Jerome Bettis...The Battering Ram!

*HornedHell* · #1 (**permalink**) -22-10-2001

The Battering Ram...err..I mean The Bus ran all over Tampa Bay yesterday just like he has the entire league this year. Time to give Jerome and the Steelers some credit. THEY ARE FOR REAL!
Good job Pittsburgh PUMMELING the Bucs.

*RammStein* · #2 (**permalink**) -22-10-2001

I have always been upset about Jerome being away from the Rams .. just imagine .. Flauk and Jerome .. :rolleyes:

*RAMble On* · #3 (**permalink**) -22-10-2001

There could be a repeat of Super Bowl 14.

I would love to get payback after all these years!

*HornedHell* · #4 (**permalink**) -23-10-2001

I think this would be a great Super Bowl. I am hoping for the Rams vs the Steelers or the Ravens. A real defensive/ offensive showdown for all the marbles. Faulk vs Bettis!

I have a number 36 jersey too...Sad the day he left town.

*Atlas* · #5 (**permalink**) -23-10-2001

What's wrong with a rematch with the Titans??...Besides the fact that the Titans' secondary looks like swiss cheese.

*HornedHell* · #6 (**permalink**) -24-10-2001

Tell you what, if the Titans get whipped by Pittsburgh next MNF, their asses are DONE! They win and they jump right back into the mix...My personal opinion...They get done.

*Aries51* · #7 (**permalink**) -24-10-2001

I also like Bettis.I still have a couple of his rookie cards,but one of the stupidest moves I have made was selling a Jerome Bettis 5 card set that included an autograph.I'm still kicking myself over that one.The Steelers do look good and the game between them and the Titans is of great importance to that division.

GO RAMS! STAY FOCUSED! WIN!

*Atlas* · #8 (**permalink**) -24-10-2001

Honestly, at this point, I don't think the Ravens or the Titans would stand a chance in hell against the Rams.

The Titans couldn't stop a cold with that secondary, right now. And the Ravens are looking every bit like the flukes they are. They can't seem to stop the deep ball anymore, which just so happens to be one of the Rams' trade marks.

The Steelers, however, would make a great matchup. You guys seem pretty good at stopping others from passing on you. And it would be interesting to see the Rams defense face off against three Steelers that run over 5.0 yards a carry each.

*puts on dork glasses and opens up text book*

Quote:

Can Pittsburgh ride The Bus into the record books?
by Tony Nistler, STATS, Inc.
Monday, October 22 Updated 3:03 PM EST

One of the biggest surprises in the NFL standings is the 4-1 record of the Chicago Bears, who overtook Green Bay for sole possession of the first place in the NFC Central with a 24-0 blanking of Cincinnati Sunday.

But right behind the Bears on the "Wow-factor!" scale have to be the Pittsburgh Steelers, who sit alone atop the AFC Central with a 4-1 mark of their own. Picked to finish somewhere south of the Ravens, Titans and Jaguars in what was expected to be one of the most physical divisions in football, the Steelers have muscled their way to the top on both sides of the ball.

Nowhere has that muscle been more evident than in a running game that has averaged 197.6 yards through five outings. Jerome Bettis now has posted four straight 100-yard rushing efforts, and with 550 yards on the ground already this year, he's well on his way to besting his single-season watermark of 1,665 yards set in 1997. What's really been telling, however, is how efficiently The Bus -- and the rest of the Pittsburgh rushing attack -- has been operating. Bettis has amassed those 550 yards on just 93 attempts, giving him a gaudy 5.91 yards-per-carry average. Right behind him are Amos Zereoue (5.70 average on 37 attempts) and Kordell Stewart (5.28 average on 32 attempts). As a team, the Steelers are pounding out 5.85 yards per rush attempt, a figure that is more than a full yard better than any other NFL club. In fact, Pittsburgh is positioned to become just the 12th team since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to average at least 5 yards per rush attempt for an entire campaign:

Most Rushing Yards Per Attempt -- 1970-2000
Year Team Avg. (Yds-Att) Made Playoffs?
1997 Lions 5.51 (2,464-447) Yes
1984 Rams 5.29 (2,864-541) Yes
1990 Lions 5.27 (1,927-366) No
1998 ***** 5.18 (2,544-491) Yes
1994 Lions 5.12 (2,080-406) Yes
1973 Bills 5.10 (3,088-605) No
1972 Steelers 5.07 (2,520-497) Yes
1975 Bills 5.06 (2,974-588) No
1985 Colts 5.03 (2,439-485) No
1999 ***** 5.01 (2,095-418) No
1971 Dolphins 5.00 (2,429-486) Yes

The 11 teams that made our list had a few well-known names in their backfields. Guys like Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, O.J. Simpson, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka and Charlie Garner chewed up large chunks of yards with the best of them, and so far the 2001 model of The Bus has been no exception. Pittsburgh leads the NFL this season with 32 runs of more than 10 yards, and nine runs of 20 or more yards.

The question now is whether the Steelers' running game will have enough gas to carry the team into the postseason, as well as into the all-time record book. Only six of the 11 teams to average at least 5 yards per rush since '70 made the playoffs, and only the '71 Dolphins played in a Super Bowl. Even the team that holds the all-time single-season record of 5.74 yards per attempt -- the Jim Brown-led 1963 Cleveland Browns -- was left out of the postseason. Still, all but three of our 12 teams (including the '63 Browns) finished the regular season with a winning record, which is something that few thought the '01 Steelers had much of a shot at just a few short weeks ago.

Ok. I'm done.

**txramsfan** · #9 (**permalink**) -25-10-2001

I used to think that no team with a QB the caliber of Kordell Stewart couldn't possibly make the playoffs, much win the Super Bowl, but I look at what Dilfer did last year and you never know. If the Steelers D is for real, they will be tough for the AFC powers of the Raiders and well, the Raiders.