Bettis Faked Injury In 2000

Former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis, in a new book to be published in early September, says he faked a training camp injury in 2000 to avoid getting cut by the team.

The book, "The Bus. My Life in and out of a Helmet," includes an account where Bettis came into training camp with a knee that had been surgically repaired the previous summer. Bettis, fearing he would be cut if the team knew how much the knee was injured, didn't say anything. During a short-yardage drill at an early camp practice, Bettis fell down, grabbed his knee and yelled in pain.

Because Bettis was hurt in training camp, the Steelers couldn't release him. He was worried that the Steelers, and especially offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, wanted to give his job to Richard Huntley. Bettis cited a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which said that Huntley told his agent that Bettis would be cut.

He rushed for 1,341 yards in the 2000 season. Five years later, he was on Pittsburgh's Super Bowl winning team and then retired.

Bettis also wrote that Steelers coach Bill Cowher was never totally sold on quarterback Kordell Stewart, despite the fact Stewart was the team's most valuable player in 2001.

"For some reason, Coach would never really commit fully to Kordell ... and because of that, we had no consistent leadership from the quarterback position," Bettis wrote.

The book will be released on Sept. 4.