PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Ultimately, this team wanted to be in the playoffs. Given some of the early losses and injuries though, it was a group proud of starting 2-6 and finishing 9-8.
"It was too little too late this year, but a lot to build on," said Steelers TJ Watt. "Very proud of the guys in that locker room. It would have been very easy to fold it in and start to wonder why this is happening to us and pointing fingers and assigning blame, but none of the guys did that."
"I won't discount anything these guys did today or throughout the season," said Steelers captain Cam Heyward. "It is a team effort and those guys came to work every single day. No matter injury, how gloomy it looked, these guys came to play. I can be totally proud of a group that continues to keep battling."
"It says we are professionals and we are hungry. We try to get better. It could have been very easy to just pack it up and focus on last year. But everybody was totally bought in on trying to make the playoffs this year."
"We are all so bought in," said Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds. "Everyone was together, everyone was trying to stay together. That's what we ended up doing. We can at least hang our hat on that. Even though we did not get to the promised land, but to dig from 2-6 and to come out with a winning season. I think that's special."
"Saw a lot of improvement," said quarterback Kenny Pickett. "Really liked the way we were improving and getting things off tape and moving the ball really well. Finished a lot better today than in previous weeks. There's positives. There's negatives, like there are every game. Wish we had another week to keep improving, but it is what it is."
"We always knew what we were capable of, but it was good to see it come true right in front of our eyes and just find ways to win week in and week out. No one really caring how it gets done, just find a way to get it done. That's what it's all about, just getting wins.
It was really good to see."
Steelers ended up winning their final four games, beating a pair of rivals to end it. They dealt with a huge injury to Watt, guys who played through injury like Larry Ogunjobi, Myles Jack, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Najee Harris and others. They dealt with several new pieces on offense and a few who grew on defense-Robert Spillane chief among them.
"How far we came, the bumps in the road we had to maneuver early on in the year because we started slow," said Steelers Diontae Johnson. "Stuff wasn't just rolling for us in the beginning. Just to be able to get to this point is crazy to me. We had to come together after the bye week and I feel like we did a great job of responding to everything and shutting out all the noise."
"Believing in ourselves and that each and every one would take the right step. Be there for one another, if you don't have that, stuff won't go our way. We wanted to play for each other."
"It sucks, but I'm proud of this group," said center Mason Cole about the season ending. "There are always going to be what ifs, you are always going to wish you did better. But I'm proud of this group and how far we've come, the leaders on this team. Just where we came from, we were 2-6 at the bye, it was stressful. Nobody stopped working, everyone knew how good we could be and kept at it."
"We persevered," said tailback Najee Harris. "A lot of times things are not going to go your way. I was never around a team where everything was just smooth. Even at Alabama, we had our adversity, it may not have been winning, but we had our adversity. For us to persevere and just stick together. I think that comes to next year when we come into trouble.
We can just recall back to this year where we stuck through and stuck it out."
Tomlin streak
The victory means another non-losing season for Mike Tomlin. The Steelers head coach improved his record to 163-93-2 over 16 seasons. Some, especially the younger or new players, said it was important to them to keep the streak of never having a losing season going.
"We knew what was on the line for Coach T and the leader that he is," said Steelers corner Levi Wallace. "The man that he is. It makes you want to fight harder for him and keep that record alive for him. I know we went out there and the first priority was winning the game for Coach T."
"Things were looking rough, but the leadership we had starting from Coach T down, even the players in here," said linebacker Myles Jack. "Nobody blinked an eye, nobody started pointing fingers we just started working harder and it worked out."
"He (Tomlin) didn't start tripping, he didn't start yelling. It wasn't a finger-pointing match. We just continued with business as usual and we looked up and we were 9-8. I really give credit to that. I've been places where it gets wicked when things are 3-7."
"Credit to Coach T, the leadership in the locker room, the guys that we have to be able to, when our backs were against the wall in the record and throughout games this year, to be able to fight back and play for each other," Watt said.
"I feel like we always had the capability of being a great team, injuries played a role at the beginning," Wallace said. "A lot of new pieces too fitting into the new defense and into the new team. That's something to build on. We are really proud of how we finished when a lot of people counted us out. Something to build on in the offseason, stay in touch with guys. Build that comradery still in the offseason and go from there."
