Steelers' Bryant McFadden Admits Joey Porter Sr Getting Shot Was Team's Reason To Get Revenge On Denver In 2006

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense of the 2000s was something special. Those teams went to three Super Bowls in six years and won two. While player turnover happened on both sides of the ball (and only a few players played in all three games), the mindset of being part of a brotherhood was consistent. 

When you hear players speak about that era in Steelers history, they always talk about the players' unity. They supported one another, almost to a fault. It didn't matter whether it was on or off the field. They were a brotherhood. 

One player, cornerback Bryant McFadden, who played on all three Super Bowl teams during that time, recently shared his feelings about the organization's sense of family. During McFadden's 2005 rookie season, he witnessed firsthand how they had each other's backs. McFadden spoke with host Mark Davidson on the Steelers Nation Australia podcast. 

McFadden joined a group that included some of Pittsburgh's toughest defenders, including Joey Porter Sr., Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu, and James Farrior. He said that part of his indoctrination to the brotherhood happened due to an incident years before he was even on the team.  

When the Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts and were headed to play the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game, they used that unrelated incident as motivation. 

"We had a team that was wired different than most teams. We always looked for ways to be motivated, extra ways. We just wanted to look for ways to be p***ed off, to wanna slap somebody in the mouth for no reason. And when Peezy [Joey Porter Sr.] said that in the locker room, when we knew we were going to Denver, and he's like, 'Last time I was in Denver, they shot me.' We was all like, 'They shot our guy in Denver! Let's go ride!'"

In 2003, Porter was shot in the buttocks outside of a bar in Denver, Colorado. He was just an innocent bystander. Fortunately, his injury was not life-threatening.

It didn't matter to the defense that the Porter shooting wasn't even NFL-related, let alone Broncos-related. Porter was outside the bar after a Colorado-Colorado State game, but that was irrelevant. McFadden said they were determined to make the Broncos pay for their teammate being shot.  

"Whoever shot Peezy had nothing to do with the Denver Broncos, but it was like the Broncos had something to do with him getting shot. It was personal. Who ride? We ride! And when we went into Denver, we were looking for issues; it was personal, y'all shot Peezy, all of y'all shot Peezy, yes Jake 'The Snake' Plummer, everybody, y'all shot Peezy, and we coming for revenge."

Pittsburgh won that game 34-17 and gave Denver quarterback Jake Plummer a lot of trouble. They sacked him three times, had two interceptions, and caused two fumbles. In all, Denver turned the ball over four times. 

Pittsburgh fought and clawed their way up for the whole season, eventually winning Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks. 

Steelers' Most Famous Video

The rallying cry "Who ride? We ride!" became infamous as the video of Porter pumping up his teammates went viral. Now Porter's son, Joey Porter Jr., plays for the Steelers, and when asked his favorite moment from his dad's career, he cited that pep talk. He said he uses it for motivation before games.

McFadden said he wasn't even a Steelers fan the year Porter got shot, but the defense got so pumped up that day, they all felt they had an axe to grind. 

Do you recall hearing Porter had been shot? Click to comment below!

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