Don’t look now, but the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers have done gone and crashed the NFL’s annual postseason party. Three weeks ago, that possibility seemed highly unlikely. It was apparent that the Steelers would need to win out, and get more than a little help from the NFL’s script writers. After a season of miraculous good fortune, with a smorgasbord of incompetence mixed in, you would think that I would have expected the unexpected. You would have been wrong.

I was extremely confident when I pronounced the Steelers season finished after their loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers offense had hit rock bottom under Mitch Trubisky’s tutelage, even without Matt Canada’s debilitating prescence, and the defense was ravaged by injuries. Even starting SS Damontae Kazee was suspended for the reminder of the regular season after the Colts debacle, essentially for doing his job. Basically, anything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That’s when the NFL’s script writers showed their hand. Nothing beats a feel good story around the holidays. That’s when it was predestined that Mason Rudolph would save Christmas for Steelers Nation. So you say you don’t believe in conspiracy theories. How else do you explain the insanity?

Mason Rudolph has somehow created NFL magic with functional simplicity. Rudolph hasn’t reinvented the wheel, or rewritten how to play the position. Far from it. Instead, he has reduced his performances to the bare essentials. Calm, cool, and collected. Confident and courageous are two additional words that immediately come to mind. The man with nothing to lose suddenly finds his NFL dreams almost within his grasp. I can’t remember another third string quarterback’s NFL fortunes ever doing a complete 180 that fast. Honestly, if you tried to sell this script to a studio, it would immediately be classified as a fantasy.

However, that’s exactly where we Steelers fans find ourselves at the moment. Fantasizing about Rudolph leading the outgunned and overmatched Steelers to victory on the road against perennial contenders Buffalo Bills. My mind tells me that the Steelers chances for victory are miniscule, especially without the otherworldly talents of the only truly deserving candidate for 2023 DPOY T.J. Watt. However, my heart continues to ask me if I have learned anything over the past few weeks. The answer is yes. I have learned this much; I control the Steelers destiny. More on that to come.

Now it’s time for some more of my random thoughts and observations on the Steelers:

• God, family, country, and the Pittsburgh Steelers! I have loved the Steelers for the majority of my life. For as long as I have known about football, which is now well past four decades. We have all had favorite players down through the years. It used to be much easier, prior to free agency. Good players stayed where they were drafted much longer. Now a good player may decide to move elsewhere before you even decide to purchase their jersey. Such is life. However, the Steelers come first. I expect any player privileged enough to put on that beautiful black and gold uniform to put the team first, over any personal agenda. I expect the same from the Steelers true fanbase. Rooting for Mason Rudolph and the Steelers to lose against the Bills on Sunday, just to validate some Kenny Pickett narrative you have going on in your own feeble mind, that is the opposite of being a real Steelers fan. The Steelers must take priority over any individual player. Definitely over any personal agenda.
• Speaking about false narratives, I keep reading and hearing commentary calling Jaylen Warren a fumbler. That is an unfair assumption, in my opinion. Warren has experienced the occasional struggle with ball security, especially in wet weather conditions, but those occasions have been few and far between. I definitely wouldn’t call them frequent or habitual. There are two determining factors which have lead to this unfair assumption about Warren; his relentless running style, and his shorter stature. Warren’s reckless running style allows him to break countless tackles, often resulting in crucial first down conversions. However, this punishing mindset often leaves him vulnerable to putting the pigskin on the pavement. Warren’s 5’8″ stature also is a determining factor. His lack of length impacts his ball security. His arm length measured in under the 30″ mark during pre-draft testing. Basically, shorter arms impacts the pressure points of ball security. Especially in wet weather conditions. Now that the Steelers are aware of the reoccurring issue, they can plan accordingly.
• The Steelers currently have a dilemma. They went from not having enough NFL caliber safeties, to now having too many. Due to the aforementioned injuries and suspension, the Steelers were forced to start recently converted cornerback Patrick Peterson at FS, and practice squad veteran Eric Rowe at SS. That emergency tandem actually did an outstanding job during the Steelers recent three game winning streak. Now the Steelers get back their original starting tandem in Minkah Fitzpatrick and Damontae Kazee. Talk about a great problem to have at this point of the postseason. Rumor has it that Peterson is expected to go back to his previous cornerback position, although they will most likely utilize his versatility by moving him around the formations. I would prefer that the Steelers start Rowe alongside Fitzpatrick against the Bills. Rowe and Fitzpatrick are both extremely versatile, and Rowe’s tackling prowess would allow Fitzpatrick to focus more on his ball-hawking duties. Then Kazee could focus on what he does best; deep centerfield coverage.
• In conclusion, please allow me to further explain exactly why I alone control the Steelers destiny this postseason. My SCN colleagues and I do a weekly prediction article for our valued community. Some of my peers choose to view their selection as entertainment only, and they repeatedly pick the Steelers to emerge victorious, regardless of situation. However, I take my predictions much more serious. Sweat and tears go into my predictions. I was on a roll at one point this year, prior to Canada’s departure, as I realized the Steelers tendency to win two, lose one. That changed when Canada was relieved of his duties. Then a strange occurrence happened towards the end of another lost season. The Steelers suddenly found an identity that they had been missing all season. All it took was for me to completely give up any hope of them winning another game this season. Some will want to give Rudolph at least some of the credit, but the rest of us know the truth. If I pick the Steelers to lose, they win. Just to spite me. To prove me wrong. I will continue to pick them to lose every game this preseason, as long as that means that they will win every game, just to prove I am an idiot. Nothing would make me happier. You better believe that I have already picked them to lose this week. No way that I am jinxing this winning streak.