Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Sunday September 18, 2005
Ron Cook, columnist

The hit was made, and the big crowd gasped. The runner went one way, the ball another. In an instant, both were on the Heinz Field turf. The Steelers didn’t just recover the fumble; they took control of the game. The ball carrier picked himself up slowly and walked to his bench, head hanging, all the while wondering where the train came from.

You don’t have to guess who made the play for the Steelers.

You know it was James Farrior.

Doesn’t he always make the big play for the Steelers’ defense?

Farrior said he wants to have a better season than last year, when he was the Steelers’ Most Valuable Player and first team All Pro and played like it in the 34-7 victory against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. His defense had a rough start, allowing the Titans to take the opening drive for a touchdown. After the Steelers answered with a touchdown, the Titans were moving again when Farrior changed the course of the game.

He stood up running back Travis Henry in the hole over right guard, knocking Henry backward and the ball flying. Ike Taylor recovered for the Steelers, who turned the gift into a field goal and never looked back.

“You never know when big plays are going to happen so you have to go hard every play.” Farrior said.

The man has a gift for making them.

There wasn’t a better all around inside linebacker in the NFL last season. Farrior’s versatility showed in his statistics: a team high 119 tackles, three sacks, four interceptions, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

He made the biggest play of the season in Game 6 at Dallas, turning a sure loss into an unlikely win when he forced a late fumble by quarterback Vinny Testaverde, his second sack and third forced fumble of the day, for which he was honored as the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Who knows what would have happened the next Sunday against New England if the Steelers had lost that afternoon? As it was, they crushed the Patriots, finished 15-1 in the regular season and made it to the AFC Championship game.

Only Bill Cowher knows how the voting went for team MVP, but Farrior should have been the unanimous choice. With all due respect to Hines Ward, Alan Faneca and Ben Roethlisberger, there shouldn’t have been a close second.

“I didn’t always play great games,” Farrior said. “If you sat in the film room with the coaches, you’d see I made mistakes.”

What?

Did Farrior forget to tie his shoelaces one play?

Did he mess up a high-five with Joey Porter?

Was he in the bathroom for one of Cowher’s halftime talks?

“No player has every played the perfect game,” Farrior said. “There’s always room to improve and ways to get better. That’s what I’m working to do.”

As a Steelers captain, Farrior takes that same never-good-enough approach with the defense. It didn’t matter that the titans didn’t score after the first drive. “We gave up a couple of long runs and a couple of long passes,” he said. “If we’re going to be the type of defense we want to be, we can’t do that. We expect more out of ourselves. We’re a prideful group. Against a better team – a team that’s a little more explosive – those big plays could hurt us.”

It could happen today against the Houston Texans, but it’s not likely. The Texans managed just one touchdown, 25 passing yards and 120 total yards in a 22-7 loss at Buffalo last Sunday. Quarterback David Carr was sacked five times, continuing a horrible trend that’s had him sacked 145 times in his first three-plus seasons. The poor guy could be wearing Farrior by the time the day is done.

Of course, the Texans will be looking for Farrior. He might have sneaked up on a few teams last season. Certainly, he didn’t get the recognition that fellow All Pro inside linebacker Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens did, even though he’s twice the player Lewis is at this stage of their careers.

But that was then.

This is now.

“It’s going to be my most challenging season,” Farrior said. “I’m no secret anymore. Teams are going to be game-planning for me, looking to take me out of the game.”

The Titans tried and failed.

Don’t be surprised if most teams fail with Farrior.