PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It's the NFL playoffs which brings its own air of excitement. Over half of the league is done and your goals are still ahead of you. Even when you lose your last four games of the season.
Whether they were trying to talk themselves into it or truly believed it was different at the Steelers facility on Tuesday at their first practice for the playoff game in Baltimore.
"Everybody doesn't get a chance to play in the playoffs," said corner Donte Jackson, who has never played in a postseason game. "Everybody doesn't get a chance to prolong their season week-by-week. You have to be turned up. You have to flush everything that happened. You have to be detailed and hone in on this."
"You go get this one, no one is going to worry about the last month, all the things we have to fix. It's a blessing."
"Coming in with the mindset, coming into the building and having that mindset," said tackle Broderick Jones. "That energy and enthusiasm to be ready to go. At the end of the day, we are in a single elimination tournament now. We've got to be all out from here on out. Everybody knows what we are capable of. We just got to go out and do it."
"The intensity is high," said rookie linebacker Payton Wilson. "Everyone is super-focused, locked in. I'm just excited to do my part and help us get a win."
Jackson said it really doesn't matter if you come into it playing well or poorly. He's loved the excitement in the room. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Damontae Kazee even were part of putting together a mosh pit the defense took part in early in practice. Whatever it takes to put your mind where it needs to be.
"Like Coach T put it at the beginning of the week, you can't pout about the last couple of games," said guard Spencer Anderson. "You got to keep rolling. The only thing that matters is the next game. For us to get the win would be huge. That would erase the four-game stretch that we had."
"We have Baltimore this week and we have to have a win."
What you hear from the players is while learning from their mistakes, it's not dwelling on the four-game slide. They are playing their rival, one the road, as nearly double-digit underdogs. Find a way to do what they've done eight of the last 10 meetings against the Ravens. That's the only concern.
"Just go get this one," Jackson said. "This one is going to change everything. You are not going to be worried about anything that happened or anything that is coming down the road. Just worried about this one right here, Saturday night, prime time against a division opponent."
"It don't get no better than that."
