Obviously, the better stats Alex Highsmith posts, the higher the odds that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be playing in February. But big picture Highsmith’s eyes aren’t on individual accolades but a bigger prize: bringing home a seventh Lombardi Trophy.
Speaking at a Monday press conference fresh off his four-year extension, Highsmith noted the team goals are bigger than his personal ones.
“I think the number one goal is just the Super Bowl,” Highsmith told the media via the team’s YouTube channel. “We gotta get back to that and we know that everyone in this locker room has the goal of not only getting to it but winning it. And so I think that’s just the number one and only goal for me is just doing whatever I can to help us get to that.”
Through three years, Highsmith has appeared in a pair of postseason games. Both resulted in the Steelers’ season ending, upset by the Cleveland Browns in a 2020 wild-card game and then being blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs in a 2021 wild-card contest. The Steelers failed to make the playoffs in 2022.
Pittsburgh is searching for its first Super Bowl win since 2008 which, when it comes to the Steelers, feels like an eternity. To do that, they’ll first have to win a playoff game, a mission they haven’t accomplished since 2016 when they made it to the AFC Championship Game before falling to the New England Patriots.
The Steelers are part of the rough-and-tumble AFC and AFC North, the latter considered football’s strongest division with all four teams legitimately having playoff hopes. The Cincinnati Bengals are among the best teams in football, the Baltimore Ravens are great when Lamar Jackson is healthy, and the Cleveland Browns are banking on Deshaun Watson returning to form.
The disheartening thing is many of the Steelers’ top players have limited playoff success. Cam Heyward has just one postseason victory under his belt in games that he participated in, missing the 2016 run due to an injury. His playoff record, though obviously not directly controlled by him, is a crooked 1-6. T.J. Watt is 0-3. When he was a Steeler, CB Joe Haden – who signed with Pittsburgh in the hopes of finding playoff success he didn’t with Cleveland – lost both games he played in while he watched the Steelers get knocked off by the Browns in 2020.
They’re ugly footnotes to great careers. Highsmith has the right mentality to change it but talk is just that. Talk. This is the season to walk the walk, win a playoff game, and look to make a run.
