It’s known for playing on Pittsburgh’s North Shore during Steelers home games, but for one day at least, Renegade by Styx went international.
In their Week 4 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland, the Steelers played Renegade early in the fourth quarter, right after a 33-yard Chris Boswell field goal made it a 24-6 game.
It set off a frenzied moment at Croke Park as many of the 74,512 in attendance waved their Terrible Towels and belted out the lyrics to the popular song.
And players like Steelers safety DeShon Elliott took notice.
“That Renegade in Ireland, well, since my — I’ve only been here for a year — but that was like top three Renegades because it was so fucking loud,” Elliott said Thursday on the Christian Kuntz Podcast. “Bro, it was crazy.”
It was quite the scene. Check out the moment.
Listen to the roar of the crowd when “the jig is up, the news is out” hits. Â In the first NFL regular-season game in Ireland, Steelers fans certainly didn’t disappoint. What a moment.
It was a sea of Black and Gold on the Emerald Isle, and Steelers fans were loud throughout the game. They created a hostile environment and were praised by a number of players after the game. T.J. Watt called them the best fans in the world after the win, and that moment with Renegade showed that.
Croke Park was rocking, and long snapper Christian Kuntz believes it could have been due to the structure of the stadium, with the overhangs on the three sides trapping the sound. That could have been the case. It was loud and rocking.
And yet the Vikings went right down the field. They covered 70 yards in nine plays, scoring at touchdown to make it a 24-14 game after running back Zavier Scott snuck behind Jalen Ramsey for a 16-yard touchdown catch and then Carson Wentz also found Jalen Nailor for the 2-point conversion.
Renegade might not have the impact on the field that it has had in the past, and teams have hijacked the song in Pittsburgh in recent years, like the Seahawks in Week 2. Â But it sure made for quite the moment last Sunday in Dublin.
Check out the full episode of The Christian Kuntz Podcast below.
