing of becoming the first defense since the 1970 NFL merger to lead the league in the top four defensive categories.
LeBeau is best known for popularizing the zone blitzes that swept the NFL when he was coaching Pittsburgh’s Blitzburgh defense during the 1990s. But playing for the former Bengals head coach requires much more than relying on an innovative scheme.
LeBeau’s defenses are known for maximizing talent, being well-disciplined and fundamentally sound. Some plays are risky, but each has a safety valve, too. As players such as Greg Lloyd, James Farrior, James Harrison, Joey Porter, Casey Hampton, Smith and Polamalu have proven, one can make a career out of being a LeBeau disciple.
As Harrison set the Steelers’ single-season sack record of 16 while winning a second team MVP award in as many seasons, he credited LeBeau for turning a player who wasn’t drafted out of Kent State into a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker.
“Everything I do is because of him,” Harrison said. “If he doesn’t call that defense that puts me in a position to make plays, I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”
To further understand LeBeau’s ability to communicate, motivate and innovate, consider this. It has been 15 years since LeBeau’s zone blitzes first became popular, a lifetime in a sport where today’s gimmick fast becomes yesterday’s news, yet his defenses remain as fresh and as confusing as they did then.
The Steelers played one of the NFL’s toughest schedules, yet they allowed only one team to gain 300 yards, held half of their 16 opponents to 10 points or below, and didn’t permit a passer to throw for 300 yards or a running back to gain 100 yards.
Asked why this defense is so good, safety Ryan Clark said, “Coach LeBeau’s calls. I think he’s really been smart. He calls a defense that always allows someone to be over the top in some capacity.”
And who says a coach can’t adapt as he gets older?
LeBeau knew the Steelers needed to generate a better pass rush after getting only 36 sacks last season. So he tweaked his defense to get more pressure from the front three and linebackers Harrison, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. The Steelers finished second in the league with 51 sacks, four off the club record.
“I think in the earlier days sometimes we would just completely dominate the game because people were not familiar with it (the zone blitz),” said LeBeau, who has been an assistant with five teams during his extended career. “I don’t think those situations evolve too often any more, but you can’t put on a video—be it college, high school or professional—and not see the zone blitz being evoked. It’s sound and it’s a safe way to pressure … it has evolved, but we’re still an attack defense.”
Pittsburgh has been home to some of the NFL’s best defenses—remember the Steel Curtain? Mean Joe Greene? Jack Lambert?—and statistically, this defense ranks with them.
“They look a lot like Baltimore (in 2000) when they killed everybody and won the Super Bowl,” Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said.
Much like predecessor Bill Cowher, who twice hired LeBeau to run his defense, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is a former NFL defensive coordinator who spends considerable time working on defense. Yet his players say Tomlin allows LeBeau more freedom to run the show than Cowher did.
“Dick is the guy,” Tomlin said. “But Dick will tell you, those calls are great because they’re being executed at a high level, guys like James Harrison and Co. making plays. They make the calls happen.”
LeBeau hasn’t said yet if he will return next season at age 72, but maybe he doesn’t need to. His players believe there are only two things left for them to accomplish to bring the proper credit to LeBeau:
1) Win the Super Bowl for the second time in four seasons. The Steelers have this weekend off before playing a divisional playoff game Jan. 11. 2) Gain Hall of Fame recognition for a man who ranked fourth in the NFL record book with 62 interceptions when he retired in 1972, and remains in the top eight, and has been one of the sport’s defensive innovators.
“I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame,” Smith said.
His loyal players lined up to hug him during an on-field ceremony Nov. 20 to honor LeBeau for his 50 seasons. Some had tears in their eyes, as did LeBeau.
“Anybody would love coaching these guys,” LeBeau said.
It’s obvious the feeling is mutual.
PITTSBURGH — NFL players make headlines for cursing a coach. Criticizing a coach. Calling out a coach. Demanding that a coach be fired.
Loving a coach? Now that’s a new one—except in Pittsburgh, where Steelers players have long talked of their respect, admiration and, yes, love for defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. Here’s another one: Some of them call the former star defensive back Dad.
“We love coach LeBeau,” Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu said. “I don’t think there’s anything we wouldn’t do for him.”
During a time when Chad Ocho Cinco sits out a game for getting into a dispute with a coach, and Terrell Owens makes a career out of coach-baiting, LeBeau’s relationship with his players is more like that represented in the hero-worshipping Chip Hilton and John R. Tunis football novels of a half-century ago.
And this seems so schmaltzy, it’s hard to believe it occurs in the current-day NFL. One of his players’ favorite days every season comes when LeBeau recites from memory “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” as he did last week.
His players are so devoted to LeBeau, they purchased $300 throwback LeBeau jerseys to wear to the Hall of Fame game in Canton last year to lobby voters for his enshrinement.
“I just have a lot of respect for the man,” defensive end Aaron Smith said. “What he’s done as a player and what he’s done as a coach speaks volumes for him, the way he conducts himself and carries himself and treats people.”
The way he coaches, too.
At age 71, and in a remarkable 50th NFL season—14 as a standout defensive back and 36 as a coach—LeBeau is enjoying one of his most satisfying seasons.
The Steelers’ defense is one of the NFL’s most dominant in years, allowing the fewest yards for the second successive season, plus the fewest yards passing and least number of points. The Steelers missed by fewer than 60 yards rushing of becoming the first defense since the 1970 NFL merger to lead the league in the top four defensive categories.
LeBeau is best known for popularizing the zone blitzes that swept the NFL when he was coaching Pittsburgh’s Blitzburgh defense during the 1990s. But playing for the former Bengals head coach requires much more than relying on an innovative scheme.
LeBeau’s defenses are known for maximizing talent, being well-disciplined and fundamentally sound. Some plays are risky, but each has a safety valve, too. As players such as Greg Lloyd, James Farrior, James Harrison, Joey Porter, Casey Hampton, Smith and Polamalu have proven, one can make a career out of being a LeBeau disciple.
As Harrison set the Steelers’ single-season sack record of 16 while winning a second team MVP award in as many seasons, he credited LeBeau for turning a player who wasn’t drafted out of Kent State into a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker.
“Everything I do is because of him,” Harrison said. “If he doesn’t call that defense that puts me in a position to make plays, I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”
To further understand LeBeau’s ability to communicate, motivate and innovate, consider this. It has been 15 years since LeBeau’s zone blitzes first became popular, a lifetime in a sport where today’s gimmick fast becomes yesterday’s news, yet his defenses remain as fresh and as confusing as they did then.
The Steelers played one of the NFL’s toughest schedules, yet they allowed only one team to gain 300 yards, held half of their 16 opponents to 10 points or below, and didn’t permit a passer to throw for 300 yards or a running back to gain 100 yards.
Asked why this defense is so good, safety Ryan Clark said, “Coach LeBeau’s calls. I think he’s really been smart. He calls a defense that always allows someone to be over the top in some capacity.”
And who says a coach can’t adapt as he gets older?
LeBeau knew the Steelers needed to generate a better pass rush after getting only 36 sacks last season. So he tweaked his defense to get more pressure from the front three and linebackers Harrison, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. The Steelers finished second in the league with 51 sacks, four off the club record.
“I think in the earlier days sometimes we would just completely dominate the game because people were not familiar with it (the zone blitz),” said LeBeau, who has been an assistant with five teams during his extended career. “I don’t think those situations evolve too often any more, but you can’t put on a video—be it college, high school or professional—and not see the zone blitz being evoked. It’s sound and it’s a safe way to pressure … it has evolved, but we’re still an attack defense.”
Pittsburgh has been home to some of the NFL’s best defenses—remember the Steel Curtain? Mean Joe Greene? Jack Lambert?—and statistically, this defense ranks with them.
“They look a lot like Baltimore (in 2000) when they killed everybody and won the Super Bowl,” Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said.
Much like predecessor Bill Cowher, who twice hired LeBeau to run his defense, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is a former NFL defensive coordinator who spends considerable time working on defense. Yet his players say Tomlin allows LeBeau more freedom to run the show than Cowher did.
“Dick is the guy,” Tomlin said. “But Dick will tell you, those calls are great because they’re being executed at a high level, guys like James Harrison and Co. making plays. They make the calls happen.”
LeBeau hasn’t said yet if he will return next season at age 72, but maybe he doesn’t need to. His players believe there are only two things left for them to accomplish to bring the proper credit to LeBeau:
1) Win the Super Bowl for the second time in four seasons. The Steelers have this weekend off before playing a divisional playoff game Jan. 11. 2) Gain Hall of Fame recognition for a man who ranked fourth in the NFL record book with 62 interceptions when he retired in 1972, and remains in the top eight, and has been one of the sport’s defensive innovators.
“I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame,” Smith said.
His loyal players lined up to hug him during an on-field ceremony Nov. 20 to honor LeBeau for his 50 seasons. Some had tears in their eyes, as did LeBeau.
“Anybody would love coaching these guys,” LeBeau said.
It’s obvious the feeling is mutual.
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