With the Pittsburgh Steelers sideline feeling good late in the game against the Washington Commanders, Cameron Heyward had a message for his teammates: “finish the game.”
Even after Russell Wilson’s go-ahead touchdown pass to Mike Williams, the Steelers still had to go out and get a stop defensively, and they did. Heyward’s focus on finishing the game and getting a victory impressed former NFL head coach Bill Belichick, who said on Inside The NFL that the leadership the six-time Pro Bowler has displayed for the Steelers is “priceless.”
“I thought that what Heyward said on the sideline there, ‘Let’s finish the game.’ His intensity, his purpose, he’s not out there celebrating, doing cartwheels on the sideline, he’s thinking about what we gotta do out there to win. And that leadership is priceless to me,” Belichick said.
The Steelers have a lot of good players and a lot of guys who can step up as leaders. Looking up and down the roster, you can point to Russell Wilson, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick as leaders for this Pittsburgh team. But no one stands out as much as Heyward, who’s now a 10-time team captain and the heart and soul of this team. The longest-tenured member of the Steelers, Heyward knows what it takes to succeed in Pittsburgh. Ryan Clark echoed Belichick’s comments and said Heyward has carried over what he learned from Clark’s tenure playing with guys who won rings to this new era of Steelers football.
That’s important to have, and while it hasn’t translated into a lot of postseason success for Heyward and the Steelers, this could be the year that changes. Pittsburgh is at 7-2, and Russell Wilson has taken the offense to new heights over the last three games. This weekend will be a big test against the Baltimore Ravens to see just how good this team really is. However, a big reason for the Steelers’ success is Heyward’s play — he’s looked like one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen at 35 years old — in addition to his leadership.
When Heyward talks, his teammates listen. He wants to win as badly as anybody on the team, and he’s the consummate professional who knows how to get his teammates ready for battle and what buttons to push to bring the best out of everybody. You don’t become a captain 10 times without being a really good leader and someone teammates can turn to and respect, and Heyward is that guy.
The most talented teams can fail without a good leadership core, but with Heyward aboard along with the other leaders in Pittsburgh’s locker room, they’re elevating this team and not letting it sink. Leadership is one of the most important traits in an NFL locker room, and Heyward is bringing it in droves while helping the Steelers make a playoff push as they fight to be the top team in the AFC.
