Dick LeBeau is the Forrest Gump of the NFL. A Hall of Fame cornerback who played with several other Hall of Famers, LeBeau then enjoyed a lengthy coaching career that included two Super Bowl wins while coaching for and against some of the greatest players in league history.
LeBeau’s glittering career included presiding over the 2008 Steelers defense, a historically dominant unit that spearheaded Pittsburgh’s sixth Super Bowl victory. The ’08 defense is the focus of a book LeBeau recently wrote that he expects to be available to the public in 2024. The book will be titled A Legendary Defense, an ode to what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told the unit before it finished off the Steelers’ 27-23 win over the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.
“I don’t know whether I’ve got to pay Mike royalties for that or not,” LeBeau joked during his interview with Bryant McFadden on the latest episode of the “All Things Covered” podcast. “It’s going to be worth the wait, I guarantee you that. It’s going to be a great book, I think.”
LeBeau shared one of the main reasons why Pittsburgh’s 2008 defense was so successful. That season, the Steelers defense — led by Hall of Fame safety Troy Polamalu and Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison — allowed just 13.9 points per game. The unit led the league in scoring, passing, third-down efficiency, red zone efficiency, and was second in rushing.
“You could all tackle, and you all wanted to tackle,” LeBeau told McFadden, a former Steelers cornerback who was one of the key members of that defense. “Defense is always going to be about finding the guy with the ball and getting his butt on the ground. It was like kicking a beehive when that ball was snapped. You were after that ball and you did not miss tackles.”
While his career as a coach is Hall of Fame worthy, LeBeau was inducted as a player in 2010, largely on the strength of his 62 career interceptions…
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