PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There are all sorts of scenarios in sports, the one of beating a rival and ending on a four-game winning streak. Yet, learning a late field goal in another stadium kept you out of the playoffs.
"Disappointment," said Steelers LB TJ Watt. "It all happens very fast. I mean, it's hard to fully understand that we don't have a game this week. I think it will take a little bit of time to kind of understand and come to terms with it because I feel like we were just starting to play some really damn good football. But that's the business. We didn't get it done this year."
"Obviously we were upset, disappointed because we didn't get into the tournament," said Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson. "Stuff happens, we can only control what we can control. We handled our biz, but the other team (Jets) couldn't. All we could do was play better & win our game. I wanted to get in the dance, but stuff happens."
"It's obviously good to finish on that note and how we won," said center Mason Cole. "Playmakers making plays, but obviously it sucks. I wish we were in the tournament, but I'm proud of this group."
"It's a double-edged sword," said linebacker Myles Jack. "Obviously you always want to continue and go to the playoffs. If I had my way and wave a magic wand, we would handle business and we would be talking about a Wild Card game. That's how the game goes. We ended up having a winning season. I think we can hold our head up."
"I'm proud, I'm not deflated at all," said Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. "We started 2-6 and to finish 9-8 is impressive. Obviously, the goal is to make the playoffs and make a run. The only thing we could control today was playing the Browns and dominating the game. I think we did a pretty good job of doing that."
"As long as we came out fighting regardless, regardless of what the circumstances were, we were going to fight," said safety Damontae Kazee. "As long as we fought, it made me happy. We didn't lay an egg. We did what we needed to do. We can't rely on another team."
"All we could focus on was to win this game," said Steelers captain Cam Heyward. "You never want to give another team control of your destiny. All I can say, I'm appreciative of every guy in this locker room, every coach, every staff member. Through the bumps, through the rocky road, everyone stuck together and tried to get better."
"Obviously we didn't make the playoffs, we accomplished not having a losing season for Mike Tomlin and we just finished really strong," said Steelers tailback Najee Harris.
Steelers season notes
· Kenny Pickett had TD passes in each of the last four games he finished
· Pickett finished 217 yards shy of Ben Roethlisberger for most passing yards by a Steelers rookie quarterback
· George Pickens finished with the fifth most receiving yards by a Steelers rookie with 801. (JuJu Smith-Schuster 917 in 2017)
· Najee Harris finished with 1,038 rushing yards, a second straight 1,000-yard season-this after only 264 yards in his first six games
· Diontae Johnson led the team with 86 receptions for 882 yards, but zero touchdowns
· Myles Jack led the Steelers in total tackles, 104 and solo, 61.
· Minkah Fitzpatrick led the team with 6 interceptions and second with 95 tackles
· Alex Highsmith led with 14.5 sacks, Cam Heyward second with 10.5
· Heyward led the team with 13 tackles for loss, 22 quarterback hurries and fifth in overall tackles with 74
· Steelers were outscored in every quarter this year but the fourth, outscored opponents 91-85
Inactives for the final game
QB Mason Rudolph
DT Jonathan Marshall
LB Tae Crowder
S Tre Norwood
LB Malik Reed
