Steelers Icon James Harrison's Revealing Difference Between Today's Team And His Championship Teams

The Pittsburgh Steelers' iconic linebacker, James Harrison, has shared a lot about the rocky road he had to get to greatness in the NFL. He was underestimated, released, and doubted over and over. Despite all of the naysayers, Harrison persisted and found great success. He played with a chip on his shoulder and it fuels him. It actually made him a better player. 

Harrison knows that he couldn't have done it alone. While individual excellence matters in football, it is still a team sport and nothing is more important than how that group comes together and works in tandem.  

Harrison joined Simon Arias on his podcast, GRINDcast, to discuss his time in the NFL and to give some credit to the players who helped him be as successful as he was. 

Steelers' James Harrison Names Two Pittsburgh Mentors

Harrison told Arias that there were two former Steelers defenders that really stood out to him, and took him under their wings:

"Joey Porter and Jason Gildon... I was a practice squad dude, but you wouldn't be able to tell because they treated me just like the rest of the fellas. It's like, 'Hey we're going here, we're doing this, you know we're going to be here doing this, come on out.' When I went out, they looked out, I ain't pay for nothing. The older players who are there and know what it takes to keep that bond going and keep building that and not letting different individuals be individuals."

He notes that there's a distinct difference between the teams of his time and the teams of now. He says that he feels the lack of camaraderie is part of the reason they are not as successful. 

"You know you buy into the team concept, you buy into the roles that are given and to be honest with you, nowadays, you have nothing like that. You can look at social media and see that right now, that it's not really that big of a buy-in, where you have whole teams that are just together. When we went out it was 25-35 guys at once place; offense, defense, starters, non-starters it didn't matter."

Harrison said those bonds are crucial to success:

"To win at that level, you can't have guys out there just totally hate each other. They are going to just go out and make it work when it's time to make it work. I mean you'll be able to do enough, but I don't think you're going to win championships without the bonds and the team together."      

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a history of greatness and that is especially true at the linebacker position. The names read like a who's who of defensive greatness including Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Kevin Greene (who Harrison credits with teaching him to tackle), James Farrior and Porter, Gildon, and Harrison.  

When Harrison was asked by Arias what stands out about the two of them, what made Porter and Gildon such great leaders, he had this to say:

"They brought everybody together no matter what it was. It's this coordinated effort for team, you know what I'm saying? The bonding, what they did to build those bonds, the relationships. I spent more time outside of football time, outside of the game - time outside football - with each other than sometimes I did with my family. Like real talk, you spend whatever, eight, nine hours and then you go hang out for another three or four hours. You go home and by the time you get home, you just sleep and you're up and back out."  

What do you think about what Harrison says about how team philosophy has changed? Do you think it is really different? Do you believe that this has an impact on how well they play together? Do you see signs of the closeness he mentions among any of the players now? Click to comment below. 

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