Pittsburgh Steelers running backs coach Dick Hoak, in his 34th season as a Steelers assistant coach, talks with running back Verron Haynes before a team workout at the Pontiac Silverdom, Feb. 1, 2006 in Pontiac, Mich.
Gene J. Puskar | AP file photo
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Longtime assistant coaches Dick Hoak, Elijah Pitts and Jim McNally will be honored with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Awards of Excellence for the 2025 class.
The three assistants were announced Tuesday as the fourth class of assistant coaches to receiver the award given to coordinators or position coaches.
Hoak played 10 years for Pittsburgh before joining Chuck Noll’s staff in 1972 as running backs coach. He held that job for 35 straight seasons and helped tutor Hall of Famers Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis. Hoak was part of five Super Bowl champions and the Steelers led the NFL in rushing during his time as an assistant.
Pitts won five NFL championships and two Super Bowls as a running back in Green Bay in the 1960s before starting a long coaching career that include time with Hall of Famers Earl Campbell and Thurman Thomas. Pitts helped the Rams make the playoffs in four straight seasons with a strong rushing attack in the 1970s before following head coach Chuck Knox to Buffalo.
He spent three seasons with the Bills, three years with Houston and one year in the CFL before returning to Buffalo in 1985. He helped the Bills make four straight Super Bowl trips before retiring after the 1997 season.
McNally spent 43 seasons in the NFL with as an offensive line coach and consultant beginning in Cincinnati in 1980. He coached Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz for his entire 13-year career with the Bengals and helped the team reach two Super Bowls.
He also coached for Carolina, the Giants and Buffalo before serving as a consultant for New Orleans, the Jets and the Bengals following his retirement from coaching. He retired for good in 2023.
The three coaches will be honored at a ceremony in June along with Pete Abitante, Jason Jenkins and Bill Keenist, who were picked earlier this month as the recipients of the Awards of Excellence in the public relations directors category. The Hall will still announce winners for athletic trainers, equipment managers and film and video directors.
Rodgers dealing with knee injury
Aaron Rodgers is dealing with an injured knee that has the New York Jets quarterback’s status uncertain for the game Sunday at Buffalo, but interim coach Jeff Ulbrich expects he’ll play.
Rookie left tackle Olu Fashanu’s promising first season is over, though, as Ulbrich said the first-round pick will be placed on injured reserve with an injury to the plantar fascia in his left foot.
Rodgers was hurt in the Jets’ 19-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday but remained in the game. The Jets were holding a walkthrough on Tuesday and their next full practice on Thursday, giving Rodgers some extra time to recover.
“In all honesty, it’s just too early to tell,” Ulbrich said of Rodgers’ game status. “If I’m a betting man, I’m betting on Aaron Rodgers to play.”
When asked if there’s some uncertainty as far as Rodgers’ availability, Ulbrich pointed out how the 41-year-old quarterback has not missed a game while dealing with knee, ankle and hamstring issues earlier this season.
“With him, probably not, in all honesty,” he said. “The guy’s played through, you know, he does whatever it takes to get on the field on Sundays and I’d anticipate him trying to do the same thing this week.”
Rodgers has 24 touchdown passes and eight interceptions this season, and he is one TD throw from becoming the fifth player in NFL history with 500 for his career in the regular season.
Fashanu had a solid first NFL season after being the 11th overall pick in April out of Penn State. He began the year as veteran Tyron Smith’s backup before filling in at right tackle for two games when Morgan Moses was injured. Fashanu, who played only left tackle in college, also stepped in at right guard for an injured Alijah Vera-Tucker against Houston.
Packers defense shows improvement
Even though their long-shot hopes of winning the NFC North have vanished, the playoff-bound Green Bay Packers believe they can make a legitimate run at their first Super Bowl appearance since their 2010 championship season.
A rapidly improving defense gives them ample reason for confidence.
The Packers (11-4) followed up a seven-sack performance in a 30-13 victory at Seattle by producing the first shutout of the NFL season, a 34-0 playoff-clinching blowout of the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.
Green Bay delivered its first shutout since a 17-0 triumph over Seattle in 2021 and its most lopsided victory since a 55-14 rout of the Chicago Bears in 2014.
“We’ve noticed all along that the defense is a lot different this year, and they’ve been making some big-time plays all along,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “But any time you can hold anybody to zero points in the National Football League is pretty awesome.”
The Packers were seeking to produce a championship-caliber defense to go along with their dynamic offense when they fired Joe Barry as coordinator in the offseason and brought in former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley to replace him. Green Bay switched from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3, with Hafley emphasizing the need to produce more big plays.
Green Bay has done just that by collecting 28 takeaways — 10 more than it had all of last year — to match the NFL’s third-highest total. The Packers haven’t forced this many turnovers since 2011, when they had 38 takeaways.