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The Way I See It
IF Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher is looking for a halfback with motivation this season, he's got him. Steelers should
give ‘Fu’ the ballChris Fuamatu-Ma'afala's bruising 122-yard performance in the Steelers' 13-10 victory over Miami last weekend was the work of a bridegroom-to-be.
Fuamatu-Ma'afala and his girlfriend of several years, Adriana Wilson of Waianae, have decided to wed in February.
That will be right after the 5-foot-11, 252-pound former St. Louis School and Utah star becomes a free agent.
The best way to ensure your future in marriage and the NFL is to play like there's no tomorrow during the last year of your contract.
If Cowher and the Steelers' staff don't put the ball in the hands of the player who's become affectionately known in Pittsburgh as "Fu," this time, my faith in the NFL will be severely shaken.
If you watched the way he ran the ball and the way he blocked against the Dolphins, it seems unthinkable that his club would restrain him now.
Well, we'll see. This weekend against Carolina, Jerome Bettis and his backup, Richard Huntley, could be back in the lineup.
We're going to see if Fuamatu-Ma'afala is given the chance he's long deserved to blossom as a ball carrier.
It's a chance that offense-starved Steelers fans deserve and one that the rugged but affable Kalihi native not only deserves but desperately needs at this stage of his career.
If he's allowed to put up some numbers this season, his value on the free agent market will zoom. Especially if he does it behind such an anemic line.
He might be signed by a team that really believes in his "Bus-like" running, and he could finally become an impact player in the NFL.
The way he was treated by the Steelers last season, Fuamatu-Ma'afala was all but forgotten in Pittsburgh.
A freak accident in the 1999 training camp sidelined him going into the regular season.
But when he was healthy again, the Steelers elected to keep him on special teams and inserted him for blocking on offense. One carry all season.
The memory that he tied Bettis in scoring in 1998 and showed tremendous tailback potential before suffering a hamstring injury seemed to have faded. Yet this was a team finishing 6-10!
This year, the plan was to once again use 1999 draft pick Amos Zereoue as the No. 3 tailback behind Bettis and Huntley, and make Fuamatu-Ma'afala a backup fullback to Jon Witman.
BUT as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sportswriter Gerry Dulac suggested in a Sunday story, the Steelers would be wise to rethink their plans.
Zereoue gained only 11 yards on 17 carries while "Fu" achieved 11 times more ground in 15 totes.
Fuamatu-Ma'afala is incurably humble when it comes to speaking about his capabilities, always vowing to accept whatever role Cowher hands him.
His wants are simple. "All he's been wanting is the football," Huntley told the Post-Gazette.
Anybody who knows Fuamatu-Ma'afala knows he still plays with the heart of a kid.
He's not playing for money, and it might not be in his nature to ever play like he's carrying a money belt.
Cowher knows that. That's why he's kept Fuamatu-Ma'afala this long.
So, doggone it, Cowher, use this guy while his heart is still on fire and give him a chance to take Pittsburgh to the playoffs.
Finding men in the NFL whose values and goals are as pure as Fuamatu-Ma'afala's is not easy these days.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.