#25

 

MEL BLOUNT

It would be easy to look at the career of Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount and say that he was a good player who benefited from having stars such as Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, and L.C. Greenwood playing in front of him on the defense. He did benefit from having those stars around, as well as a great defensive coordinator in Bud Carson designing the attacking style the Steelers put on display throughout the 1970s. But to call Blount a good player is like calling Iron Chef Mario Batali a decent cook.

Blount did not invent bump-and-run coverage by a cornerback—that honor belongs to Hall of Famer Willie Brown—but he did perfect it. Blount was a remarkable athlete who outleaped Olympic hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah while wearing street shoes and could outrun nearly everyone he ever encountered on the football field.

He looked the part of the world-class athlete, according to his teammates. “Size, speed, quickness, toughness, that’s what Mel had,” said former Steelers quarterback Terry Hanratty. “If you gave Blount free rein to hit you, you were in trouble because, if he missed, he had the speed to catch up. A lot of receivers got short arms when they were in Mel’s territory.”

As important as his athletic ability was, Blount was driven to be the best player on the field every time he put on a uniform.

“I didn’t want to be second to anyone,” he said. “I wanted to set the standards for my position.”

Ham, who was one of the most gifted linebackers of his era, marveled at Blount’s talent. “When you create a cornerback, the mold is Mel Blount,” Ham said. “I played in a lot of Pro Bowls. I never saw a cornerback like him. He was the most incredible athlete I have ever seen. With Mel, you could take one wide receiver and just write him off. He could handle anybody in the league.”

Blount was not an immediate success in the NFL, though. Coming from Southern University, he wasn’t used to the mental game played in the NFL. Receivers could use his athletic ability against him and take advantage of him with double moves. However, once he decided to learn the nuances of the cornerback position he was a different player. “I was emotional and when I got beaten I got upset,” Blount recalled. “But once I got to my first offseason, I realized that when someone beat me it was just a chance for me to learn a lesson. I studied every play and learned what happened. And I talked with Bud and I listened to everything he said. It seemed to work.”

It all started to come together in the 1972 season, when Blount did not get beaten for a touchdown all year. Three years later, he was named the Most Valuable Defensive Player by the Associated Press, becoming the first cornerback to earn this award. Blount had 57 interceptions as well as 13 fumble recoveries in a career that earned him five trips to the Pro Bowl.

But numbers don’t tell the story of Blount’s career. They may show that he could turn games around with his ability to pick off the ball and demonstrate good hands, but it was the fire he brought when covering and tackling that was his signature. As he came to understand the way NFL offenses attacked, it basically became no contest. He was sharper mentally than almost all of his opponents and his physical edge allowed him to dominate. He frequently ate up star receivers like Fred Biletnikoff, Isaac Curtis, and Cliff Branch.

Blount’s bump-and-run coverage was so effective that the NFL came to a conclusion that defensive dominance was not good for the game. As a result, rules were changed and Blount was no longer allowed to bump receivers after they got past the five-yard mark.

While Steelers head coach Chuck Noll cried about the rule change, Blount simply changed his tactics and adjusted. He started playing the trail technique in which he let the receiver get ahead of him and then would turn on the speed that would allow him to come in and steal the pass or deflect it away.

Blount’s hunger was probably the key to his long-term success on the field. He was one of the toughest practice players to ever wear a Steelers uniform and he honed his skills by going up against Hall of Famers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth in practice every day. He took it personally if either receiver ever caught a pass against him in a scrimmage.

Blount was driven to be successful every time he took the field. He didn’t want anybody to catch a pass against him and that was his motivation throughout his 14-year career. “If the scales were balanced, there was nobody I couldn’t cover,” he said. “That’s what motivated me, drove me to be as good as I was. I was in front of 50,000 people in the stands and millions on TV. I didn’t want to be embarrassed.”

That almost never happened to Blount.