After the Pittsburgh Steelers lost back-to-back games to teams that had been eight games under .500, it was completely excusable for fans to feel like the sky was falling on the Steelers’ season. After all, this was completely unprecedented for a team with a winning record. It’s not the kind of record any team wants to set.
However, the standings currently say that all hope is not lost for the Steelers. Despite the two losses, they are 7-6 and currently hold the sixth seed in the AFC playoff standings. So when CB Patrick Peterson addressed the media on Thursday, he shared his view on the season, per video provided by the Steelers.
“The biggest thing is we just have to handle what we can, what we can control,” Peterson said. “And that’s lining up and winning the ball games that we have left on our schedule. That’s the beauty of this. We’re not having to wait and see what other teams have to do yet. We still have control of our own destiny.”
Despite a two-game losing streak, the Steelers are still atop the heap of 7-6 teams in the AFC thanks to holding incredibly important tiebreakers. While the tiebreakers are great, the bottleneck of teams leaves little margin for error, and Peterson is well aware of that fact.
“At this stage of our season, every game is a must-win,” Peterson said. “We’re one of those teams that’s right there on the cusp. We have about five or four other teams right under us that’s 7-6 as well.”
One of those teams is the Indianapolis Colts, the team currently in seventh in the AFC and the Steelers’ opponent on Saturday. If the Steelers can take advantage of the golden opportunity ahead of them, they can strengthen their position in the tiebreakers while separating themselves from the pack. It certainly seems like a tall task for this team, especially after the last two outings.
Perhaps playing a team that isn’t mired in the doldrums of a lost year will help the Steelers. After all, there should be zero chance that any of the players will be overlooking a team with a winning record unlike they did with the Arizona Cardinals, according to RB Jaylen Warren. The Steelers did get good news ahead of Saturday’s game as both of their star pass rushers, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, are out of the concussion protocol and will be available.
The Steelers played with fire in their last two games and got scorched pretty badly. If they continue to do so, the season will go up in smoke. Thankfully, as Peterson said, the Steelers are currently in complete control of whether their season ends after Week 17 or they return to postseason play after missing out last season.
