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Pat Freiermuth Calls 2024 Steelers Best Team He’s Been On In NFL

Steelers Pat Freiermuth

For the first time since 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers have clinched a playoff berth before the season finale. It’s a new experience for Pat Freiermuth, who the Steelers drafted in the second round in 2021. Since then, they haven’t won the division but made the playoffs twice as a Wild Card team.

With three games to go, the Steelers are 10-4 and can lock up the AFC North on Saturday. They have a tough road game against the Baltimore Ravens, but even shorthanded, it’s a winnable game. Even coming off a deflating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Freiermuth and company still have resolve.

“This is the best team I’ve been a part of in my Steelers time here,” Freiermuth said on 102.5 WDVE Chalk Talk with Gerry Dulac. “I do believe the locker room is different. Everything on the team is different. We’re in the playoffs now, and anything can happen. We want to finish the season off strong, and we’ll see what happens.”

The Steelers clinched a playoff berth this weekend despite losing to the Eagles. Because the Dolphins and Colts both lost, they now cannot catch up with the Steelers for better seeding. That now means Pat Freiermuth will reach the playoffs in three of his first four NFL seasons. But he is still looking for his first home game, and his first win.

In fact, the Steelers are looking for their first playoff win since 2016. Since Freiermuth’s time, they are 0-2 as a road team on Wild Card weekend. In 2021, the Kansas City Chiefs blew them out, bringing Ben Roethlisberger’s career to an inauspicious close. Last year, with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, the Buffalo Bills won 31-17.

The Steelers at least threatened to make things interesting late in that game, pulling to within one score in the fourth quarter before the Bills added another touchdown. Pat Freiermuth caught five passes for 76 yards in that game, among his most productive of last season.

While many are turning on the Steelers, Freiermuth believes they still haven’t revealed everything.

“Sunday was not a showing of who we are or who we’ve been throughout the whole season,” he said of their loss to the Eagles. “We want to go out and show the AFC and the whole NFL what we’re really about.”

When playing at a high level, the Steelers do look like they can compete with some of the best teams in the NFL. They did beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11, which is a nice feather in their cap. And they still have T.J. Watt, or at least they hope to. And they are finally starting to utilize Pat Freiermuth more.

Through 14 games, Freiermuth has 47 catches on 56 targets for 463 yards and six touchdowns. He is one off his career high in touchdowns, but has some ground to cover in the others. He would need 16 catches in the Steelers’ final three games to tie that mark and 239 yards. That’s almost 80 yards per game, a mark he hasn’t hit this season.

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