The Top Five Runs in the Career of Steelers Hall of Fame RB Jerome Bettis

3. Bettis Gets Sweet Revenge vs His Old Team in 1996

Bad attitude, not enough speed, overweight. Those were the claims former St.Louis Rams coach Rich Brooks had against Bettis, who he shipped to the Steelers in favor of troublemaker Lawrence Phillips in 1996.

Bettis had a huge chip on his shoulder as he and his teammates entered a week 9 affair on Sunday, November 3rd at Three Rivers Stadium. The Hall of Fame took out all his frustrations on his former team, pounding them for 129 yards on 19 carries.

With the Steelers dominating the Rams, Bettis put the game away in the first quarter with his second touchdown. From midfield the Hall of Fame back raced 50 yards past every Rams defender in his way, spiking the ball as if to do it right in the face of Brooks.

“I wanted to let them know I was a game breaker,” said Bettis after the game. “There were some comments about me not being a game breaker, and I just wanted to show them that, ‘Hey, I am a game breaker, and I can make things happen.’ A lot of people didn’t think I had the speed, so I wanted to show them a little bit.”

The Steelers ground game crushed the Rams for 248 yards on the day, with Bettis loving every second of it either in the game or on the sidelines, pouring salt in the wound to the team that shuttled him to the Steelers on draft day 1996.

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