Duane Sampson
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-- Hines Ward Doesn't Recall Bettis' Fake Injury -- Thu Aug 23, 2007 The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Steelers WR Hines Ward, who was one of RB Jerome Bettis' closest friends on the team, said he doesn't recall a situation where the former Steelers running back faked an injury in 2000 because he felt threatened about losing a roster spot to RB Richard Huntley. Ward, who joined the Steelers in 1998, two years after Bettis was acquired in a draft-day trade, said his former teammate was always being challenged for a starting job by other running backs, including Huntley and RB Duce Staley, and even lost his starting job for a brief period to RB Amos Zereoue. "For the last couple years of Jerome's career, it was always something, especially playing running back, whether it was you're getting too old or Richard came in ... RB Amos Zereoue, everyone was high on him when we went to the spread offense. He was our feature guy. Jerome was always in the mix, but I always felt there was a spot for Jerome. You can't coach the leadership and intangibles he had, on and off the field." But in his new autobiography, "The Bus. My Life in and out of a Helmet," Bettis said he faked an injury in training camp that year so he wouldn't be cut from the roster in favor of Huntley, who turned down a $2 million signing bonus from the Miami Dolphins to remain with the Steelers. "Maybe he felt threatened that way," Ward said. "He saw the team evolving to more of a passing team, to a more speedier running back who was good after the catch. But, at the end of the day, when we needed to go where we wanted, we had to rely on Jerome to run the ball, especially the year we won the Super Bowl. Those last four games that year, he carried this team and it started with that Chicago game. We, as players, we all feel threatened once in our career, to a draft pick, or through what people say. That year with Richard Huntley, if he felt that way, he put in three, four, five more good years after that. I don't buy into that."
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