The timing is right: What a difference a year makes.
Last year the Steelers headed into their bye week with a 4-3 record, coming off of two straight losses.
This year, the Steelers head into the bye at 6-2, tied atop the AFC and leading the AFC North, and coming off three straight wins.
"It's perfect timing," said Le'Veon Bell. "It's literally halfway, midway through the season. We couldn't ask for a better time. The fact that we are coming off a three-game winning streak is huge for us."
Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster, who plans to head back to USC for a visit during the time off for the bye, also is a fan of the timing.
"I think it's great for us," said Smith-Schuster. "We have to let our bodies rest, get healthy, come back next week and get ready for Indianapolis."
Bell said the bye will be a good chance for injured players to work their way back on the field, and everyone come back next week against the Colts ready to pick it up a notch.
"We have been winning games and not playing our best ball," said Bell. "With the bye week we are going to watch film, we will continue to get better, clean some things up and move forward. We are ready to go out there and play some more football. We are going to be healthy, hopefully get some of our guys back off of this bye week and come back and play better football."
Nothing but fun: When the NFL loosened the strings on player celebrations it opened up a window for players to express themselves and have fun, and the Steelers are doing just that.
When Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, and JuJu Smith-Schuster score, you never know what is going to come next.
"I think it's super fun," said Smith-Schuster. "When someone scores, it takes 11 men to do it. everybody is involved. We celebrate together. It shows everyone we do it together, it's a team sport."
There had been a game of hide-and-seek, a bike locking, and even a shout of to William Gay when Bell scored against the Lions.
Bell used Smith-Schuster as a weight bench, Brown as his spotter, and he was the weight lifter. And of course, the offensive line got in on it, cheering him on and capturing it with their 'cell phone.'
"Shout out to Deebo," said Bell. "We all get our roles and just freak it when we are out there. We knew JuJu was going to be the bench. You could see me talking to AB, and the offensive line just came around, cheered me on.
"We are going to have fun. We know how hard it is to get a touchdown, the fact that we can celebrate it, we are going to full opportunity. I have my list of celebrations, JuJu has his. We are going to bounce the ideas off each other and come up with the best celebrations."
