Their victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in Pittsburgh Steelers Week 16 on Christmas Eve was an emotional one. Not only was the two teams battling for playoff lives in the bitter cold of Pittsburgh in the end-of-season game, but it was also the game in which Franco retired his Harris No. 32 jersey. The ceremony came just days after Harris died suddenly at the age of 72 on December 20th. The Steelers honored Harris as the entire team stepped into his stadium wearing Harris’s No. 32 jersey. Legacy won 13-10. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talked about how the Steelers embraced the emotion of that game.
“We didn’t want to resist it. We wanted to embrace it. We knew it was coming. I thought I did a really good job of absorbing and embracing it while still concentrating on the task at hand of making the plays necessary to win and understanding our element of the celebration. said on The Mike Tomlin Show via the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
One of the key feelings that comes out of the game is that the Steelers were the game they grew up on. Kenny Pickett’s rookie quarterback, George Pickens’ rookie receiver who caught the game-winning touchdown, and two sophomore players, Nagy Harris and Pat Fry Elms, who clutched on the team’s final drive. with a young offense that featured. Tomlin spoke of the maturity the team showed as they completed the game.
“I thought our players matured beyond their years in terms of dealing with that part, staying focused and finishing the game.”
The Steelers’ offense was lackluster for most of the game, not even getting into the red zone until the final drive. But when it came time to win, it was Pickett, Pickens, and the rest of the attacking young men who made the necessary play to win the game. And needless to say, if the defense hadn’t stood tall and held Las Vegas to his 10 points, he wouldn’t have had that chance. Defensively his lineman Cameron Hayward had one of the best games of his storied career at Pittsburgh, but second Limited star his receiver Davante his Adams. had just two catches for his 15 yards. It was a true group effort to extend the Steelers’ playoff hopes and honor the legacy of one of the greatest players in franchise history.
For many reasons, it was a must-win game for the Steelers. It wasn’t the greatest win, but it was a win nonetheless.As Tomlin said, the team understood the celebration factor. they just had to win.
The win adds momentum heading into Sunday night’s contest against the Baltimore Ravens. At 7-8, the Steelers need to win and need some help to make the playoffs, but a win last Saturday kept them alive. Let’s see if they can build on that performance and try to sneak into the postseason in his final two weeks of the year.
