Former Steelers AFC Rival Throws Sly Jab At Pittsburgh; Blind Ranks His Top 5 Most Hated Teams To Play In The Playoffs

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots had quite a rivalry during the Ben Roethlisberger/Tom Brady era. The path to the playoffs always seemed to go through Foxboro and to win, a team had to beat the greatest quarterback of all time in Brady. It is no secret that the Patriots topped the Steelers more times than not,  as they won Super Bowl after Super Bowl with Brady under center. Now one of Brady's favorite targets, Julian Edelman, took to TikTok to make some snarky comments regarding the Steelers' ability to cover him. 

Edelman played for the Patriots all 12 seasons he was in the NFL, helping them win three Super Bowls. Incredibly enough, Edelman was never named to a Pro Bowl, but he was named MVP of Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams. All time against the Steelers, Edelman had 34 catches for 341 yards in his six games lined up across from the Black and Gold. 

In Edelman's TikTok video, in which he was asked to rank the top five teams he hated playing in the playoffs, he listed the Steelers at number three. That puts them smack in the middle of his biggest challenges during the playoffs, but the compliment lost its shine when he addressed how he felt about Pittsburgh. 

"You knew what Pittsburgh, they do what they do. They're going to put a linebacker on me," sneered Edelman.

Edelman is 6-1 against the Steelers across all games where he has played them, but it is a bit ironic that he named Pittsburgh third since Edelman only played the Steelers once during the postseason. The Patriots won that AFC Championship in 2016, 36-17. For his part, Edelman was targeted by Brady 10 times and made six catches for 118 yards and one touchdown. 

Steelers Have A History Of Linebacker Struggles

What isn't surprising is that Edelman would poke fun at the Steelers' linebackers. Pittsburgh has a long history of running outstanding defenses, including the "Steel Curtain" and "Blitzburgh." It is a huge part of what helped them win six Super Bowl titles and has kept them relevant all these years. But if anything has been their Achilles heel over the past several years, it has been the linebacker position.

The last time the Steelers had an excellent, reliable middle linebacker was when Ryan Shazier was on the team. Since his injury in 2017, they have had a series of misfortunate events at that position, many due to injury. 

After drafting standout linebacker Devin Bush out of the University of Michigan in 2019, Pittsburgh thought they had the answer to their problem. The Steelers were so confident in Bush that they traded up to get him 10th overall. While Bush had a solid rookie season and start to his second season, he suffered a torn ACL during Week 6 of 2020. He was out for the rest of the season. 

When he returned in 2021, he was clearly not the Bush we saw before the injury. It was easy to make excuses that he was not fully healed, but his struggle continued into 2022 and fans grew increasingly restless of his poor performances. 

The Steelers chose to clean the inside linebacker house for the most part prior to 2023, letting Bush and Robert Spillane move on. Optimism was high regarding the signing of veterans Kwon Alexander, Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb. Unfortunately, that injury bug bit again and all three suffered injuries that kept them out for most or all of the second half of the season. 

While Pittsburgh brought back Myles Jack and elevated some other players, it remained a weak area that offenses were able to exploit. The lack of a strong middle linebacker is part of what cost the Steelers a playoff win over the Buffalo Bills. 

The Steelers will have some difficult decisions to make for 2024 and they have several areas of need for the NFL Draft, but it seems as though middle linebacker needs to be one of the priorities. It will be interesting to see who returns, who is healthy, and how they fill the still-empty cleats of Shazier. 

What do you think about Edelman's comments? Are you surprised Pittsburgh was third? What do you think the Steelers should do about their linebacker woes? Click to comment below. 

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