Linebacker needs someone hungry

(Never published but written just before the 2006 NFL season)

I like to think I helped make Tony Siragusa what he is today.

When “Goose” was in college at the University of Pittsburgh he and teammate Burt Grossman – who would also go on to play defensive line in the NFL – worked as bouncers in a bar notorious for serving underage college students.

That bar, perhaps not coincidentally, is now a parking lot.

While Siragusa and Grossman served as imposing presences, I was working across the street at the Original Hot Dog Shop – which, the name notwithstanding, is actually more famous for its french fries.

And woe betide the uninitiated person who asks for a “large” order expecting a McDonald’s “large.”

The Original Hot Dog Shop large fries is about the same size as Siragusa’s head, comes in a bag stamped with a warning from the American Association of Cardiologists and the words “Feeds 6, or one NFL defensive lineman.”

The “O” or “Dirty O,” is open 20-plus hours a day. By bar closing time, the small front counter degenerates into a scene that resembles nothing so much as a Ralph Steadman illustration from one of Hunter S. Thompson’s books.

And each night, Siragusa and Grossman would wade into this mess for their post-work meal, and a joke of the day, two services which were my specialty while working at the O.

Between the daily jokes and the middle-of-the-night meals of the O’s world-famous french fries, Siragusa became the man he is today.

A fat smart ass.

I, or rather the deep-fried food, might deserve some credit for making Siragusa the player he was. Goose’s french-fry-fueled career – let’s be frank here; his french-fry fueled lifestyle – played a big part in his success, not to mention the respective success of the Baltimore Ravens and linebacker Ray Lewis.

Since Siragusa retired after the 2001 season, Baltimore has been looking, without success, for a defensive lineman who can consistently command double teams and keep guards from hounding Lewis.

Filling that need could lift Baltimore into the top echelon of the AFC North, a division so tough that last year’s Super Bowl winner finished in second place.

Lewis knows that and so do the Ravens, whose latest effort to fill Siragusa’s large void comes in the form of Haloti Ngata, Baltimore’s first-round pick and 12th overall selection.

Ngata, an All-American defensive tackle from Oregon, certainly cuts a figure of near-Siragusan proportions at 6-foot-4, 338 pounds.

No word on whether he likes french fries, but his appetite for fried food isn’t nearly as important as his ability to swallow up blockers.

Nobody’s winning the Super Bowl these days unless they have somebody in the middle who can occupy at least two opposing offensive linemen.

If nose tackle Casey Hampton doesn’t take on – and often beat – two and sometimes three blockers, Pittsburgh’s 3-4 defense isn’t nearly as effective as it is, and maybe the Steelers don’t win the Super Bowl.

From an offensive coordinator’s standpoint, you have to throw three guys at Hampton, because if you don’t, he’s making a play deep in your backfield (for reference, see the films from last season’s Pittsburgh-Indianapolis playoff game).

But if you burn a center and two guards trying to block Hampton, that means you have to go after Larry Foote and James Farrior with a fullback, which usually is a mismatch in the Steelers’ favor.

For Lewis, the difference between facing a guard and taking on a fullback is huge. He still gets his 13 tackles a game when healthy, but if he has to contend with a guard, that stop comes about six, instead of two, yards downfield.

And Lewis hasn’t been healthy as often as he used to be because of the physical pounding that goes with battling 300-pound guards instead of being able to pick on someone his own size.

At 31, the linebacker is still too young to attribute the dropoff in his performance to age, but he hasn’t had a really big year since 2003.

Right about now, Lewis might give up body parts – and important ones at that – for the chance to play behind Casey Hampton.

But if Ngata can tie up offensive linemen like Siragusa did, Lewis will not only be satisfied, but he just might want to take Ngata out to dinner.

And Siragusa could have a recommendation.