Ramon Foster is no Pro Bowler. But it’s sure hard to envision this Pittsburgh Steelers’ team without him. The veteran leader of this offensive line, Sunday’s game against Denver was his 100th career game. Like the road he traveled as an undrafted free agent, the game was a bumpy one but ended with a pleasant result.
Much has been made of Joey Porter rallying the team with halftime speech after the Steelers went into it down 27-13. Foster commented on what Porter said to The Fan Morning Show Tuesday morning.
“The biggest thing that he was giving us on the O-line was, hey, it shouldn’t take anybody walking across the 50 yard line for me to see the guys I saw last week [against the Bengals]. He was like, you know, this is a game that we need, and you guys have got to play like it.”
Porter is obviously referencing Vontaze Burfict’s pre-game actions the week prior, helping to light a spark under the Steelers in a dominating victory.
Foster pointed to playing with a different “mentality” in the second half as a large reason behind the comeback victory.
Spending time on the airwaves has become second nature to Foster and you can almost bet he’ll be working in the media when his NFL days are over. Hopefully, that’s still a few years away. Foster was asked about the topic and the chances he returns for 2016.
“I walked on the field after the [Broncos] game…and I was just looking, like, man, this might have been my last game at Heinz Field as far as, like, being on the home team. You never know what upper management is thinking, how the contract is going to come about…”
Foster is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He’s had another solid season, allowing just 2.5 sacks and penalized only three times. Should the team intend on starting Alejandro Villanueva at left tackle, it would hinder the team to find a new left guard and have so much inexperience along the left side. It’s reasonable to assume Foster would be fairly cheap to re-sign and open to returning to Pittsburgh.
But above all that, he’s a quality guard and leader in this locker room. It’s wise to keep those kinds of players around.
