Dan Rooney Players Quotations

What made him was his strength. This was a time players didn't have strength. I remember we were playing the Giants at Forbes Field one time and it was a very close game, and they were moving the ball. He sacked the quarterback three times in a row.

He described how the owners and players should be in this together for the good of the league.

I would say this probably compares to our first time, Super Bowl IX. It's very similar, these young guys we have, just like the players then. It's really their turn, their time up. The kind of people they are, it's a close team, they've done things the hard way although it probably worked out, home and away.

I would say we're partners with the players now. There's owners that would resist it now, but ... I really think that's the way it should be.

We do have a certain way we do things. We do lose some players to free agency, but maybe we want to lose some of those. It's very easy for people to say 'you need to do it this way' or 'you need to change.' That's when you have to stand up and stick with the way you do things.

It starts before the draft. We interview them, and we talk to them about it. We want players who are a good fit for our locker room. And having smart players, that's an important phase of it.

The biggest thing my father passed on to me, and I hope we've continued it, is to treat people right. We treat our players as family, not workers. We're concerned for them away from the field and whatever problems they might have. My father always had a relationship with the players. And I've tried to do the same.