This time, they'll go to the game and enjoy it a little bit more than last time.

That's one thing Tony knows, the Steelers of the '70s, they were a tough football team, ... There's a degree of style that goes with this football team, and I think we've been able to sustain a little bit of that persona.

With the bye week, we probably lost a little bit of that momentum. We were in one of those zones -- 'Just tell us where we're going next. Just send us off to another team.' I think these guys thrive on this. With all due respect to Heinz Field, we just kept going off. They said, 'You're the home team for the Super Bowl.' No, we're not.

That's what's good. You get those picks, get some extra picks, maybe move a little bit in the draft or stay and get some good quality players.

History was not going to dictate our fate, but our effort can make history. Maybe it was a little bit of a stretch with Columbus, but they kind of enjoyed that analogy. I had to explain a lot of it. I kind of happened to lose some people.

You're going to have go through a little bit of that down cycle. I think when you have some stability with the coaching staff, you have some stability with the front office, I think you're able to bounce back quicker.

We have a 15-minute cooling-off period after the game and we obviously have some guys who could use a little bit longer than that.

They're going to be there, it's just a little bit hard logistically.

I told him he revealed another gear. I saw something where now I can set another level of expectation that's a little bit higher.