It’s hard not to take notice whenever somebody wins 11 games in a row. Regardless of sport, regardless of how many games are played, winning 11 games in a row is not something that happens incredibly often, especially at the beginning of a season, being undefeated during that process.
This year, that was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and both their players and other teams were well aware of it. rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool, for example, joked about not knowing about losing, since he’s never lost at this level before. The Washington Football Team sure had their fun on Twitter on Monday night after handing him, and Pittsburgh, their first loss.
It was also the first loss in the black and gold for Eric Ebron, their most significant free agent signing in 2020. A talented pass-catching tight end, he has, by and large, lived up to his scouting report so far. He has made some great athletic catches, and right now has 49 catches for 481 yards and four touchdowns. He’s also not a very good blocker. And he drops the ball.
Both of those shortcomings were on display against Washington. By no means am I pinning the loss on him, but it was an accumulation of those sorts of errors by many players over the course of the game that resulted in their finally dropping a game. But you can use defeat to make you better.
After the game, Ebron took to Twitter, as he often does, but this time with more humility and drive, calling it a “humbling game”. He added, “I’m happy about this loss, the fire has been re-lit. We will be ready come Sunday”.
Humbling .. Humbling game … i’m happy about this loss, the fire has been re-lit. we will be ready come Sunday. #STFUAndBall pic.twitter.com/IQ1l068HpI
— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) December 8, 2020
Ebron caught seven passes for 68 yards on Monday against Washington. He also caught seven passes for 54 yards the week before that, and both at the time were season-highs for him. Prior to the past two games, he also scored three touchdowns over a four-game stretch.
In spite of his flaws, he is a big part of this offense and has come up in the clutch a number of times for Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers this year. Relighting the fire isn’t going to make his hands better, but he and the rest of his teammates will be driven to silence the doubters who are all patting themselves on the back after this one and predicting that they are suddenly going to fall apart now that the armor is cracked.
