Well, it was fun while it lasted. In October, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced that 5,500 fans would be allowed to attend games at Heinz Field. That all came to a halt last week.
Wednesday’s game was the first since Week 5 that fans have not been permitted at Heinz Field. At least lucky fans in attendance got to see Pittsburgh defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.
Players could’ve certainly used the lively atmosphere fans generate in their Baltimore Ravens battle.
“I’ve talked about it for 17 years now that we have the best fans in all of sports,” said Roethlisberger in a press conference on Friday. “In Dallas, it was more than 50 percent Steeler fans. In Jacksonville, 80-90 percent. That’s just what we’re used to. We’re used to Steeler fans being everywhere. When you come home, and you’re used to the Terrible Towels, you’re used to those fans bringing that energy, bringing that excitement.”
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Big Ben said, as a quarterback, he doesn’t feed off the fan’s energy as the defense does.
“I love the fans. I love the excitement, but like for a defense on a third down, you need that crowd to feed that energy, and you just don’t have it; it’s crazy, weird, it’s different.”
“I can’t imagine trying to be a guy like that that really feeds off that energy, but we miss them. We miss the fans, especially for this really cool run that we have been on. It would be awesome to have them in there, but we are still playing for them even when they are not in there.”
Guard David DeCastro added on Saturday, “We’re still humans,” he said. “We have emotions and not having fans there, it’s tough.”
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