Plenty of will: Sunday was the first real test for the Steelers offensive line working together as a unit, and while there is still work to do, there was also a lot of good.
"I loved the spirit in which they work. I loved the demeanor in which they work. I loved the physicality in which they work," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "The quality of our work has to get better. We have to develop skill relative to that position. We have to develop individual and collective know how and cohesion.
"But the will things, the intangible things that are that are very required in order to progress, I saw. So, that was encouraging. Not that I'm looking for it. But that was encouraging. But we roll our sleeves up and go back to work this week."
Getting to know you: Leading into Week 1 of the season against the Bills, Tomlin said that he would learn a lot about his team after facing a high-quality opponent on the road and that things would reveal themselves.
He did in fact learn more about the team, not necessarily from a broad standpoint, but more on an individual basis of how players handle situations and the challenges they faced.
"A lot of little lessons," said Tomlin. "None probably significant enough or cemented enough that I would acknowledge it in this setting. But I know the men as individuals better. I think when you face adversity and duress, you learn a little bit about yourselves and those you work with. But I also think you learn a little bit about the collective. I'm always interested in the collective mentality when faced with adversity. How does the defense take the field when we give up a 75-yard kickoff for example? The spirit in which they do it. That is what I mean when I'm saying learning about ourselves.
"The game itself, the challenges of competition, provides windows and gives you an opportunity to reveal certain things about yourself individually and collectively. I imagine that's going to continue in a big way as we continue to step into stadiums, particularly at the early portions of this."
Take a closer look at scenes from the Steelers' Week 1 game against the Buffalo Bills
Headed home: The Steelers return to Heinz Field on Sunday to take on the Las Vegas Raiders, the first time they will play in front of a packed home crowd since the 2019 season.
Tomlin talked a lot last week about playing in front of a hostile crowd in Buffalo, and now this week he said it's up to his players to make sure they give the fans something to cheer about and create the same atmosphere they had to face.
"I'm excited about it, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking to our team about it," said Tomlin. "I'm going to talk to our team about the responsibility of creating that environment. It's our job to make the plays, to keep the crowd engaged, to entertain them and to make it as hostile as we can make it. We talked openly about that a week ago. We knew that if we made plays, we had an opportunity to kind of quell the environment that we were in. We didn't make enough plays early on. Giving that big kickoff and you spot them three points and you're not gaining fluidity. We didn't make the job easy for ourselves. We'll proceed with that understanding.
"We're excited about getting back into the comforts of Heinz Field and entertaining Steelers Nation. But we also are not running away from it, we're running to the responsibilities that comes with playing at Heinz Field."