Sitting at 6-3 on the season after two straight wins, the Pittsburgh Steelers enter a critical stretch of the season starting Sunday in Week 11 on the road against the Cleveland Browns.
In a loaded AFC North, all four teams are bunched up with similar records, making this week — and Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals — a pivotal one for the Black and Gold.
For veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson though, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is or where the game is played, the Steelers have to take care of business, especially in November, because they have places they want to get to.
Appearing on the latest episode of his podcast “All Things Covered” with former Steelers cornerback and cousin Bryant McFadden Tuesday, Peterson downplayed the matchup against the Browns some, at least from a rivalry standpoint, stating that all games matter at this point in the season regardless of the opponent.
“It’s a huge game because we’re in November football, I don’t give a damn who we playing. It don’t matter because we’re in November football,” Peterson said to McFadden, according to video via the All Things Covered YouTube page. “This is a time where you start to separate yourself. This is a time where pretenders and contenders start to identify themselves, you know what I mean?
“We have places that we plan to be, so we don’t care who’s in our way. We just focusing on the next team. And it just happens to be the Cleveland Browns. We’re just ready to rock and roll to get this game plan on Wednesday and see what we gotta do to win this ball game on Sunday.”
It goes back to that nameless, gray faces mantra that head coach Mike Tomlin preaches. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, what players it has, what the history is. It’s all about the game in front of the Steelers, executing the game plan, playing their style and winning the game.
That mantra has been taken negatively in the past after former receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s comments, but it has a great point to it and still rings true. Peterson is buying into it already, even if Tomlin himself stated that the mantra doesn’t exist anymore.
November football is huge for the Steelers moving forward. Matchups against the Browns and Bengals will be key for the Steelers, especially in the AFC North division title race. Taking advantage of this stretch of games here against familiar opponents could set the Steelers up for a great run down the stretch, potentially helping them get to where they plan to be at the end of the season.
