While the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped a winnable game to the Cleveland Browns, they did show resolve. They erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter in wretched conditions on the road, after all. Perhaps that is why they were so mad, and frustrated in themselves, after the game. That is the takeaway from Shelby Cassesse of WPXI.
“I remember it being just a lot of exhausted guys and there was a lot of quiet players in there, a lot of hanging heads, and this locker room couldn’t have been more different”, she said on The Black & Gold Experience postgame show, contrasting this late Steelers loss to the one to the Cowboys earlier this season.
“I stood in the tunnel as all of the Steelers walked from the field to the locker room and quite honestly, they were livid”, she added. “There were a lot of words that I clearly can’t say on TV. Just a lot of anger after this loss to be honest with you”.
The fact that the Steelers lost to a bitter divisional rival certainly didn’t cool their emotions. Tempers flared during the game a time or two, even to the final whistle. On the last play, George Pickens found himself tussling with a Browns DB, which I’m sure will be a storyline.
But it’s also the obstacles they overcame to get to that point, only to blow it. In Dallas, the Steelers had the lead entering the fourth quarter, and the two teams went back and forth. The Cowboys, essentially, had the ball last. At least this time, the Steelers had a chance to toss the ball into the end zone.
“When we walked into the locker room there were a lot of emotions that were similar across both sides of the ball”, Cassesse said of the Steelers’ locker room after losing to the Browns. “This defense obviously prides itself on making the big play in the big moment. They just didn’t do that tonight. They know that. They said that and they feel like that’s what ultimately this game came down to”.
She noted that a lot of players on the Steelers’ offense seemed to be still processing the loss. Their focus was about moving on, focusing on the Bengals, getting past the struggles that put them in a 12-point hole in the first place. “That’s sort of the vibe right now. There’s a lot of frustration in that locker room and you could sense that with the guys coming off the field as well”.
Even with all that, the Steelers are still 8-3, squarely in position for the third seed in the AFC playoffs. They control their divisional destiny, but of course their margin for error has shrunken considerably. After winning five consecutive games, though, it had to end at some point. I think part of the Steelers’ frustration stems from the fact that it ended in Cleveland.
