Former Pittsburgh Steelers legend, Ike Taylor shared an amazing story on his podcast, Bleav in Steelers, which he co-hosts with Mark Bergin. The season may be over now for the Steelers but the playoffs are underway for the remaining teams. Bergin asked Taylor what his, "welcome to the NFL playoffs moment" was.
Ike Taylor, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback / Photo Credit: Al Tielemans for Sports Illustrated
Taylor said it was the 2005 season and the Steelers made it to the playoffs against all odds. They were a sixth seed and they had to win all of their playoff games on the road. Their first postseason game was the Wild Card against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincy. This was Ben Roethlisberger's first full season as a starter and there was a lot of anticipation and excitement. The team had to win to make it to the playoffs and they did, winning their last four games.
Steelers Taylor, "We Were Out There Taking Souls"
Taylor said that Cincy had the fourth-best offense in the league that year with Chad Ochocinco, Chris Henry (R.I.P.) and TJ Houshmandzadeh. He said the energy in the stadium was electric with the fans and players going crazy.
"The energy was real high, it was so high that during the TV time out we cursed everybody including coach Marv (Marvin Lewis). I mean the whole defense was on the sideline, I think the only person that ain't cursed nobody on that Cincinnati sideline was Troy (Polamalu), of course, we call him Baby Jesus, so he ain't cursing nobody."
He goes on to relate that the game was so intense that players were begging to get in to get a piece of the action.
"We walked back to our sideline, I saw Bryant McFadden, he was crying and we was like, 'B-Mac what the [heck] you crying for?' B-Mac said, 'man the energy is so good on that God**** field, I'm crying for coach LeBeau to call a nickel package.' Nickel package is when a linebacker comes out and you bring an extra DB in. That's how I knew it's real out here, for B-Mac to be crying to get in the game. Crying to coach, can you please call nickel because what these boys are doing on the field I want to be a part of."
Taylor also shared a story of how Chris Hope, safety, had an especially hard hit on Ochocinco and said Hope didn't curse either, he had two safeties out on the field who wouldn't curse but Hope tapped Taylor in.
"Ocho, I'm gonna go down and let Ike speak for me because I don't curse but I'm gonna let Ike curse for me, so Ike you can say whatever you want," he said Hope told Ochocinco.
Taylor said he threw every bad word he knew at him and maybe some he made up. He also said that he doesn't use the word hate lightly but there was an exception.
"I hated the Bengals that day as much as I did the Baltimore Ravens and everybody felt the same way from the kickoff all the way towards the end of the game. It's real out there, but when I saw Bryant McFadden crying, I ain't talking about tears of sadness but tears of joy. You just don't understand the electricity on that field. I never wanted to be a part of something so bad in my life."
Bergin asked Taylor how that electricity differed from the electricity of a regular-season game.
"For a regular season game, oh you want to inflict pain on a man, that's all you want to do is inflict pain. For the playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2005 we were trying to take souls and that's something only God can do, we was trying to take souls. You're just wired all the way different when it comes down to the playoff game and the more you win in the playoffs the more focused you are."
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger exiting the field after beating Cincinnati / Photo Credit: Steelers.com
What are your favorite memories from the 2005 season? That was a special season for me. I attended a pre-season dinner with the players at St. Vincent College and then went to Detroit to see them beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, so it has always been one of my favorite seasons. Tell me what you remember from that post-season in the comments below!
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