Casey Hampton was in the middle of inarguably one of the greatest defenses of all time. The 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers drove that team to a Super Bowl championship that season, the subject of a new book. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau co-authored it, and some of his former players participated in the book launch.
Among the players who took the time out was Casey Hampton himself. And always the perfectionist, there is one thing about that 2008 Steelers team that didn’t sit right with him. It doesn’t help that certain teammates never let it sit, but I digress.
“Well, I’m gonna say this: as great our defense was that year, we had a lot of number-one rush defenses. And that year was one of the years we didn’t. We were number two against the run”, Hampton conceded. Video of the event is available on the John Heinz History Center YouTube channel.
The Steelers did rank second in run defense that year, allowing 80.25 yards per game. The Minnesota Vikings did slightly better, averaging 76.875 per game. That’s largely thanks to a sluggish finish, the Steelers allowing 552 rushing yards over the final five weeks. In the first 11 weeks, they only allowed 66.545 yards on the ground per game.
To Casey Hampton’s point, the Steelers had done better. In fact, just two years later, they allowed just 62.75 per game, among the best marks in NFL history. And yes, they finished first against the run that year, as they did in 2001, 2002, and 2004.
Rarely did they place outside the top three during Hampton’s career, the 2003 season a rare exception. But that was the dismal “Tommy Gun” year, the last time the Steelers finished below .500, leading to Ben Roethlisberger.
The thing is, though, for Casey Hampton, it wasn’t just about the Vikings. It was about Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark and those guys. Because they wouldn’t shut up, and I’m sure they still don’t.
“Me and the DBs always talked. ‘We be number one, they never beat us at nothing’. That year, they were number one against the pass and we were number two against the run”, Hampton admitted. “And I had to hear it … all the time”.
“I was pretty pissed off about that”.
LeBeau, one of the all-time leaders in interceptions as a former cornerback himself, backed Hampton, though. “I promise you, Casey, those DBs would never have been number one if you guys weren’t number one”, he said.
The Steelers drafted Casey Hampton 19th overall in the 2001 NFL Draft out of Texas. He played his entire career in Pittsburgh, all but his first three seasons with LeBeau as his defensive coordinator. His statistics will never tell you his impact on the game despite his five Pro Bowls.
Over 12 seasons, Hampton started 164 of 173 games. He recorded 398 tackles with 39 for loss, nine sacks, and four forced fumbles. In 16 postseason games, he added another 33 tackles and a sack in Super Bowl XL.
As for that 2008 Steelers run defense? Hampton and company allowed just 40.33 rushing yards per game during their playoff run.
