Jerome Bettis Towel

For 13 NFL seasons, The Bus rode steady. Jerome Bettis had eight seasons with more than 1,000 yards rushing and he finished his career with 13,662.

While leading the Steelers, Bettis thought little of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was not until late in his career that the 2015 inductee saw himself in a gold jacket.

"There were some articles written that basically said I could make the Hall, stating the case that I would almost make it," Bettis says. "That's when I really thought about it. If the possibility was there that people should write an article that I shouldn't be in, that opened up the possibility that I could be."

Bettis reinvented his game to extend his career a few seasons. Rather than be a straight feature back, Bettis took on a power back role. In 2004, Bettis' second-to-last season, he had a career-high 13 rushing touchdowns on 250 attempts.

In 2005, Bettis won Super Bowl XL in his final NFL game in his hometown of Detroit.

Although Fantasy Football became a craze after his time, Bettis insists he would have been a great pick.

Jerome Bettis

"I like to think I'd score some touchdowns," Bettis says. "When you look at my stats, the one thing I was pretty good at was 100-yard games and touchdowns. I'd like to think I was pretty consistent with that. That would be definite cause to pick myself."

Bettis recites this answer as if he has used it to defend himself before.

"People tell you your stats and stuff with the Hall of Fame, so I'm familiar with all these stats."

For this summer's Hall of Fame Game, Bettis spread his love of football with a Pittsburgh father and son. Through Bud Light, Bettis took the field with Rusty and Russ Regney.

Recently, Bettis told ThePostGame the Patriots' Spygate allegations are hard to swallow for a player that suffered multiple playoff losses to New England.

More: Silencing The Skeptics: Peyton Manning's Big Season-Opener Erases Fan Doubts

-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.