ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- "The message never changed."
Calvin Austin was sharing some wisdom with me earlier in the week, regarding where the Steelers were not all that long ago and where they are now.
"Even through that losing streak," he'd proceed, "it never changed. Our practice habits never changed. Our belief in ourselves never changed. Nothing ever changed. If anything changed, really, it's that we'd just work that much harder."
Gross oversimplification?
I guess that's possible. Even for a professional athlete, Austin's as excitable as they come, per my experience. The highs will hit him harder than most.
But who among us can dispute his characterization?
He was in there for the most pristine preseason we've ever witnessed. And for the flogging by the 49ers that instantly flattened it. And for Kenny Pickett's fourth-quarter bouncebacks. And for Matt Canada being booed out of town. And for Mitch Trubisky blowing back-to-back home games to 2-10 opponents. And for all the additional bellyaching that followed, not least of which had at least a couple of us publicly questioning Mike Tomlin's future in Pittsburgh.
And then ... this, against the Bengals:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) December 24, 2023
And this, way out in Seattle:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 1, 2024
And this, within a Baltimore ice bucket:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 7, 2024
And now, of course, there's this: After a one-day delay due to a dozen inches of snow slamming Western New York, it'll be Steelers vs. Bills in an NFL wild-card matchup, Monday, 4:30 p.m., at a shoveled-out Highmark Stadium.
For real.
Even amid persistent forecasts that don't look a whole lot different than this past weekend -- it's always awesome when the governor of a state, in this case New York's Kathy Hochul, assures the citizenry, "I'm not saying it's going to be pleasant, but it's not going to be life-threatening, either" -- they'll play this one where and when it's supposed to be played, according to all concerned.
For real ...
Buffalo bills fans shoveling inside the stadium 🏟️ getting paid $20 to do it. The bills stadium is in a residential neighborhood. So these guys walked there. Follow me for more cool posts pic.twitter.com/AYLAWPC3vc
— The wonder of it all (@wonderofitall7) January 14, 2024
... no matter how many $20-an-hour shirtless, sloshed Mafia shovelers it'll take.
I love it. All of it.
And know what else?
I don't, unlike the seeming entirety of the football world, see these Steelers as anyone's underdog on this side of the conference border.
For real.
Yeah, I know, 10-point dog, everyone's picking the other guys like it's free money, no chance, blah blah. And if this were a month ago, to be blunt, I'd be buying what everyone's selling, mega-spread and all. Heck, I'd bet on the team bus being buried in some snowbank on I-90 before kickoff.
But this isn't a month ago. And although the notion of momentum meaning much entering the NFL playoffs is mostly a myth, per extensive data, what I'm emphasizing when I think of how far the Steelers have come isn't as much about momentum as it is about Mason Rudolph, the offense and, in all honesty, not much else.
As Pat Freiermuth put it for me the other day when I asked about these past three weeks, "We've just been a different team."
Team. The collective. And he's right because Rudolph's performance has pushed defenses back out of the box, allowing Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and the line to run forward the way normal offenses run forward and, on top of all that, the defense isn't stuck on the field for 75-plus snaps a game. It's been a blissful chain reaction that comes full circle every several minutes, then repeats.
How different has the offense been in these past three weeks, even weighing the outrageous conditions in Baltimore?
I mean, Rudolph alone comes with a 118.0 passer rating that's No. 1 in the NFL in that span, a 74.3% completion rate that's also No. 1, and an average of 10.1 yards per pass attempt that's also No. 1. And grafting onto that his three touchdowns, his four passes of 50-plus yards and zero interceptions ... hey, if anyone prefers to ignore all that because of fuzzy memories from 4-5 years ago, go nuts. I'm not doing that. I'm living in the present, and the present's shown me the most productive quarterbacking this franchise has seen over three weeks since Ben Roethlisberger in Weeks 7-8-9 of 2014. Rudolph can't stay at that level forever, or he'd rank somewhere between Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana all-time, but he also doesn't need to plunge into pumpkin-hood.
Neither does the running game, which has averaged 156.7 yards per game over these past three and which, not coincidentally, wasn't moving anything like this beforehand:
Seumalo destroying a Ravens player….love to see it #Steelers pic.twitter.com/GZL1dUe57d
— Steelers Sanctuary (@SteelerSanc16) January 11, 2024
Don't watch Harris. Watch Isaac Seumalo pulling across.
Uh-huh.
"Everything works together," as Warren would tell me. "The more that Mason and our receivers do their thing, the more room we've got to do ours."
That's not momentum, my friends. That's a near-total transfusion, made possible by a dramatic upgrade at the sport's most important position.
That's a different team.
Listen, Austin's unquestionably correct with the way he paints this Bizarro season the Steelers have somehow preserved into mid-January. With the possible exception of the all-out stinker in Indianapolis, I've never sensed any quit, any deflation within this group. There was some backbiting, for sure, about Canada, but it left the building when he did. There was stress, for sure, all throughout, to varying degrees. But the intangibles pretty much held firm, as did the general work ethic Austin described, possibly as a metaphor, as having ramped up.
What really changed?
He knows. They all know. And soon enough, maybe a few more people will know.
