Steelers’ Bettis, Zereoue on long road to recovery
PITTSBURGH – They could easily take the “Thunder and Lightning” moniker from the New York Giants’ inside-outside running tandem, but right now Jerome Bettis and Amos Zereoue are more interested in taking their time and allowing their injuries to heal. While the Pittsburgh Steelers are busy with their May coaching sessions, the hammer and jackrabbit of the league’s top rushing attack are working gingerly with trainer John Norwig on regaining their form. It’s not a pleasant sight for concerned parties, even three-and-a-half months before the start of the season.
“I understand that, but it starts right now,” said Zereoue. “We’ll get some conditioning in right now and by training camp we’ll be fine.”
Zereoue is just glad to be alive at this point. What had initially been diagnosed as gastritis did not respond to medication. But after three days in the hospital, with thoughts of cancer racing through his mind, Zereoue learned that a parasite had attached itself to his liver. He’s lost weight, but antibiotics are currently fighting the problem.
“It’s kicking my a- right now, the antibiotics, but once I get off those I should get some more energy back,” he said. “I’ve been running and I’m starting to get my weight back. Before you know it I’ll be ready to go.”
Zereoue’s condition wouldn’t be cause for much concern if it wasn’t for the news that Bettis had re-injured his groin in the AFC Championship Game. And if that news isn’t a concern, the weight Bettis has gained from nine weeks of inactivity is.
“I’m always up a little bit in the off-season,” Bettis said. “That’s why it’s the off-season.”
Right now, Bettis is as big as he’s been in his six years with the Steelers. But he’s not concerned about it, nor is he concerned about a groin problem that could make losing that excess weight more difficult than in past seasons.
“It’s May and we’re making a big to-do about my health. Don’t,” he said. “It’s in August when you all have to be worried about that. And right now we’re working to make sure you’re not writing this same story in August.”
While his teammates scrimmage, Bettis works gingerly on what he calls “the route tree,” followed by a series of 20-yard runs. Zereoue then joins him for a series of 40-yard runs.
“Right now we’re in the strengthening stage,” Bettis said of his work with trainer John Norwig. “We went through the rehabilitation stages. We got the MRIs done and my last MRI showed that (the groin) was healed. Now, it’s healed, but you have discomfort because it’s weak. Now you have to strengthen it by jogging and running instead of doing what we do on the field, the stop-start-stop-start stuff. You don’t need to put that pressure on it, but you need to run and I’m doing a lot of that.”
Bettis and Norwig have mapped out a strategy that will have Bettis practicing at the June 11 minicamp and hitting at the July 28 training camp. But the fact that he’s missing the current sessions after an injury-shortened ninth NFL season has once again led to media speculation that Bettis is nearing the end of the line.
“Why? Because I’m not out here?” he asked. “No, I’m not still hurt and why the hell do I need to be out here in my 10th year doing something I’ve been doing for six years here? The key is to be healthy for this year so the same injury doesn’t come back.
“Everybody in the city’s in an uproar because I’m out here on the first day jogging instead of running. My groin is fine, but what’s the sense of coming out here and running hard?”
In spite of the excess weight, and the fact Bettis is still concerned about cutting sharply, he insists he’s no further behind in the conditioning phase than in previous years. In fact, he’s already made plans for his annual speed-training sessions with renowned track coach Bob Kersee.
“I never go to Kersee until late June and I’ll be more than ready for that, trust me,” Bettis said. “I’ll be ready. Really, I’ll be ready. But if you all need me to put on a shirt and run out here just for everybody to see me working, I’ll do that. We’re not doing anything anyway, and with what they’ve got me doing, I’m doing more than I would be if I were practicing. The whole time they’re practicing, I’m running. Now, if I were out there I’d be running every four plays.
“It just amazes me that everyone’s so worried about me being ready. I should’ve just told everybody last week that I was sick.”