I hope Hester is referring to Hoge the main running back for the Steelers for several seasons and not the full-time blocker he was turned intowhen Bill Cowher was hired to replace Chuck Noll following the 1991 season.
Some of my very best NFL memories besides the great Steelers teams of the '70sare ofthe 1989 team. They started off the season losing 51-0 to arch-rival Cleveland at home and then were pasted 41-10 the next week by the Vikings. And they were coming off four straight non-playoff seasons. After two games everyone figured they'd have the first choice in the draft the next year. But they rallied behind Bubby Brister and Hoge and finished 9-7 and squeaked into the playoffs. In the first round they upset Houston on the road on a last-second field goal by Gary Anderson (whose father had died a few days earlier), and then nearly upset the Broncos in Denver the next week in a game they should have won.
Hoge was a beast in both of those playoff games, all but unstoppable. He had over 100 yards rushing just in the first half of the Denver game, and there were some great sound bites from frustrated Broncos defenders captured by NFL Films referring to Hoge as a "tank" and "Jim Brown" and "who the hell is this guy." If Hoge had been that focused and intense in the regular season he would have had a much better career.Edited by: Don Wassall
