Steelers honor late WR coach Darryl Drake with helmet decal, team prayer, moment of silence
On the day of his funeral in Tennessee, the Pittsburgh Steelers honored wide receivers coach Darryl Drake in a variety of ways during their first game since his death.
Saturday night at Heinz Field against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers debuted a decal that will be affixed to the back of each of their helmets this season. The decal has a circular gold sticker to right of the yellow stripe with the initials, “DD,” in black block letters.
.@steelers have placed DD stickers on all their helmets in honor of former receivers coach Darryl Drake. pic.twitter.com/5NKfot33OB
— Charles Palla (@ChazPalla) August 17, 2019
Minutes before kickoff and just prior to a performance of the national anthem, the Steelers en masse gathered for a prayer on the field in front of their sideline. Then, public-address announcer Larry Richert asked for a moment of silence in honor or Drake.
Earlier in the day Saturday, coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert and their wives were among those in attendance at Drake’s funeral service in Gallatin, Tenn. A native of Kentucky, Drake was to be laid to rest in nearby Castalian Springs.
Tomlin said earlier this week that the Steelers would formally honor Drake this season but he did not say in what way. Drake was found dead in his dormitory room at Saint Vincent on the morning of Aug. 11.
The #Steelers WRs are all wearing shirts that say “Shut out the noise,” Coach Drake’s saying for the 2019 season. pic.twitter.com/lgYo2c5qMJ
— Missi Matthews (@missi_matthews) August 17, 2019
Another more subtle way that Drake’s former pupils in the receivers room are recognizing him is by having hooded sweatshirts made that say “Shut out the noise.” That was Drake’s credo for his position room with the Steelers for this season.
Several Steelers receivers were wearing the sweatshirts during warm-ups prior to Saturday’s game.
To the field @Switz goes. pic.twitter.com/gKVaQYWf4D
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 17, 2019
A veteran of 36 years of coaching and in his second season with the Steelers, Drake coached in the NFL for four teams since 2004.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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