When Pittsburgh opened last season by taking a one-sided beatdown in Baltimore, Warren Sapp proclaimed that the Steelers were “old, slow and it’s over.” Casey Hampton is, at age 35, the second-oldest Steeler. And at well over 300 pounds and coming off a torn ACL, he may be the slowest Steeler as well. But he insists that it’s not over.
“They’ve been saying that for how long?” Hampton said, via the Associated Press. “They’ve been saying, ‘You’re getting old,’ and all that for years, and year in and year out we do our thing. So I don’t see it being any different this year.”
The Steelers aren’t as old as they used to be, with aging veterans James Farrior, Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke and Hines Ward retiring this offseason. Hampton said the Steelers have the right players in place to replace those longtime teammates.
“No question about it, when you’ve been around those guys 10-plus years, it’s definitely different,” Hampton said. “But that’s part of it. You see guys come and go all the time. Those are definitely special guys, but I think those guys will fill in and do their best to make up for it.”
Hampton is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform list, but he says he’ll be ready to go when he needs to go.
“I don’t have no problem with being on it as long as I need to be,” Hampton said. “I just want to get it right and be right when I’m out there. I don’t want to be out there hobbling messing around; I wanna be out there ready to go.”
And Hampton thinks the Steelers are ready to go to the postseason again, regardless of anyone saying he’s old and slow.
