PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – How many have picked the Steelers to win Monday. ESPN’s NFL experts pick a multi-score Bills win. CBS Sports Pete Prisco and Sports Illustrated predict a multi-touchdown Bills win. USA Today picks the Bills to win the Super Bowl.
Not much projected for a close game, let alone anyone who thinks the Steelers can win.
Rookie tackle Broderick Jones had the most direct response to all of it.
“I don’t watch that s^#* man, I try and stay away from it as much as possible,” Jones said.
Each will react accordingly with some using these predictions and doubts as fuel.
“Nobody was expecting us to be here,” said receiver Diontae Johnson. “For us to overcome the stuff we’ve been through this year, it’s great. That shows that we are still together. We stick together with one another. We are chasing this goal and trying to win. Everyone has the attitude. The vets are being great leaders. That’s what we need.”
“We are not worried about the outside noise,” said tailback Najee Harris. “Any bettors or whatever the odds are. As an organization, as a team, if you lose a locker room, you lose everything. We never did that. We never looked in everybody’s eyes and said we don’t trust you. It wasn’t like that. We always knew we were capable of this.”
Harris adds the team has been through losing streaks and rough times, but they kept going. They kept pushing and now they have the opportunity in the playoffs. He’s been there before in his first season, but said this is different than the matchup in Kansas City in 2021.
“I feel more confident about this game than I was my rookie year,” Harris said. “All of us do. We feel more confident in the team. This is a good opportunity we have in front of us.”
“I think our morale is extremely high,” said tackle Dan Moore. “I think the difference between this Wild Card game and the last time we were in my rookie year. I sense more of a confidence of ‘we can go in and really win this thing’ as opposed to the last time we went in there, it was kinda ‘let’s see what happens’.”
Johnson believes they can really ‘win this thing’ because he is confident in what he called a great game plan for Sunday. He said he respects the Bills defense, noting the defensive line is really good, but he believes his offensive line will win the day up front and that is why the Steelers will win on Monday.
“We saw a lot on film where we can have big plays on,” Harris said. “We are excited just going in here. Really it’s just executing what we have to do.”
“We always have these conversations before,” said corner Joey Porter executing and playing the right way. “We’ve played good football before, it wasn’t anything new to us. We knew we could get back to winning football. We just had to lock in and communicate.”
Elandon Roberts has won a pair of Super Bowls with the Patriots, he said the key is not changing your routine. He believes they’ve been doing the same things week-in and week-out and staying the same. If you alter what you do now, it will do more harm than good.
“I was a younger guy who played in big games at a younger age and if I could talk to my younger self it would be ‘hey man, keep your same routine’,” Roberts said. “Stay dialed in. Yes, the game is bigger, that just means you can’t make any bone-head mistakes. Just playing within the defense, playing with a lot of confidence and know the guy next to you has your back.”
Roberts said the road was paved from the beginning of OTAs to make this playoff push. The linebacker fighting through injuries to be out there said nobody expected them to be here, for them to overcome what they have. He believes they are all chasing one goal and on the same page.
“This game is crazy,” said center Mason Cole. “The highs and lows of a season are so dramatic. Five weeks ago, it kinda felt like the world was ending. Here we are for a chance to go on the road and get a playoff victory. I know it’s been awhile here in Pittsburgh since we had a playoff win. We need to get it done this week.”
“There is nothing impossible,” Porter said. “We just have to get back to the basics, communicate and play fast football like the Steelers do. I feel in the past couple of weeks, we’ve been doing this. The offensive has been stepping up. The defense has been stepping up. The special teams has been stepping up.”
“It’s my rookie year. This is something I always wanted to check off the list, playing in the playoffs. There is no better way to do it in the playoffs versus a good team like that. I’m going to try to do my job, do it well and put another guy on the list.”
Porter’s father was part of a Steelers team that went from the last Wild Card spot to winning a Super Bowl. Patrick Peterson remembers that and believes there are similar traits with the 2023 Steelers.
“A lot of resemblance here,” Peterson said. “We have to go into the playoffs with the same tenacity and same fire that we ended the season with and see how far it takes us. We are really hot right now and we just want to continue to build on that momentum and ride that wave.”
“They are going to count us out regardless because we are just the Steelers and they are the Bills,” Johnson said. “You can’t really feed into it. Go out there and play your game and let the game do the talking. What goes on between the lines is what matters.”
This team all week, and really all year, has believed they would qualify for the postseason and make a run. Few think they can do it, but none of them will suit up for the Steelers on Monday.