For much of the game Monday night, Ben Roethlisberger likely will be taking the ball from J.C. Hassenauer and handing it to Najee Harris. But the two Alabama alums on the Steelers offense aren't bristling at the idea of being part of a pressure-packed going-away party for the winningest quarterback in Pittsburgh history.
In fact, they’re barely even acknowledging it.
“Why’s it got to be pressure? Why can't you just go out there and have a mindset to win the game?” Harris said after practice Friday. “I think the word ‘pressure’ is kind of overrated, in a way. If you just put all that stuff aside and just go out there and execute and do your assignments, then there should be no pressure, really.”
Harris was specifically referencing the win-or-go-home nature of facing the Browns while clinging to playoff hopes in Week 17. But Hassenauer, who will start at center if rookie Kendrick Green can't return to practice Saturday with his calf injury, brought up the high stakes unprompted when discussing what it will be like to be the guy snapping the ball to a future Hall of Famer in what figures to be his final home game.
“It’s awesome. It’s a great opportunity. I don’t think we feel any extra pressure,” said Hassenauer, the third-year Steeler who started three games last season in place of Maurkice Pouncey. “We just want to make it special. We want this to be a great showing for the fans and also a memorable experience for Ben.”
And yet, human nature must kick in at some point. If it’s not pressure, perhaps it’s a sense of obligation, a responsibility to not let Roethlisberger leave Pittsburgh with a loss. Hassenauer has been with him for three seasons and Harris hasn’t even finished his first, but both are well aware that Monday night will be a big one for the 39-year-old captain.
Roethlisberger tried to not make too much of a distraction out of the situation when he maneuvered the media pocket with regard to his future Thursday morning, even noting that he didn’t petition coach Mike Tomlin for the meeting room floor so that he could make a grand speech to the team. But we can safely assume that one of the players he told directly about his intentions after this season is the 22-year-old first-round pick who spent some time at the Roethlisberger house over the summer getting to know the quarterback and his family.
“Yeah,” Harris said with a smile when asked if Roethlisberger talked to him personally about Monday night. “But that’s a conversation I won't speak about.”
Even as he finally admitted that the “writing is on the wall,” Roethlisberger kept coming back to the notion that his teammates have to know this game is bigger than him. It’s about the Steelers maintaining their place in the AFC pecking order, no matter what happens around them, and most of all facing a division rival in front of their home crowd.
But earlier this week, a couple of his wide receivers mentioned that they want to “lay it on the line” and “make plays” for Roethlisberger.
“We’ve been doing that all year, not knowing if this is his last year or not,” his favorite target, Diontae Johnson, said Monday. “We just go out there and try to make him look good. Whether it’s a bad throw or good throw, we’re going to make a play on the ball, regardless. ... We’re going to go out with a bang, regardless. We try not to think about it. We’ll worry about that at the end of the season. I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing.”
Ray-Ray McCloud, who has ascended to the all-important role of Roethlisberger’s slot receiver in lieu of JuJu Smith-Schuster, echoed Johnson’s sentiment that the Steelers’ mercurial pass-catchers hope to make Monday night a fun one for the 18th-year veteran who throws them the ball.
“More than a teammate, more than a brother in the locker room, I’m a fan,” McCloud said. “To be playing with him is a big deal itself. It’s an honor. To play with him in his last home game as a Steeler, that’s a blessing.”
McCloud, who’s 25, added that he was a Roethlisberger fan growing up because “I love watching winners, and he has that mentality.” In addition to the six Pro Bowl nods, two Super Bowl championships and plethora of records, Roethlisberger has 176 victories to his name.
Of those, 25 have come against the professional football franchise in Cleveland. Surely, the next wave of Steelers can endear themselves to the fan base by doing their part to help make it 26.
“This being my rookie year and this being his last year, I guess it means a lot,” Harris said. “Just because of what he means to the city, and just to the game of football. He’s done a lot for the game. I’m glad I can be a part of it.”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: December 31, 2021, 9:07 p.m.
