The Steelers squeaked in and are heading to Buffalo next week

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See website for details. So it could have been worse. The Pittsburgh Steelers could have been heading to Kansas City, which almost, for a hot minute, looked like was going to be a thing. Because I think it's going to be 12 degrees in Kansas City. Brooke Pryor and all of her reporters on the Pittsburgh Steelers beat will instead head to Buffalo, the strangest, hottest team in the NFL ever. Steelers and the Bills. First of all, are you in any way surprised that the Steelers snuck in as the 7th seed in the wildcard? Because for a while it looked like they didn't want to make the playoffs. Well, if this was my first year covering the Steelers, I would be surprised. However, this is my fifth season covering the Steelers, and I'm one of the newer people on the beat.

But all of us kind of felt like this was inevitable. And to give you a peek behind the curtain, midway through the season, I'm having a conversation with my editors about our second half of the season coverage. And, you know, we're looking at, okay, is it really necessary to go on some of these late season road trips if they're already eliminated? And I get a call that says, hey, you know, you don't you probably don't need to go to Seattle because odds are they're going to be eliminated by then. And that's that's an expensive trip over New Year's weekend.

You could do it at home. And I said, listen, I would love nothing more than to be with my husband and dogs on New Year's. But I know this team and I know how this is going to go. And by the end of that conversation, it was a fine go.

And lo and behold, I got to send and I told you so slack yesterday, which I don't know that I would recommend doing that to your superiors. But I took joy from that to say, remember when you thought that I shouldn't go to Seattle, look at where they are now. They're in the playoffs. But that's how this team works. They as soon as you think that they're out, they turn it around and they're back in it. Somebody called them zombies weeks ago. And I think that that's pretty accurate.

It's Michael Corleone from Godfather three. That's what it is. Brooke Friar from ESPN is joining us here on the Adam Gold show when they lost to the Cardinals and Patriots both at home. Losing losing at Indianapolis is not a crime in the Colts were in a playoff run right to the very end. But losing at home to the Cardinals and Patriots, didn't you think, all right, maybe it's just not going to happen.

Yeah, very much so. I mean, can you pick it gets hurt, right? I mean, it's not even that he was that great this season, but still, like, anytime you're starting quarterback, it's sort of like, well, this isn't good. And then you think, okay, well, maybe there's a chance Mitch Trubisky has been good.

He comes in, he's playing terribly. The defense is just every single game. It felt like there's another significant injury.

I mean, it started with Minka or I think it started with Elena Roberts and then Minka Fitzpatrick. I honestly, I get it all mixed up because there have been so many significant injuries, but it just felt like there's no way. And then when they pull Mitch Trubisky in week 15, the last two minutes for Mason Rudolph, I felt like that was a white flag moment when in reality, this was Mike Tomlin saying, you know what, let's just let's just do it.

But that's where this inception of scared money, don't make money has been his motto the last three weeks. And that was the turning point the night before they went out and beat the Bengals the second time that we gave that speech to the team. And it's been from what I've heard in the locker room, that's been kind of this rallying point of like, we have nothing to lose.

If we're going to do it, we might as well do it now. And that's why they are where they are in this situation. We're going to get to the latest injury and maybe the most damaging one in a second. But since you brought up Mason Rudolph, he's been there for a while and they say they've been basically over recruiting over Mason Rudolph, whether it was with Mitch Trubisky or with Kenny Pickett, a first round pick a couple of years ago. And at this at some point, it would have been easy for Mason Rudolph to say they clearly don't want me. I got to go somewhere else. But he's still there.

And is it possible that he's the guy? Maybe I know there's a couple interesting things with the Mason Rudolph situation. One thing is he didn't have anywhere else to go. I mean, he would not be back in Pittsburgh if he had had other opportunities, if he had had other things reaching out to him. The fact of the matter is, he wasn't great when he was thrown into the starting situation in 19.

But he was also never really given an opportunity to be the full time starter after that. You know, Ben comes back and then they sign Mitch Trubisky and then they then they draft any picket. And the other thing is he I've watched so many training camp practices.

I have watched so many regular season practices. This is not a matter of coaching malpractice on the Steelers that they saw some diamond in the rough. And no, we can't simply just can't go with Mason Rudolph.

He didn't look great in those situations. But I think this is a matter of him rising to the occasion. And he really embodies embodies the motto that Tomlin's had about, you know, this is your chance. Lay it all out on the line now because he truly has nothing to lose.

This is a guy that was updating his resume a year ago. I don't know that he's proven that he should be a starter in the NFL. I think that he's proven that he's the right guy for this moment. And I think best case scenario, he's at least put some good things on tape that next year he could sign a maybe not super lucrative contract, but maybe something in the neighborhood of what Mitch Trubisky guiding those two years, 14 million. He could maybe get like two years, 10 million either with the Steelers or another team to be a legitimate number two quarterback with a chance to be a number one. So this has worked out incredibly well for Mason Rudolph. I know the Jets are going to need a backup quarterback next year because I can't imagine Zach Wilson's going to back up Aaron Rodgers. And we all know every other quarterback they have is trash.

So maybe who knows? But it is cool to see Mason Rudolph come through it. TJ Watt, the latest injury and probably the most damaging one to Pittsburgh. I know his brother JJ said he's going to need a couple of weeks of rest. He doesn't have that before the game in Buffalo. How do they compensate for his absence?

How do they move forward? Well, Miles Jack gave me like my favorite quote of the season because Mike Tomlin came off the field in Baltimore yelling guys off the couch, referring to Miles Jack and Eric Rowe, who were literally both sitting on their couches when they got called from Tomlin mid season and ended up being major contributors. And I asked Miles Jack, I said, can a guy off the couch replace TJ Watt?

And he looked at me and laughed. And he said, only if Lawrence Taylor has a couple snaps left at him. So that being said, it is going to be really difficult for the team to make up for TJ Watt's absence. But I do think that they are in a better position this time around than they were last year when Watt missed significant time with that pec injury because they signed Marcus Golden and they drafted Nick Herbig and Marcus Golden had the last sack of Tyler Huntley that forced the Ravens to settle for a field goal on that final drive. And so I think that they have this nice mix of a veteran presence and they have Alex Highsmith, who is having a really good under the radar season. But Marcus Golden is good and Nick Herbig has been a good rookie.

He just hasn't had a ton of time on the field because TJ Watt's been playing out of his mind. But, you know, I think that this is the situation where they would obviously be in a much better spot with TJ Watt. But I don't think that this dooms them and makes it a guarantee that they're going to get blown out in the first round.

And shout to Mr. Sam Highsmith, who's probably listening somewhere in Wilmington, North Carolina right now. Real quick about the Buffalo Bills, who, in my opinion, and they have won, I think, five in a row and they went from outside the playoffs to the number two seed with this winning streak, thanks in part to Miami also kind of spitting the bit a little bit down the stretch. They at times to me look like a team that actively tries to not win.

So can Pittsburgh take advantage of that? It is Ryan here and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like, are you a fist pumper, a woohooer, a hand clapper, a high fiver? I kind of like the high five, but if you want to hone in on those winning moves, check out Chumba Casino. At ChumbaCasino.com choose from hundreds of social casino style games for your chance to redeem serious cash prizes. There are new game releases weekly plus free daily bonuses. So don't wait.

Start having the most fun ever at ChumbaCasino.com. I think so. I mean, to me, you beat Buffalo by forcing Josh Allen to make mistakes. He's been willing to make a lot of mistakes recently. And I think the Steelers defense, yes, TJ Watt is out. But the sneaky big news is that Monte KZ is back from suspension. And I remember three weeks ago, four weeks ago, when he was suspended after the Colts game, I tweeted out that he was suspended for the rest of the regular season. But if the Steelers made the playoffs, he'd be back. And I got a lot of jokes like, okay, the Steelers aren't making the playoffs, but he's back.

And he is, as Miles Jack told me yesterday, a heat speaking missile. He plays really, really hard. Safety is a position that they've had a lot of injuries. And by the way, this looks like the best opportunity for me because it's Patrick to be back on the field. So their back end is really shaping up. Patrick Peterson got burned a little bit in the Baltimore game, but I still think he's coming into his own as a safety. To me, when you have a secondary that is getting healthier, coupled with Josh Allen being willing to make a lot of mistakes, and it looks like Gabe Davis isn't going to play.

This is not a very deep, quiet receiver room. Stefan Diggs has not had a great season. He's not playing super well.

The recipe is there. If I'm the Steelers though, I'm concerned about the Bill's ground game. I played really well when they put the ball in his hands. We've seen the bills win with their ground game. That to me is the recipe for the bills to win. But if the Steelers, if they don't take the ball out of Josh Allen's hand, I think the Steelers get forced into making some mistakes and making it a close game. Brook Pryor, ESPN, ESPN.com, TV star, covers the Steelers for five years.

You get to go to Buffalo, enjoy the wings, enjoy the game, and we'll talk to you for round two. The Steelers have not won a playoff game in like seven years, or is it eight years, since the 2016 season. Quick aside to everything we've talked about, does Mike Tomlin need to win a playoff game here?

You know, it's tough to say. The fans would say yes, because they're tired of that, haven't won since 2016. I think the fact that Mike Tomlin has made it to the playoffs, despite the turmoil of this season, speaks volumes of what a good coach he is. He has consistently done more with less than any other coach in the NFL over his lifetime of being a head coach. I'm sure he would like to win one, but to me, job security is not a question, no matter what happens in this game. I think that he is sitting pretty in Pittsburgh right now, which is wild to say, given where we were a month ago, when I felt like his message wasn't being received by the locker room, and things were very much falling apart.

And then he gives this speech before the game, Scared Money Don't Make Money, and all of a sudden they have turned it around. So what do I know? Mike Tomlin's a wizard, and I'm just a muggle. That's all I got. Oh, very nice. Hermione.

Well, Hermione was a witch, but in a good way. And maybe you are as well. Brooke Pryor, ESPN, I appreciate your time, and we'll talk to you next week. Absolutely. I'm confident. I'm confident in the Steelers. I'm confident.