Currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-2 and fighting for the AFC North title. However, there’s no reason to get comfortable. Anything can change any week. Just because the Steelers look good now does not guarantee them a playoff spot. Nothing will likely be settled until they play all 17 games. Elandon Roberts seems to have a firm grasp on that concept.
“You can’t look at a team’s record and revoke that team’s offense,” Roberts said Wednesday via Yardbarker’s Aaron Becker on Twitter. “I done been 1-7 before and almost made the playoffs. I’m a true believer that football really starts after Thanksgiving because that’s when it gets into the nitty gritty of it.
“If you start putting your mindset, ‘Ah, they’re 2-7,’ you gonna lose. You might get the dog shit beat out of you because these are NFL players that respect each other.”
That’s such a good mindset because your record in Week 7 doesn’t matter if you ultimately miss the playoffs. Whether good or bad, the Steelers have proved that nothing is set in stone until the season ends. Take one look at the 2020 season. The Steelers were 11-0, standing atop the NFL. Then, they finished at 12-4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Suddenly, being 11-0 didn’t matter.
Roberts is also correct that things start to get tight in the NFL after Thanksgiving. That’s the home stretch, with the playoffs being on the horizon. At that point, any win or loss could shift a team’s spot in the playoffs.
In the AFC North, those games always mean more, too. The Baltimore Ravens are rolling at the moment, and the Cincinnati Bengals are heating up. Losing a string of games in December could change the Steelers’ fate.
The 1-7 team that Roberts was a part of is likely the 2021 Miami Dolphins. That team was 1-7, yet they managed to finish with a record of 9-8. The Dolphins missed the playoffs but made an impressive push, considering their horrible start. The Steelers shouldn’t have to do anything like that, but it just goes to show that every game matters.
Earlier this year, it seemed the Steelers might have taken some opponents lightly. Some Steelers made it seem like some teammates weren’t taking things as seriously as they should have. Over the last few weeks, though, it seems like that attitude has changed, especially with what Roberts is saying.
This week, the Steelers play the New York Giants. The Giants look awful on paper, but as Roberts says, the Steelers can’t take them lightly. If they win this week, they’ll go into their bye week at 6-2. After that, if they keep their foot on the gas, they should have a good shot at making the playoffs. They just can’t get complacent.
