PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a 2014 Monday Night matchup against Tennessee when it appeared LeGarrette Blount checked out of wearing black and gold. The former Steeler tells The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan his side of that night and how he wasn’t respected by the coaching staff, specifically the offensive coordinator at the time.
Blount said he noticed early on in camp that year, Le’Veon Bell would be something special. Blount said he went to then offensive coordinator Todd Haley numerous times to discuss a platoon system, but said Haley would lie to him.
“(Haley) did not want to use me much,” Blount told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan. “Me and him had conversations ad nauseum. I would go to work and grind. I do my job every day. I put the same work in that Le’Veon did. I have a credible background.”
“It was crazy they weren’t trying to make a way for it to work for both of us. Maybe Le’Veon gets 20 carries and I get 11 or 12 and I was ok with that. There were games where he would have 30 carries and I would have one or two and I was like ‘bro, what did I come here for’?
He pointed to the Carolina game early that season, when Bell rushed 21 times for 147 yards and Blount had 10 for 118 yards.
“If you do that with me and Le’Veon, you have a different turnout of the season,” Blount told 93.7 The Fan. “They tried it a couple of games and it was successful.”
He would have only one other game where he had 10 carries, gaining 23 yards against the Ravens. He would get five the next week against the Jets and then none against the Titans and he was out.
“Probably didn’t do it in the most ethical way,” Blount told The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan. “Everyone gets to a point where respect goes a long way. Whenever you respect someone, it goes a long way. When I’m going to Todd and asking him ‘what is going on, why am I not playing?’ You are telling me we are going to make sure we get you in there. We are going to make sure we put this together for you. Then I go out there and have zero carries.”
Blount said he kept his composure as much as he could, saying he never bothered Mike Tomlin about it. But along with constantly talking to Haley, he would talk to running backs coach James Saxon all the time, who at one point said to him Bell is having a great season.
He said Steelers teammates would come up to him noticing he put in work and wondered why he wasn’t playing. Why is he not getting carries? He said it was crazy.
Then most feel he went crazy leaving the game in Nashville with time on the clock.
Blount wants to tell his side of that story.
“That’s not what happened,” Blount told Fillipponi and Mueller on 93.7 The Fan of leaving early. “I was on the sideline. Ben Roethlisberger took a knee which indicates game over. I went in the tunnel, that was it.”
“Was there time left? I mean, there was enough time for him to take a knee and start shaking hands. So yeah, there was time left. People say ‘he ran away, left the game and left his teammates’. Nah, I ran inside, changed my clothes and went to get on the bus.”
“Then guys came to get me off the bus. That’s how that relationship ended. They let me go. Mike Tomlin has nothing but respect for me. I have nothing but respect for him. He is an amazing coach and a great guy.”
Blount would go on to sign with New England and win a Super Bowl with the Patriots, but was bothered by teammates who he said supported him and then turned against him, some calling him a cancer on the team.
The two who he said really had his back and made him feel better about his decision, Bell and Antonio Brown. They were his character witnesses.
That’s his story.