Jerome Bettis Football Quotations

He's the reason this football team has been able to be so consistent through the years. His philosophy and his makeup decide the makeup of this football team, so we're a physical bunch of guys, tough-minded, because he's a real reflection of that. He's been that way since the day I got here, and our teams have been reflective of that since the day I got here. I think he's been the driving force.

We never played the disrespect angle. We knew what it was. It wasn't disrespect. It was us being the sixth seed, so it wasn't disrespect. No one believed we could do it but us. We didn't feel disrespected, we just knew we were a better football team than people portrayed us to be.

From last year to this year, he's a different quarterback. He has an understanding of what he needs to do to manage the football team. The plays he makes with his feet and throwing the ball is amazing.

In the playoffs, you play the best teams in your conference, so you're not going to be able to run the ball as well as you had during the regular season. People are missing out on that fact. It's not about just knocking your head against the wall. It's about winning the football game, so you do whatever you have to do to win.

We know we have the pieces in place, ... That's evident. You look at last year, with us being a game away. So we know that. The question going into this camp is can we create that same chemistry? Can everybody play at that same level that we played last year? Can we be that same football team? In this business, that's the hardest thing to do.

I think he understands he doesn't have to win the game. I think last year he'd be the first one to tell you he was of the thought I have to win the football game. He just needs to make the plays he's supposed to make, and we'll win the football game as a result of that.

I didn't play football until high school. I bowled until high school. I bowled. Football was a second thought, bowling was my first love.

Pittsburgh is special to me. Hopefully, I meant a lot to them because of what I've done on the football field.

Toward the end of the game today, I said we've been hunting these teams, trying to get respect. And now maybe it's a situation where we're going to be hunted. We've got to understand the situation and stay as hungry and keep trying to prove that we're a good football team.

The football team we played was expecting us to the run the football. They did everything assuming we were going to run the football, so we knew we could take advantage of some things.

Don't believe that. Seattle has got a good football team. If we don't prepare and we don't get ready, they are going to kick our butts.

That's the one thing I want people to remember. That when you saw (number) 36, you saw a real football player who loved the game, tried to show it every day and respected everybody around the game.

I don't think you could have scripted it any better. I think the script right now, if somebody sent it to Hollywood they would turn it down because they would say it couldn't happen. It's been an incredible ride. The football gods have really shined the light on me.

I really don't have it figured out yet. I want to do some television work but it depends on what opportunities are there, football related. Right now everything is an option.

We made some bad decisions and we gave the football away. You can't do that,

They just beat the defending champs and, conversely, they watched the film of us losing to that same football team. So they're going to have a lot of confidence saying, 'We just smacked around the team that just beat this team.' You've got to think they'll have some confidence.

The first year, you're a fish out of water; you have no idea of the offense. Year two, you know the offense, you're comfortable. Now you can see the confidence come out, so now you see an athlete look like a totally different football player because they've got confidence, they're playing with authority and they understand where they need to be. So it's not so much that they get better in terms of talent, but you can see the talent.