On Dec. 9, 2001, Devin Bush Sr. was the starting free safety for the Browns when they lined up against the Patriots in Foxborough to face a fresh-faced young quarterback named Tom Brady.
Brady, a sixth-round draft pick in 2000 by New England, had been forced into the starting lineup for the Patriots earlier in the season because of an injury to starter Drew Bledsoe. On this day, the Patriots would pull out a 27-16 win over the Browns, though Brady looked very average in the game. He completed 19-of-28 passes for 218 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions while being sacked three times. As for Bush, he recorded seven tackles, though none were on Brady.
Fast forward 18 years and it's something his son, Devin Bush Jr., might get an opportunity to do when the Steelers open the season Sept. 8 at New England.
Brady, at 42, is still playing for the Patriots. Bush, who just turned 21 in July, was the Steelers' first-round pick and should see a lot of time at linebacker in the game.
The Steelers have faced Brady and the Patriots a number of times over the years -- including last season when they defeated New England 17-10 at Heinz Field in December -- but this will be the first time one of their players will have a father who also played against him.
"I hadn't really thought about that," Bush told me. "That's kind of crazy when you think about it like that. You kind of blew my mind with that one there."
The younger Bush was three at the time of that game back in 2001. And, as he reminded me, he was just five when the Steelers selected Ben Roethlisberger in the spring of 2004.
Not that he reminds Roethlisberger of that.
"I can't do it to him like that," Bush told me with a laugh. "He'll feel like he's gotta retire."
Bush was just 20 when the Steelers moved up to the 10th pick in this year's draft to select the former Michigan linebacker, making him one of the youngest players in this year's draft.
But he's grown accustomed to being one of the young guys.
"I know I'm young. I'm just going to let it be. I'm not trying to be the big dog in the locker room," he said. "I've always kind of been one of the youngest guys on every team. I'm used to it."
It helps to have a father who played in the NFL. Devin Bush Sr. played eight seasons in the NFL. And though his son doesn't remember seeing his dad play in any games, he does recall seeing him in uniform or with a helmet on.
Having a father who has gone through many of the same things you are dealing with has helped the youngster adjust to life in the NFL.
"You've got to be mature about it," he said. "If you focus and lock in and be mature about it, know that it's a job now, I think that's the approach you've got to take.
"You kind of go through similar experiences, especially as a rookie. I learned at a young age to somewhat be a professional with film study and how to take care with what you're eating and working with your body to do the things necessary. I think that's been big for me. And I also think he's helped me coming in as a rookie to don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be shy."
He certainly won't be shy working against Brady in a couple of weeks, not with the family honor at stake.
After all, Brady is 1-0 against the Bush family.
"I got to beat him for him, or something," Bush said.
MORE STEELERS
• The Steelers have used an extra offensive lineman as a blocking tight end a lot in recent years. Chris Hubbard, B.J. Finney and Jerald Hawkins have all lined up and taken snaps there just in the last few years. You might soon be able to add Zach Banner to that group. The massive 6-foot-8, 360-pound offensive lineman confirmed he has been taking some snaps at tight end during practice this week. It's a good sign for Banner, a fourth-round pick of the Colts in 2017. He's bounced around the league a little since then, spending time with the Browns and Panthers before joining the Steelers last season. Banner is down at least 30 pounds from his listed 360 pounds and has performed well in the preseason. -- Lolley
• While an interception thrown by Josh Dobbs at the end of the first half of last week's 17-7 preseason win over the Chiefs was one the Steelers would like to see him not throw, they also didn't necessarily blame Dobbs for the ball getting intercepted. "Josh had a good two-minute drive at the end of the half," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. "He’s going to turn it into some points. It’s first-and-6. We’ve got some time left to run two more plays for sure. No doubt he threw a bad ball. But we had a receiver not execute his route, which in turn brought another guy in there. It would have been incomplete. You would have said, ‘Ah, it’s a bad throw by Dobbs. One guy’s mistake complicated another’s." Looking at the film of that play, it appears the receiver in question was veteran Eli Rogers, though Fichtner would not elaborate. -- Lolley
PIRATES
• It's radio silence to a deafening extreme regarding the statuses of the front office and on-field staff. And that's highly unusual. But not entirely without precedent. When Bob Nutting has a challenging decision to make, as he did in late 2011 when trying to figure out what to do with Neal Huntington and Kyle Stark following the 'Hoka Hey' flap, he tends to hunker down. He'll seek some advice but not much, and seldom from within. What's more, as happened in that same period in 2011, he'll order everyone to essentially shut up until he has a chance to sort it out. All of the current signs strongly suggest to me that's what's going on. -- Dejan Kovacevic
• I don't share a fraction of the communications I get from people who used to work for this team, if only because, with all due respect, it's rare for anyone to leave a job for any reason without some embitterment for how or why it went awry. That said, this came from a hugely respected evaluator regarding what he sees as the Pirates' flaws in development policy: "They have no feel for the difference between tough players and bad guys. 'Tough' scares the national crosschecker, the scouting director and the farm director, as well as the GM. They don’t know that the difference is a conscience. Tough guys have one, and bad guys don’t! Can’t win without them for me." Knowing this individual and his body of work, the more I thought about this, the more it resonated. -- DK
• "Changing the world through baseball." That's a phrase that was being used internally to describe their development system, in conjunction with hiring several mental development coaches a few years back. That's how they see what they're doing: The emphasis on behavioral training can sound more like military training or even simply college than it can about winning a World Series. It's a strange little world they've created for themselves and, amid that, chased away some outstanding baseball people. As another of them told me this week, "When you don’t have winning a championship as your mission, a lot of things get in the way!" -- DK
• Clay Holmes isn't hurt anywhere near enough to go on the 10-day injury list, as he was Wednesday following his solid 3 2/3 innings of relief the previous night. The given reason was "left quadriceps discomfort." A source with direct knowledge of the team's current inner workings told me yesterday that it was another case of roster manipulation. That's not a big deal in and of itself, as almost all teams do it. But the source affirmed that the Pirates do it far more than most, and I've heard independently from players who don't appreciate it — but their statuses tend to be too fragile to pipe up about it. The real reason Holmes was placed on the IL was that his extra-long appearance ruled him out of the next few games and the team needed another arm in that same period. So, rather than optioning him down to Indy, a fake or exaggerated injury was assigned. -- DK
• Heard of the "football slider?" Chances are, if you use Twitter, you've seen a particularly enthusiastic man claiming to have taught the pitch — a stiff-wrist slider, thrown like a football — to several MLB pitchers, the Pirates' Trevor Williams and the Reds' Amir Garrett among them. There are even whispers that Chris Archer was trying the pitch and the improper implementation of it led to his current right shoulder injury. I asked Joe Musgrove about the pitch, and Williams — one locker stall to the left — overheard us and made it a point to come over and share his thoughts as well. Even the newcomer, Mitch Keller — one stall to the right of Musgrove's — laughed when I brought it up. I'll keep their exact comments off the record, but needless to say, the "football slider" isn't a thing for this rotation. They are, however, aware of the man claiming it as his own. -- Hunter Homistek
PENGUINS
• The Penguins weren't surprised to lose Bill Guerin Wednesday, when he was named general manager in Minnesota. After all, Guerin had appeared to be the leading candidate to replace Paul Fenton in that role for several weeks. The really intriguing part is about to play out, though, when we see if Guerin takes any of his Penguins colleagues with him to the Wild. That's not unusual in hockey; Jason Botterill did it when he left the Penguins to become GM in Buffalo in 2017 and convinced Randy Sexton, then the Penguins' director of amateur scouting, to join him. Jim Rutherford responded "No" when asked, via text, if he expects Guerin to try to poach any talent from his former team, but there's no evidence that Guerin has ruled out the possibility. One source close to Guerin, who leaves the Penguins on the best possible terms, floated the possibility that it might be "too late" for him to try to lure people from here. The implication is that Guerin might be dissuaded from approaching anyone with his former club if he concludes it could cause a significant disruption for the Penguins just three weeks before training camp opens. -- Dave Molinari
• The annual get-together for Mike Sullivan and members of his staff, as well as other coaches from the organization, is scheduled to wrap up today. They convene for a few days every summer to discuss a wide variety of issues, from analyzing the most effective special-teams units in the league to assessing things that the Penguins are failing to do, or that they could do more effectively. At the very least, those sessions should help coaches throughout the organization get -- and stay -- on the same page during the season ahead. -- Molinari
• Mike Vellucci hasn't even been on the corporate payroll for two months, and he might already be in line for a promotion. Vellucci, who was coach and general manager of the Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers last season, replaced Clark Donatelli as coach of the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm team in late June and is a serious contender to take on the GM duties there. Guerin had been handling those responsibilities before accepting the Minnesota job. Rutherford said that selecting someone to fill that role is the most pressing issue arising from Guerin's departure, but does not require immediate action. And while Rutherford has publicly identified several other in-house candidates for the job -- assistant GM Jason Karmanos, pro scouting director Derek Clancey and pro scout Ryan Bowness are on that list -- there are a few factors that could tilt the decision in Vellucci's favor: Not only has he proven that he can do the job well, as evidenced by the Checkers winning a championship with the team he oversaw, but Vellucci also will be on-site with the Baby Penguins every day, something that wouldn't be practical for the other candidates. -- Molinari
