Steelers Show Fight in Friday Practice: ‘It Had Some Juice to It’

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are down to the slimmest of margins when it comes to their hopes for making the 2022 NFL playoffs, and could be eliminated as soon as this Sunday, but they’re not going down without a fight.

In the case of Friday’s practice, that came literally, as the team had several skirmishes in Friday’s practice session, multiple players confirmed to Steelers Now. 

That’s typical for the Steelers in training camp, but it has not been that common for the team in December, during what are largely non-padded practices late in the season. Center Mason Cole, who is in his first season with the Steelers after four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals, said that it has not been unusual in his previous stops.

The individuals involved in the frays declined to comment specifically and team media rules prohibit the reporting of specifics of things that happen at practice. But to a man, players said they thought the extra fire in Friday’s practice was largely a good thing for a team on the brink.

“Today was great,” quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. “Guys were bouncing around. We were competing. I thought we had some juice to it.”

“It was really krunky today,” running back Najee Harris said. “It was good. We’ve still got a chance to get in there. We’ve got good energy.”

The hope is, that energy and spirit will carry over from Friday’s practice to this Sunday’s game. The feeling in the locker room isn’t so much that the Steelers were lacking that energy last week against the Baltimore Ravens, but that it’s important to keep it up as the season gets long.

 “We needed it,” rookie linebacker Mark Robinson said. “Just for a group of guys such as just coming in and playing the game for what it is, never take it for granted, go out there with that type of energy and play hard.”

We’ll see if that added fight helps the Steelers get back into the win column this Sunday in Carolina.