As much as this long stings, and it stings, the Pittsburgh Steelers season is not over. They’re 11-3, going to the playoffs, and there’s a good chance they see New England again. Cam Heyward certainly welcomes playing the Patriots again.
Following the loss, Heyward was asked if he’d like to see Tom Brady and company in a rematch.
“Yeah. I like a shot at everybody we lose to,” Heyward answered speaking to the media via the team site.
Of course, that rematch is far from guaranteed. And with the Patriots winning, the playoff path has gotten much cloudier.
“There’s a road we’re going to have to take,” Heyward continued.”I know we have the same record now. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of football left. Two games and a guaranteed playoff game.”
As Matthew Marczi wrote earlier, the Patriots now control the AFC. But the #1 seed hasn’t been locked up and the Steelers will still look to earn a first round bye, a milestone even more important now that Antonio Brown will have to race the clock to return for the postseason. An extra week for him would be huge.
Despite how awful things seem right now, Heyward is keeping a positive attitude.
“I’m looking forward to all of it. We can be dejected about this but I like where we’re at.”
It’s similar to what happened against Dallas last year. A crushing home loss that made it feel like the walls were closing in. But the Steelers recovered, reset course, and ran the table the rest of the regular season.
For his part, Heyward picked up his 10th sack of the season, the first Steelers’ defensive linemen to reach that mark since Keith Willis in 1986. Another one or two of those in any potential rematch would go a long way to getting the Steelers over the hump.
