Glad, I came back to this thread. Awesome!

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It never occurred to me that Lewis wanted Deebo to be what Farrior had been to him, but I think you’re probably right. I can never think of Harrison’s journey from knucklehead to legend (for want of a better single word) without thinking of the part that Farrior and his other teammates must have played in that.

But such different personalities. Farrior is still one of the Steelers I miss the most because he was so clearly the captain of the defense in all the ways someone should lead–tough, encouraging, calm, knowing when to get people ramped up. I didn’t care much for Foote, really, and got annoyed when people made it sound like they were interchangeable, and I still think everything dropped off once Farrior was gone. But, Deebo might be a great example to others but he still lacks something it takes to lead a team. Maybe he doesn’t care enough to take a hand in shaping others. Troy didn’t have that either and he too was a great example.

I agree with you completely on the culture that made Joey and James better men as well as better players. I don’t know much about Kirkland as a leader but both Deebo and Joey could have been Burfict and had plenty of “Burfict-like” moments. As for Vontaze himself, he could be something amazing as a player if he learned to play within the lines. There’s actually something sad about whatever has gone wrong with him that’s gotten lost in all this.

Earthling

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I can’t help but think Marvin Lewis wanted James to be a Farrior, Aaron Smith, Levon Kirkland type figure to his troubled young LB, to show him the work ethic that would bring success and the focus to keep the stupid parts out of his game.

James made hits like Burfict made on Brown regularly.
Joey Porter was known to fight, and try to fight opposing players off the field.

But both kept it together and mostly legal during the games. I have to give the Steelers culture a lot of that credit, with guys like Kirkland and Farrior especially.

I wonder if Burfict is the guy who can’t get it right, or if he could have in a different environment, if he couldn’t keep it to what James and Joey were able to if he had that kind of leadership from his peers.

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This is what I like about Deebo.

A part of his image is that he’s a “manly man” the way 9th grade boys and those who think that way like to define manly. He’s big, strong, tough, and mean–people are afraid of him. He could be that and that alone, and a lot of men would be thrilled to never step outside the image. He did, after all, pose with guns crossed on his chest. Big guns. He has pit bulls and lifts ridiculous amounts of weight and posts photos of himself covered with needles and/or scowling as he’s scaring his teammates.

But he also showed up when Hines Ward retired and waved a big cloth and laughed and pretended to wipe tears to tease HInes. He showed up when Hines went on Dancing with the Stars and pretended to threaten a judge. He didn’t try to hide his tears when he talked about missing Dick Lebeau. He sometimes can’t stop himself from smiling when AB is doing one of those silly “What It is” interviews. He constantly posts photos of his kids and his dogs and he gives away a lot of things–tickets, shoes, little Deebo Christmas tree ornaments. (I’m still fascinated by that last one.) He seems to answer questions seriously and honestly, even if his answers aren’t what he should say. I have come to trust him.

He has a game mode–he’s Deebo, the bully. That isn’t all he is and he’s not afraid to let people know that. I think he could have been an entirely different person if he didn’t become a Steeler, perhaps someone more like Burfict. In a video of the 2008 Steeler defense, his teammates tease him and make him laugh. Troy does something silly as Deebo shows off his muscles and someone else is being funny–Ryan Clark maybe. They encouraged him to laugh at them and himself, not be a macho jerk. I always remember James Farrior talking about one of the times Harrison was fined–he said he immediately went to his house “to make sure he was okay” and James was less angry than he had been a previous time. “I see a little personal growth there,” Potsie said with his usual wry sense of humor. And it moved me: that Farrior saw this as part of being a team mate (and captain) and that this is what Deebo understood as his team. I think it made a huge difference for James Harrison and part of the reason he evolved from the knucklehead he was. That’s worth thinking about–how his teammates shaped him and what they valued and what he become.

FInally, my favorite Deebo moment.

I think it might have been the Thanksgiving loss to the Ravens but maybe not. I don’t have the memory so many of you do for exactly what game something happened. It was a loss to the Ravens, a terrible one. I was very disappointed to see Troy looking defeated with his head in his hands far sooner than he should have given up. But Deebo never gave up. He stood on the sidelines while the offense was on the field, his helmet in his hand and a furious look on his face, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. As if he were thinking: I did my part and they need to do theirs. Again and again, the offense sputtered, Deebo put on his helmet and ran onto the field. RAN onto the field. No one else did. I was watching the game with a bunch of people somewhere, not home, that’s all I’m sure of. The other people watching all wandered off before the end, mostly because the game was so awful at that point. I tried to turn off the tv and walk away myself but then there was another shot of Deebo looking angry, putting on his helmet as if he’d just decided he’d win this game all by himself since no one was going to help him out. And I couldn’t walk away. I thought something like: if he doesn’t give up, I can’t either. So I watched to the very end and to the very end, to the very last time the defense had to go back on the field,when it was clearly entirely hopeless and yet Deebo put on that helmet and ran onto the field as if he could still win the game.

I’ll never forget it. Not a big play, not anything exciting. Just one man refusing to give up. It may be why I love football.

Earthling

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Thug is probably overused. Burfict, Suh and Incognito fit in my book, though.

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