The Pittsburgh Steelers have played their best football of the season over the last two weeks, and former Steelers cornerback and current CBS Sports analyst Bryant McFadden said he’s impressed with the energy that they have brought following a three-game losing streak. McFadden, who also said he thinks Mason Rudolph should’ve been the starter all season, said the Steelers look like a playoff-caliber team and it’s because of the energy they’ve brought.
“A team that had structure on the offensive side, a team that was opportunistic on the defensive side, and a team that’s playing some of their best ball in the most critical moments of the season,” McFadden said said yesterday on CBS Sports HQ. “The energy that we’re watching from the Pittsburgh Steelers, when you look at [Sunday’s] effort against Seattle in Seattle and then a week ago at home against Cincinnati is something the fans have been wanting for such a long time. The energy, the morale is there, guys are having fun.”
George Pickens basically said as much about the morale when he said that this team is finally coming together. The locker room has seemed to be on shaky ground at times this year, but winning cures all. With the Steelers a potential playoff team, the locker room is finally banding together and driving toward a common goal.
It’s also helped that the offense has finally looked good over the past two games with Rudolph under center. It is an offense that’s been dreadful to watch for most of the season, but Rudolph has provided a spark and gotten the offense to score 30 or more points in each of the Steelers’ last two wins. That makes life easier for the defense and leads to more rest. That’s going to end up making everyone happier on both sides of the ball.
The Steelers still need to win and get some help to make the playoffs, but if they can get in and Rudolph and the offense can keep up their level of play, they could actually be a threat to win a game. That seemed unfathomable even a few weeks ago with a languishing offense that couldn’t do much of anything, but the tides have turned with Rudolph. We’ll see if the Steelers can give themselves that chance with a win over the Ravens in Week 18, and hopefully their momentum will carry over on a short week with their game slated for Saturday.
Watch the full segment with McFadden below:
