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Speaker 1: I mean, this is outstanding that time. All Right, Then

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Speaker 1: you guys have known for weeks that there is a

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Speaker 1: postseason for the Steelers. Is there anything special when you

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Speaker 1: get to this week and you know the game is

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Speaker 1: coming up? Well, um, a little bit. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: it's been a unique situation. Every every year, every end

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Speaker 1: of the season is a little bit different. Right, Sometimes

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Speaker 1: you're playing to get in, sometimes you're um looking for

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Speaker 1: help from someone to get in. And for us to

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Speaker 1: know for a couple of weeks now that we're getting in,

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Speaker 1: UM has been nice. Obviously took us longer than we

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Speaker 1: wanted to clinch the North, but um, it has been

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Speaker 1: uniquely different because it's it's kind of been I've joked

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Speaker 1: that these last couple of games are preseason to the postseason.

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Speaker 1: You know, you can you can kind of work on

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Speaker 1: things and and right the shift because obviously offensively we

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Speaker 1: haven't played as well as we wanted. But UM, it's

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Speaker 1: definitely been a unique situation to to know that you're

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Speaker 1: getting in, um and then just mentally saying, okay, we

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Speaker 1: got we gotta get this thing going with the times, right,

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Speaker 1: this will be your twenty second start as the quarterback

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Speaker 1: for the Steelers in the playoffs. Do these games mean

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Speaker 1: anymore to you now that you are in this stage

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Speaker 1: of your career. Well, you know, you don't know how

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Speaker 1: many you're gonna have, how many you're gonna have left.

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Speaker 1: And that was one of my messages to the guys

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Speaker 1: was you don't don't take this for granted. I'm not

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Speaker 1: taking it for granted. And and then they shouldn't either.

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Speaker 1: You never know in this league and in this business,

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Speaker 1: you just you can't say like I'm gonna make it

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Speaker 1: every year and the next year will be the year

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Speaker 1: because you don't know. And so um there have been

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Speaker 1: some Hall of Fame players that have have spent thirty

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Speaker 1: years in this league and have only made the minute

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Speaker 1: to Super Bowl once, and so it's really important that

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Speaker 1: that all of us understand that. And that's the approach

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Speaker 1: I'm taking. It's just, man, is could this be my

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Speaker 1: last postseason game? I don't know, So I'm gonna treat

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Speaker 1: it like it is. Can you go back to two

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Speaker 1: thousand and four in your first postseason game and just

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Speaker 1: anything you remember from the Jets it was at Heinz Field,

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Speaker 1: the divisional round, and maybe anything that you experienced or

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Speaker 1: advice that you were given that sticks out to you. Uh,

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Speaker 1: that was some of the advice I received. I remember

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Speaker 1: we had a group meeting, uh, a team meetums. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: and I don't remember who got up and spoke. Someone

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Speaker 1: got up and it was a veteran guy that that

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Speaker 1: just preached on on how important this moment is in

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Speaker 1: this opportunity, and every little mistake is magnified, every big

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Speaker 1: play is magnified. And really it's you know, it's at

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Speaker 1: one one game tournament, truthfully, I mean, you gotta win

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Speaker 1: that game to move on, and so, um, that was

53
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Speaker 1: a long time ago that I played in that game.

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Speaker 1: But I just remember relying so much on the veteran

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Speaker 1: guys and just telling myself not to screw up. You

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Speaker 1: mentioned it a little bit of just the advice you

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Speaker 1: have given to the young guys that offensive players only

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Speaker 1: meeting before the Colts game. You said it was to

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Speaker 1: kind of let the veterans speak and kind of show

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Speaker 1: the room that not a lot of people have playoff experience.

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Speaker 1: Did any young guys ask questions and was there anything

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Speaker 1: that you ended up taking away from that meeting? No,

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Speaker 1: no one, No one spoke. I don't think anyone had

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Speaker 1: the nerve to speak. I mean, we we opened it up,

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Speaker 1: and I think guys were just soaking in and absorbing it. Um.

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Speaker 1: Some of the veteran guys came up and told me,

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Speaker 1: you know, that was really helpful and they appreciated it,

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Speaker 1: and this, that and the other, um And so really,

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Speaker 1: as long as guys understand the significance and the importance

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Speaker 1: of what the postseason means, UM, you know that they

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Speaker 1: got something out of it for that gonna three, He's

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Speaker 1: gonna air it up. The fun and these two teams

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Speaker 1: we're gonna see one another in the wild card ground

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Speaker 1: for this year, this year in the playoffs. What do

75
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Speaker 1: the Steelers need from Ben Roethlisberger for this to be successful? Well,

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Speaker 1: I need to play my best football that I've ever

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Speaker 1: played my life. Truthfully. Um. We've got a very very

78
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Speaker 1: good football team, very special football team. UM. But I

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Speaker 1: need to be on my on my ps and Ques.

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Speaker 1: I need to be my best. I need to not

81
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Speaker 1: turn the ball over. I need to do everything I can,

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Speaker 1: um to to help us win football games. Last question

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Speaker 1: for you, Ben, just preparing for this season, going all

84
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Speaker 1: the way back to training camp at Hinsfield, a different venue,

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Speaker 1: knowing that you guys were playing in a pandemic and

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Speaker 1: that things were going to be unexpected. Is there anything

87
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Speaker 1: you guys did as a team or maybe even just

88
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Speaker 1: as an offense to be prepared to potentially lose a player,

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Speaker 1: a coach and into higher unit during this season. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's been such a unique year off season. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, everything has just been no one could have

92
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Speaker 1: ever prepared for this. And I think that's what's made

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Speaker 1: this team in this group so special, is that we've

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Speaker 1: been able to persevere. We've been able to um, you know,

95
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Speaker 1: push through it, make the postseason, understand that if a

96
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Speaker 1: coach goes down. I mean there were days that we

97
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Speaker 1: made sure that you know, specific coach wasn't there, the

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Speaker 1: next coach up was was ready to go. And I

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Speaker 1: think it also helps that we've got a veteran group.

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Speaker 1: You know, we do have young guys in offense, so

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Speaker 1: we've got a lot of veteran guys that um know

102
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Speaker 1: how to to be professionals and know kind of what

103
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Speaker 1: it takes to win games and try and win a championship.

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Speaker 1: And so we've just tried to lean on those guys.

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Speaker 1: Myself and other veteran guys to Um to lead the way.

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Speaker 1: All right then, thanks for your time, good luck this postseason.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Missy