The Steelers know that their path to a surprising trip to the postseason involves a number of scenarios breaking their way over the next two weeks.
And while some players admit that they’ll be scoreboard watching Sunday, they also know that the biggest obstacle for them to overcome will be the opponent that lines up across from them in their remaining games.
The Steelers could be eliminated by the time the take the field for Sunday night’s game in Baltimore.
“We’re not going to play any harder or any less hard because of the results earlier in the day,” TJ Watt said Friday. “I’m not going to read much into it.”
Still, Pittsburgh will know Sunday evening, before warmups even begin, if they’re still alive. If Miami wins its game against New England, the Steelers playoff hopes die. A Jets win over Seattle knocks out the Steelers, also.
“We're going to focus on the things in our control, and that's our preparation, and then what we do inside the stadium on Sunday night,” Mike Tomlin said earlier in the week. “We acknowledge all those scenarios and things exist. But all of those scenarios and things have existed since September 11, since we started the season.”
That said, some Steelers players admit that, when it comes to scoreboard watching Sunday, they’ll probably not be able to look away.
“Eh, I mean, yeah. I think I will (look), to be honest with you,” Najee Harris said Friday. “I think we need the Dolphins to lose, right? And we need some other people, right? I’m not going to be dumb to it. I’m going to look at it a little bit. But they just flexed us to a night game, so now I’m really going to look at it even more.”
If the Jets and Dolphins both lose, the door remains opened for another week. Pittsburgh would then need the Dolphins would then need to lose to the Jets in Week 18, and the Patriots would have to lose to Buffalo.
Miami will be without its starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who is dealing with a second concussion this season. New England has a tough finals game. And the Jets, well, are the Jets. So it’s not exactly a huge stretch to think that something almost magical could happen.
But for the Steelers, the first goal is winning in Baltimore, a team that’s already beaten Pittsburgh this season, but will likely again be without starting quarterback Lamar Jackson. Then they'll need to beat Cleveland to close out the season, while also hoping other cards are dealt in their favor.
“We’ve just got to worry about playing Baltimore and winning out,” Harris said. “Hopefully we’ll make the playoffs, but it’s not in our control after that.”