Pat McAfee is buying the Steelers hype this year, the native Yinzer confirmed during his recent visit to Latrobe. Conducting his popular show at Saint Vincent College, he had many guests on, from Mike Tomlin to Aaron Rodgers. After talking to the group and watching practice, he is a believer.
Asked about his feelings on the Steelers this year, McAfee told Missi Matthews, “All in”, via the Steelers’ website. “Come on, Missi. Aren’t we all in”?
While he played his career in Indianapolis, Pat McAfee and his family grew up following the Steelers. Though he wasn’t a diehard fan, he recalled his family dragging him to training camp one time. He called it a rite of passage, and now as a former player, he can appreciate it even more. Especially this offseason, witnessing all their plans playing out on the field.
“It feels like there’s a little bit of a buzz” around the Steelers this year, McAfee said. “We talked to Omar Khan a little bit today about how this is not how the Steelers operate. Pay a wide receiver $30 million a year that hasn’t been a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers before? Let alone just pay any wide receiver $30 million a year.
“DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, then the Jonnu [Smith] trade, then Aaron [Rodgers], obviously”, he continued, rattling off the list of big moves the Steelers made this offseason. “It’s awesome. And I appreciate the team acknowledging that they’re good, and it’s like, ‘We need to be great’. And I think that’s gonna be the message, and it’s like, why not the Pittsburgh Steelers”?
While Pat McAfee is a believer, the Steelers still face plenty of skeptics. Their greatest obstacle is arguably their own division, as they must contend with the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens are perennial Super Bowl favorites, and the Bengals have Joe Burrow. Whenever he is healthy and they don’t sabotage themselves, they are in the hunt, as well.
Pittsburgh, of course, has sat on the porch in recent years as the hunting party pursued its prey. Here’s an eye opener. The last time the Steelers won a playoff game, Pat McAfee was still punting for Indianapolis. He retired after the 2016 season, the year the Steelers advanced to the conference finals. Effectively, he created a media empire in the interim.
Since retiring, he has embraced his Yinzer roots, and the Steelers are a common topic on The Pat McAfee Show. He has truly excelled in his life’s work, but if the Steelers don’t get this thing off the ground, some of their most outstanding players will be doing so without satisfaction. Cameron Heyward is nearing the end of his career, for example. While they just signed T.J. Watt to an extension, it’s fair to question whether they’ll manage to win anything meaningful.
But at least the Steelers have McAfee’s buy-in.
