"Just that W. That's it, man. Just that W."
Terrell Edmunds speaks in much the same style he plays strong safety: He's straightforward, effective and not at all focused on splash.
So when I'd asked Friday afternoon, following the Steelers' final practice at the Rooney Complex, how his side might be approaching facing the Browns in this seemingly riveting rematch Sunday at Heinz Field, just two weeks and change after ... oh, you know, all that ... and his response would wind up being so representative of the locker room as a whole that it'd essentially get echoed all over.
Makes sense, too, doesn't it?
Since none of that drama could possibly come with a sequel.
"Naw, not really," Vince Williams was telling me. "I mean, I feel like it's gonna be a physical game because it's a big game for both sides. And because they've really found themselves with the running game, with Nick Chubb getting 20 carries a game now. That's why I feel it'll be physical."
But the other stuff, then. Not like Steelers-Ravens or even Steelers-Bengals.
"Not at all. Remember, this wasn't really even about them, though," Williams added, referring to the Browns as a whole. "It was one guy. I could see if everybody had pressure with everybody, but it was just Myles Garrett. I ain't got no pressure with nobody over there. I just want to beat 'em 'cause they're the next team. It's not like we got a beef."
He shook his head, I thought he was done, and he added, "It was one guy that did something crazy."
Talk about straightforward.
Garrett's an idiot. He swung his helmet like a weapon at Mason Rudolph's head, then, in a blind-side assault of equal recklessness and reprehensibility, conveniently accused Rudolph of making a racist slur several days after the fact, after a public apology to both the Browns and Rudolph.
Racism doesn't come with a compass. It can't be cast in only one direction. Garrett's accusation was actually the only frame for racism in this setting, as it falsely, unfairly injected it where it didn't belong.
And if he'd have been playing here Sunday ... oh, my. Can't even imagine the scene. Let's put it this way: It would've been way wilder than anything Devlin Hodges' spontaneously combusted fan base will be able to summon with the thousands of duck calls expected through the turnstiles.
But he isn't. Garrett isn't playing Sunday. He won't even be permitted on the premises, per NFL regulations for a suspended player.
And neither, for that matter, is Rudolph, albeit for different reasons.
Nor is resident bouncer Maurkice Pouncey.
Thus, all that remains from that original setting is this: Both teams really, really need 'just that W.'
Because here's the AFC playoff picture from the Pittsburgh perspective: The Steelers are 6-5 and currently hold a mythical wild spot, along with the Bills at 9-3. Buffalo's going to make it, all but assured by the big-time Thanksgiving win in Dallas, barring some uber-collapse. Which means the spot the Steelers currently occupy is almost surely the only one in play.
Who else is in there?
Well, the Raiders, Colts and Titans are all also 6-5, and the latter two face each other Sunday in Indianapolis, so further definition is at hand, if not actual separation. Because that pack could soon include the Browns. They're 5-6, but they've won three in a row, and their four games after this weekend include two against the Bengals, one against the Cardinals and another against the Ravens. It's easy to see Cleveland becoming that team that always seems to surge up into a wild-card berth.
That's if they win here.
If the Steelers win, hey, that's the picture.
So forget any nonsense about any rivalry being reborn. It isn't. And it can't be until two teams regularly meeting in big games with bigger consequences than this. That's been the case with the Steelers and Ravens for a decade. It's been the cast with the Steelers and Bengals for about half that span. And it's been the case with the Steelers and Browns for, what, less than a dozen seconds on the official game clock?
This is about one game. It's big, all right, at least within context, but it's also different.
The Steelers again will sprint through the tunnel missing roughly a quarter of their top talent -- Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Stephon Tuitt, Pouncey -- almost unthinkably short-handed. There's little rational reason they should prevail. And bluntly, I don't think they will. This offense is close to bankrupt, with little running game, less passing game. The defense is eminently capable, possibly elite, but it's far too much to expect some endless tidal wave of Minkah Fitzpatrick takeaways.
"We have to be better," James Washington was telling me of the offense. "We know it's on us. We feel that."
He's right. Heck, it might just be on him, given how Cincinnati worked out. And maybe it will be.
Again, if the Steelers win, that's the picture.
Nobody will be talking about Garrett or Freddie Kitchens' choice of T-shirts or the Browns in any capacity. They'll be talking about a team having proven everyone -- present company included -- spectacularly wrong. They'll be talking about a team that, against obscene odds, will be 7-5 with a modest slate of their own ahead:
They'll be talking about maybe the most improbable playoff berth in franchise history.
It's a fun group. It's been, already to date, a fun season. Way more fun than anyone except these coaches and these players would've envisioned after Ben went down, never mind 0-3 or 1-4 or the next quarterback going down and the fourth-stringer in Latrobe getting handed the keys.
I've seen a city that only months ago felt disconnected from its foundational football franchise, transformationally, fall right back into the twirling line. I'll see it again Sunday, as well. The sea of yellow in motion, the roar for the defense, the silly duck calls ... it'll all be a blast.
And the next rivalry game on the schedule will still be the one in Baltimore.
This'll be about something else.
"It's about getting the win," Washington continued. "That's all we really need to think about right now. If you go out there thinking about revenge, you're always going to sell yourself short. I mean, the crowd's going to be into it. And that's great. That's what we need. Stay in their ears, and keep us motivated. But for us ... it's about the win."
Just that.
