The Pittsburgh Steelers have a long-standing reputation as a hard-hitting team. The black and gold are one of the founding fathers of smashmouth-style football. However, this aggressive style of play doesn't just happen during games, it all starts with practice.
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Former Pittsburgh Steelers fullback Roosevelt Nix.
Recently, two former Steelers giants got together to discuss the memories of their time together on the team. Steelers offensive guard Ramon Foster played in Pittsburgh from 2009-2019 and now hosts a podcast on DK Pittsburgh Sports called The Ramon Foster Show. Recently he had his former teammate, Roosevelt Nix on. Nix, a fullback, and Foster played together for five seasons from 2015-2019.
Nix and Foster were reliving the good old days of being on the team together and answering fan questions.
Steelers' Nix Tells Foster About The Time Coach Tomlin Had To Smack His Hand
Nix was asked by a fan of the show who his biggest practice foe was. Foster was quick to chime in that his was Cam Heyward. Foster frequently shares stories on the show about his epic practice field fights with Heyward, despite being good friends off the field. Whenever Foster has a former teammate on, there are always stories shared about how tough it is to break into the pros, but how once you are accepted in Pittsburgh, you're family.
Nix had to think about it for a minute and then said it wasn't always one specific person.
"My problem was usually the younger linebackers. The ones who don't know how to practice, that for the last three years have been told to just kill the fullback. I used to have to tell some of the guys, 'You're not going to make the team while trying to punish me. We can't just be trying to blow up the isos (isolation plays) like that.' I used to hate when I'd have to go up against the younger linebackers."
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Steelers former linebacker Vince Williams.
As they start talking, Nix admits that there was one player that he struggled against in practice, Vince Williams. Williams he said was always aggressive.
"When I first got to Pittsburgh, Vince was the top dog, the big hitter on the team. Me and him got into it quite often."
Foster agrees and says that when Williams first joined the team, he was aggressive with him as well. He told Roosevelt that he was lucky, by the time he joined the team in 2015, Williams was a few seasons in and was settling down.
To that, Roosevelt chuckles and says he wasn't that settled down. He said there was even a time when Head Cach Mike Tomlin had to intervene between the two of them.
"We got it so bad between us that Coach T came to us one year and pulled us in the room and was like, 'You know, I don't want y'all hitting no more.'"
Foster is clearly shocked as he's never heard this story before and wants some clarity.
"He told you this? Never hit in practice again?"
Nix agrees saying that Tomlin said they could find new partners.
"He said never hit again in practice. Y'all let somebody else get work against y'all."
Foster is stunned, "Oh, that's serious!"
There was never any actual beef between Williams and Nix, this was purely an on-field competitiveness between two elite athletes according to Nix.
"This was probably my second or third year in, so we had been getting it for a while. It wasn't like we had any ill will, we were practicing hard and I wasn't giving up and he wasn't giving up. But I didn't really have much of a playbook, my playbook everybody kind of knew what was going on. I was like, 'You know what, we just got to get down then.'"
He said it was in training camp when Tomlin finally pulled them both aside.
"In Latrobe one day, Coach T is like, 'I see y'all, y'all both came to camp ready.' That was a year where we had a real good year, we had a lot of real good years. But he said, 'I see y'all both ready, we don't need no collisions like what y'all are capable of doing.' Vinny and me got some contact for sure."
Steelers.com
Steelers linebacker Vince Williams lays a hit on a teammate at training camp in Latrobe.
Foster agrees and says that he also butted heads with Williams at camp as well as Ryan Shazier who he described as "sneaky" at times.
Are you surprised to hear the players go so hard against each other? Are you surprised that there is a little on-field grudge match? Click below to comment and tell us what you think.
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