Amongst the excitement and turmoil of this season and our first playoff game of the season it is easy to over look the number of players on the Steelers roster who had never taken part in a NFL playoff game before yesterday.

I took a look at the roster sheet on the SBNation site this morning and came up with the following players:

Offense

Antonio Brown

Johnathan Dwyer

Ramon Foster

David Johnson

Doug Legursky

Maurkice Pouncey

Isaac Redman

Emmanuel Sanders

Chris Scott

Johnathan Scott

Mike Wallace

Defense

Crezdon Butler

Ziggy Hood

Keenan Lewis

Steve McLendon

Stephenson Sylvester

Jason Worilds

I don't know if Shaun Suisham, Jeremy Kapinos or Rashard Mendenhall have been in a playoff game. IIRC Mendy was still injured and I just haven't the time to look up the two kickers though I suspect Kapinos may have been the with the Packers but I have left them off this list for now.

18 of 53 who have never been in the playoffs. At least 12 of them dressed and played yesterday. They not only played, they played well, in many cases above expectations. Some, like Ziggy, may have had the best game of their young careers yesterday in a huge playoff win. Others showed us flashes of what we can expect in the future.

The success of this group speaks volumes about the organization, the coaching and the veterans and their ability to bring these playoff neophytes up to speed. Some of these vets must know they may well end up losing their jobs to these kids but they are still doing it. I have to respect them for their character and unselfishness.

For the kids that didn't have great games, just bear in mind their lack of experience and remember some guys who are Canton bound took 4 years or more just to become starters. Don't give up on the kids if they don't give up on themselves. Rocky Bleier didn't give up on himself and the organization didn't give up on him either. I would say it paid off well for everyone concerned.