It might have been the toughest, grittiest and most thankless job to have ever existed in the NFL and the slow disappearance of the position is the exact representation of the evolution of the game today.
The fullback. Once a position manned by some of the best players to ever lace up cleats – Franco Harris, Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, and John Riggins among the most recognizable – the fullback position made a monumental shift, especially in the 90s.
With players like Daryl Johnston, Larry Centers and Lorenzo Neal, the fullback took on a different role in that span – that of a block-only, rarely thrown to but maybe just as important player to the team’s offense.
All-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith made it no secret that one of his keys in becoming the top runner in league history was in many ways the road paved by Johnston.
In the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, they underwent the same transition in their history as the rest of the league. Harris ran for 12,120 yards and 91 touchdowns in his NFL career, and now in recent years with the likes of David Johnson, Will Johnson and even Carey Davis, the Steelers have a long history of multi-purpose fullbacks.
But somewhere in between lies a trio of block-first, tireless workers who paved the way for a running back synonymous with ‘Steelers-football’, the same player whose efforts will get him enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, Jerome Bettis.
Known as ‘The Bus’ for his size and physical ability to bowl over defenders (the black and gold certainly helped), Bettis made a name for himself known as one of the best pure power running backs in the history of the NFL. As Bettis was known as the ‘Bus’, the men who blocked in front of him became – the ‘Bus Drivers’.
Remembering the Pittsburgh Steelers ‘Bus Drivers’
Possibly a little known fact, the three best seasons yardage wise throughout the course of Bettis’ career was when he was in the same backfield of Tim Lester. The tenth round pick in the 1992 draft blocked for Bettis the first two years of his career with the Los Angeles Rams before leaving for Pittsburgh. The following year, Bettis’ last year with the Rams, the Bus only ran for only 637 yards.
Reunited with Lester a year later with the Steelers, Bettis enjoyed his best two-season stretch in his entire career – rushing for over 3,000 yards and 18 touchdowns. The two were best of friends, and inseparable on and off the field.
Lester was a plower if there ever was one, standing under six feet but weighing upwards of 230-240 pounds (pro football reference lists him at 233), but did show some ability out of the backfield. His second season in the NFL, Lester caught 18 passes – one of two seasons in which he caught ten or more passes. That same year, Lester ran for 74 yards – a career high.
He would finish his career in Dallas with the Cowboys having rushed for a total of 126 yards and two touchdowns (also added 331 receiving yards).
Back when Bill Cowher was the head coach, you could expect two things – a strong defense and a commitment to a tough, powerful running game. Such an emphasis on the power part there was, that the Steelers used a third round draft pick on a fullback by the name of Jon Witman from Penn State.
How quickly things have changed in the NFL, as in today’s game a third round pick on a fullback would have Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock up in arms on their respective stations.
While he didn’t immediately pay dividends, Witman really broke through his second year in the league as written in an old Pittsburgh Post Gazette article by Gerry Dulac, highlighting the young fullbacks come-uppance.
“You look at the times where he’s freed me up, its been great.” Bettis said in the article. “I’m happy that he’s turned it up a notch from where he was.”.
A true, blue, road paver, Witman led the way for the better part of four seasons with the Steelers, with Bettis running for 1,000 yards in each of those years. He did offer something on the side, totaling 392 all-purpose yards in his career but is most remembered for his blocking.
During the 2000 season, Witman broke his leg and was lost for the season – opening the way for undrafted rookie free agent Dan Kreider to take the reigns as the team’s starting fullback.
He started his Steeler career in an unfair fashion for the bruiser – breaking off a 22 yard run the first time he touched the ball against the Oakland Raiders. In his ten year NFL career, he would only run for an additional 122 yards.
Witman returned the following year in 2001 to play one final season with the Steelers which would be his last in the NFL. Kreider took over the full-time fullback duties and would go on to be a part of the Steelers victory in Super Bowl XL – throwing a key block in Ben Roethlisberger’s controversial touchdown run.
Three players, all unsung heroes during their time with the Steelers, played a key role in the team’s success during their tenure in Pittsburgh. As expected, because their position has become ‘outdated’ and the effort they put in didn’t show up on the stat sheets – the names Kreider, Witman and Lester aren’t remembered with the likes of other players in Steelers history.
But even in the most celebrated of individual achievements, football remains the ultimate team sport and the oft-overlooked ‘Bus Drivers’ not only had the best seat in the house but helped paved the way to a lot of those yards.
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