Didn’t it seem like only yesterday when you were standing in front of your television set and screaming for, of all teams, the Cleveland Browns to “Come On, baby!” and vanquish those Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium?
That’s right, things had gotten so bad, the Steelers, your Pittsburgh Steelers, needed the help of those once hapless–and win-less–Browns in order to salvage what once seemed like a damn-near certainty: a third-straight AFC North title.
JuJu Smith-Schuster works against Terrell Edmunds at St. Vincents. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Unfortunately, the Steelers and their fans were put in such a strange predicament on the final Sunday of the 2018 regular season thanks to an epic collapse over the final six weeks that saw a 7-2-1 record and a 2.5 game lead in the division implode into a 9-6-1 record and a half a game deficit behind Baltimore in the standings.
Unless you’ve been in a coma the past seven months, you know those Brownies didn’t do it, and the Steelers found themselves out of the playoffs for the first time since Ryan Succop indirectly ended their hopes five New Year’s Eves earlier.
It’s obviously been one ugly offseason — this is what happens when you blow a big lead in the standings and must rely on the Browns to save the day — but here we are today, on the eve of training camp.
No more talk of Antonio Brown‘s antics, his motives, his happiness or his sadness. He’s gone, the rage over the third and fifth-round draft picks the Steelers received for him in a trade with the Raiders has now dissipated.
Same for the anger over the ongoing contract saga of Le’Veon Bell, the man who sat out the previous two training camps, as well as the entire 2018 regular season, and is now a member of the New York Jets after finally being allowed to enter free agency this past spring.
- In their absences appears to be peace and calm. Along with the serenity seems to be a renewed focus and determination.
Those things are easy to have when a couple of major distractions are gone. It’s also easy to have a new and positive attitude in the offseason when you can post videos of the defense getting together for a cookout, or the offense spending some quality time at Ben Roethlisberger‘s summer home in Georgia.
- It’s easier to smile and laugh when you don’t really have to prove anything to anyone.
It’s easy to look good during offseason workouts when OTAs, rookie camp and mini-camp are all conducted sans pads and hitting. This is especially the case for veterans who have been around the block and know what to do to get their bodies right for the grind of training camp.
It’s easy to get hyped about the newest draft class–and even some undrafted free agents who may have some impressive college stats and/or highlights on Youtube.
But now it’s almost time for that grind to begin. It’s time to answer some questions under the glaring sun at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where the Steelers have been conducting training camp since the 1960s.
It’s time for the fans, who only get to hear about offseason workout sessions such as OTAs, to consume some football with their own eyes. They get to hear the hitting as they, too, bake in the hot sun of Latrobe.
It takes a lot to get through six months without football–you may have even tried to consume the now defunct AAF, a minor league football spring startup that came and went faster than the Steelers 2.5 game lead late in the 2018 season.
But we did it again, Steelers fans. We made it through the truly cold days of winter (January is always so much harsher when Pittsburgh isn’t in the playoffs), the renewed promise of spring and those dog days of summer (you know which ones I mean–those three or four weeks before the start of training camp).
Now, here we are, on the cusp of fall, the greatest season of them all.
It’s almost time, Steelers fans.
