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Steelers: An Open Letter to the Pittsburgh Steelers

By Josh Fitzer

Jan 17, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (50) sits on the bench during the in closing minutes of a AFC Divisional round playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Denver defeated Pittsburgh 23-16. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 17, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (50) sits on the bench during the in closing minutes of a AFC Divisional round playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Denver defeated Pittsburgh 23-16. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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This was a season of ups and downs. Injuries and suspensions seemed to plague the 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers. But as a fan of the team, I can’t stress enough how proud I am of the Black & Gold.

To all the coaches, staff and players of the 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Thank you.

Thank you for a great 2015-16 season. I mean, yeah, we won’t be winning the Super Bowl this year. But there are still quite a few positives to walk away with.

Let’s be honest, most “experts” didn’t give us much of a chance to really do anything this year. I don’t blame them, even though we made it to the Divisional Round, there’s still things that need fixing. Pass defense, stability at strong-safety, and red zone efficiency, just to name a few.

We walked into Denver without Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams, Maurkice Pouncey and Kelvin Beachum. Not to mention an inured Ben Roethlisberger. We also had two running-backs that had nearly zero snaps on offense, all season. By the way, hats off to Kevin Colbert for finding Fitzgerald Toussaint & Jordan Todman. They stepped up in a big way, and filled some pretty big shoes.

It doesn’t upset me much that we only came a few plays short of being in the AFC Championship game. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks, but I think it’s more encouraging than damaging. The ‘Next Man Up’ mentality was in full-effect this year. Cody Wallace stepped in when Pouncey went down, and played pretty good. Alejandro Villanueva stepped in after Beachum tore his ACL and played great. After our third kicker of the season went down, you guys found a stud kicker in Chris Boswell, who was probably playing Call of Duty when Kevin Colbert called him.

It’s really an amazing thing to have a franchise that stresses depth, not all teams do that. You guys added depth at crucial positions and it showed.

Thank you, Rooney family. Thank you for being a franchise of consistency, excellence and stability. Steelers Nation are already looking forward to the 2016 season.

Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!

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