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The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up Joe Haden, and he went from worst-to-first in almost seconds. All season fans have been anxious to see Haden play in his first postseason action, but he isn’t the first non-rookie now preparing for their first trip to the postseason.
Free agent acquisitions Tyson Alualu and Vance McDonald are also in the same position as Haden, but due to Haden’s status in the league for the majority of the season, he is the one who is catching the attention of most media types.
It may be weird, but players like Stephon Tuitt, Artie Burns, Javon Hagrave, Jesse James and Sean Davis could be giving advice to Alualu, Haden and McDonald about what to expect in the biggest of postseason games — except for one.
Time to check in on news surrounding the Steelers outside the walls of BTSC...
Ben Roethlisberger isn’t the only Steelers player hoping to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional playoff round.
Defensive end Tyson Alualu also is on record as wanting another crack at the Jaguars, who defeated the Steelers, 30-9, during the regular season.
Alualu’s motives are more deep-rooted than those of Roethlisberger, who wants to redeem himself after throwing a career-high five interceptions against Jacksonville in October.
Alualu spent the first seven seasons of his career in Jacksonville before signing a two-year, $6 million contract with the Steelers in free agency.
“For sure, I want to do that,” Alualu said about the prospect of playing Jacksonville. “Of course I do, especially because they came up here and got the better of us.”
Haley has spent six seasons with the Steelers, the past four working alongside offensive line coach Mike Munchak, who will interview for the vacant head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals.
“What he’s meant to us is priceless,” Haley said. “In my opinion, he’s the best offensive line coach in the NFL. I’ve been a lot of places and no disrespect to any of the others, but he’s special. One of those reasons is he’s able to see the big picture. He’s not solely focused on his group and worrying about them, although he obviously worries about them and coaches the heck out of them.”
There was the sobering situation involving the serious injury to a respected teammate.
There has been the silliness of the public quest to find a stolen bike, the modern-day pitfalls of millennial usage of social media and even an “elephant in the room.”
The Steelers endured to emerge with a 13-3 record from a regular season in which there was some level of drama enveloping the team on an almost-weekly basis. Only Week 2 was spared from the soap opera that was the 2017 Steelers season.
Then again, the playoffs haven’t begun yet. Stay tuned.