PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s something that you seem to hear more in hockey about ‘gripping the stick too tight’ or baseball with a pitcher ‘aiming the ball instead of throwing it’. The Steelers were putting too much pressure on themselves and the offensive captains had a simple message trailing by 14 at the half yesterday against Indy.
Have fun.
“Just felt like we weren’t having fun,” Roethlisberger said. “I think that was super important, that we were able to come out in the second half. It’s not easy to do when you’re losing. We just believed in each other, were able to get it done.”
“Pouncey made it more announced that having fun it what its all about,” said receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. “We’re not having fun out there. He kept repeating it. He yelled it multiple times to put it in our head and that’s something that we did in the second half.”
“When you are having fun playing the game, things can happen differently,” Roethlisberger added. “It didn’t look good at the end of the half. That’s why you get a halftime to make adjustments, to gather yourself.”
It’s more than just words and saying you need to have fun. It’s about executing those plays. When the Steelers got the quick three and out from the defense after failing four times at the goal line early in the second half and then quickly converted into a 39-yard touchdown; let the fun commence into three consecutive touchdowns.
“It all plays down to just going out there and making plays at the end of the day,” Johnson said. “When you are down and doing all that talking, saying what you are going to do and then you go out there and you don’t do it, it shows you aren’t really locked in.”
“Stop talking and go out and play. We showed that in the second half, what we are capable of and that we can put points on the board.”
Steelers have another opportunity to have fun on Sunday.
Bottom line for Sunday, for the Steelers and its fan base, for the first time in a month, all had fun watching football again.