The Steelers are winning ugly. They’re still winning.
It has created a rash of unfavorable narratives from many in the media. People think they’re frauds. People think it’s all smoke and mirrors. People think whatever they’re doing now won’t be sustainable in the playoffs, especially on the road where Renegade won’t be ringing from the rafters to provide a kick in the ass when the team needs it most.
The Steelers do not care about the criticism. They do not care about the statistics. Only one stat really matters. Points scored vs. points allowed, on a one-game-at-a-time basis.
Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward had a recent message for the haters in his Not Just Football podcast.
“Who are they judging?” Heyward said, via Mark Kaboly of TheAthletic.com. “They’re not in this. Smoke and mirrors? Screw you. We worked too hard for this. These guys dedicate their lives. We try to be a good defense. Smoke and mirrors, I think that’s a cloud of smoke.”
Cam had a specific message for LeBron James, who recently compared the Lakers to the Steelers.
“I love LeBron but man, stay away from football, my guy . . . 6-3 is 6-3,” Heyward said.
“What is pretty? For me personally, ‘pretty’ is overrated. People say ‘pretty’ is scoring a lot of points, right? Isn’t ‘pretty’ a defense dominating and making sure we can make the right plays at the right time? And your offense makes plays accordingly? I hate that we’ve gotten to a point where, ‘Oh, we’re not blowing out the teams, so we’re gonna dice these people up and not agree with how they’re winning.’ It doesn’t matter. You play football to win the game. Nothing else. Win the game. Get off the field. Keep it moving.”
Well said, Cam. And with the Steelers facing backup quarterbacks in each of their next two games, both played in Ohio, they could keep 6-3 moving to 8-3. And there’s nothing not pretty about that.
