PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Mike Tomlin praised his toughness as he has numerous times previously as Jalen Ramsey played out of his natural position at safety on Sunday. But it was more than Ramsey’s actions, it was his words that helped with a 27-20 win over the AFC leading Colts Sunday.
“Something kind of changed when Jalen spoke,” said Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Saturday night at the final meeting before playing Sunday Ramsey spoke to the team. We didn’t find out about it to get more reaction until after most of the Steelers players had left the locker room Sunday, including Ramsey. Rodgers said it was impactful.
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“It’s not easy to speak in front of the team, even when you’re a player,” Rodgers said. “It’s unnatural. Coaches are used to it. It’s kind of need-to-know information. It was meaningful to me on the offensive side. I felt like we had a different energy in the locker room today.”
“In the locker room pregame, there was a different energy for us.”
Rodgers said one of the main points was the team needed to play with an edge. He said the Steelers brought an edge on Sunday. He brought that despite a lot on his plate. Ramsey played safety the entire time, by necessity, and did it along side a player who had two practices with the team. The Steelers needed safety Kyle Dugger to play after being traded to the Steelers on Monday.
“I can’t say enough about Jalen,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “He does anything and everything we require him to do. We needed him to play exclusively free safety today. He did and did it at a high level. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
“I think when you got a guy like that, that can play every single position,” said linebacker Patrick Queen. “Like I said before the season, the guy can play anywhere. He can do anything and we got more confidence. When he does, offenses better look out because you don’t know what he’s going to do. He communicated at a high level for the first time he’s been there whole game in the NFL. We are just happy to have a guy like that.”
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“Really thankful that Jalen is here and that he felt comfortable speaking up and then the guys responded the right way,” Rodgers said.
Jalen Ramsey saw a problem and wasn’t afraid to do something about it with words and then actions.