Pittsburgh Steelers 2023-2024 Here We Go Song Is Released; No Quarterback Mentioned

It was a rocky road, but the Pittsburgh Steelers clinched a playoff berth late on Sunday afternoon. That meant one thing for a lot of Steelers fans: The release of the newest version of the Steelers fight song by Roger Wood. Last season, the Steelers missed the playoffs, thus the anticipated song without Ben Roethlisberger's name being mentioned for the first time in 18 years was never made. Late on Monday night, the new 2023-2024 version popped up on Wood's YouTube page.

Now there has been much debate (for no reason) about which quarterback should be featured in the song. Clearly it should be the starter Mason Rudolph, but Wood decided to go another direction. He left out the mention of Rudolph, or Kenny Pickett. In previous versions, he's always included Roethlisberger's name. This year, he mentions Diontae Johnson, Pat Freiermuth, and Jaylen Warren. 

"Coach Tomlin, is ready to win (Here we go)
With Johnson, Freiermuth, and Jaylen Warren (Here we go)
We'll go to Najee when we need a touchdown
And if you get in his way, he's gonna knock you around."

Wood also left out with George Pickens. But sometimes your name just doesn't fit into the rhyme of the song. So don't think for a minute that it's some sort of disrespect. 

Back after the 2021 season when the Steelers squeaked into the playoffs, Wood spoke about how hard it is to figure out something that rhymes with Freiermuth.

“The names have to flow,” Wood said in a story ran by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Freiermuth isn’t exactly a very singable name. Kind of hard to fit that in. Three syllables is usually a challenge. I figured something out. I got it down.”

A cool caveat to this year's song is that the name Joey Porter returns to the defensive verse. Something that's been missing since the Steelers' Super Bowl run in 2005.

"We got [Alex] Highsmith, [TJ] Watt and [Cameron] Heyward (Here we go)
[Minkah] Fitzpatrick, [Patrick] Peterson and Joey [Porter] Jr. (Here we go)
The other team won't gain any ground because the defense is going to bring the Steel Curtain down."

Woods started the "Here We Go" song way back in 1994. The first version talked about famous members of the Blitzburgh Defense, and then popular offensive weapons Barry Foster, Ernie Mills, and Andre Hastings. The song would make a return every season since then once the team clinched a playoff spot. 

You can head over to YouTube to listen to the full song here as you prepare for the Steelers' Wild Card game in Buffalo this weekend. 

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