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Lady Steel
02-02-2015, 11:24 AM
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jerome Bettis had more than fellow Hall of Fame big backs Jim Brown and Franco Harris on his mind the night before this Super Bowl.

There was also DeMarco Murray, the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year.

“A running back, how about that?” Bettis said, flashing his trademark grin. “Maybe there's still a place in the game for guys like us.”

Maybe, as Bettis added, “everything is cyclical,” even in a scoring league.

This past season produced the emergence of Murray, who led the league with 1,845 rushing yards for Dallas, and Le'Veon Bell, who gained 2,215 total yards for the Steelers.

The postseason belonged as much to Seattle's Marshawn Lynch and New England's LeGarrette Blount as the Super Bowl participants' franchise quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Tom Brady.

It is one thing for running backs to again become focal points of offensive game plans, Bettis said. It is another for those backs to dictate the way the games are played, as Harris said was once the rule in the NFL.

Steelers chairman Dan Rooney recalled many victories because Harris or Bettis “wore down our opponents.” Bettis said he “loved watching” the likes of Murray, Bell, Lynch and Blount do similarly this past season.




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