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Steel city magic
Who would have thought Pittsburgh would be in the divisional playoffs this year? After going 4-5 midway through the season, the Steelers seemed to find a fire inside themselves. Let’s recap how the boys in black and gold found themselves in playoff football.
Pittsburgh had high expectations coming into the 2015-2016 season. After signing Pro-Bowl running back Deangelo Williams as a backup, the Steelers looked to have a dominant offence. Quarterbacked by none other than Big Ben Roethlisberger, it seemed like an unstoppable force. Antonio Brown, coming off a career season, looked to post those same kind of ferocious numbers. Rookie sensation Le’veon Bell was going to carry the majority workload on his shoulders for the run game. Unfortunately, only some of the criteria was met.
After suffering a loss in the first game of the season, it seemed as though the team was back to its winning ways. Consecutive wins against the San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams put them back on track. Until the team traveled to Maryland and lost to the Ravens. A flurry of confusion ran over Pittsburgers.
Excited students at Keystone Oaks such as Richard Magyan describe the season as “a rollercoaster ride of smiles and tears”.
Jada Jones, fellow student and friend of Richard, recalled the beginning of the year to be “unpredictable and amusing at the same time”.
The unfortunate injuries added to the drama Pittsburgh already had.
Le'veon Bell’s year ended as quickly as it started. He suffered a horrific knee injury in week 8 against rival team the Cincinnati Bengals. To make it even better, he was suspended for the first two games of the season, so he only participated in six games. Luckily, the veteran back Deangelo Williams resurrected his career. Sparking up 200 carries and racking up over 900 yards for the season, he gave life to the back field. Almighty number seven battled through injury for majority of the season. Sitting out for three games and coming in as a backup for one, he still managed to tear up defenses with the help of Antonio Brown, who by the way, put up one of the best years for a wide receiver in NFL history.
Thanks to the malicious play of the Bengals in the first round, Ben and Brown were beaten down. Deangelo was hurt in week 16 against the Browns. So… the workload against the Broncos was spread around; however, the Steelers came up short in a game that they could have won.