Mike Tomlin had been saying since back in training camp that wide receiver Martavis Bryant would have to assimilate himself back into the NFL gradually after missing a season due to suspension.
Take a look at the best photos from the Week 11 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers defeated the Titans 40-17.
Bryant either hadn't been getting the message, or he just wasn't paying attention.
"I think the main part with me was, I wanted to come back in and have instant success but it didn't work out like that," Bryant acknowledged. "Now, it's about being patient and just going out and having fun with it, and just let everything fall into place."
That's beginning to happen again gradually for Bryant.
He was inactive for the Steelers' 20-15 victory on Oct. 29 in Detroit.
That was the price Bryant paid for social media conduct deemed unbecoming by Tomlin.
But since then Bryant has caught three passes for 42 yards in the Steelers' 20-17 survival on Nov. 12 at Indianapolis and two more for 30 yards in Thursday night's 40-17 win over Tennessee.
One of Bryant's receptions against the Colts was good for 19 yards on third-and-4 from the Steelers' 31-yard line on what became the drive for the last-play, game-winning field goal. Bryant avoided a defender after accepting a pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on a shallow-cross and managed to get out of bounds at the 50 with 45 seconds left in regulation. Bryant had previously hauled in a 7-yard pass for the two-point conversion that tied the game at 17-17 in the fourth quarter.
Against the Titans, Bryant made a 20-yard catch on third-and-10 from the Steelers' 25 late in the third quarter, a reception that extended what became a drive for the touchdown that gave the Steelers a 30-17, fourth-quarter lead. And he recovered a fumble by wide receiver Antonio Brown late in the second quarter, which allowed the Steelers to eventually kick a field goal for a 16-7 halftime advantage.
Bryant's contributions have been subtle of late, but they haven't gone unnoticed.
"I thought he had a good game," Roethlisberger said. "He's put two back-to-back games together."
Bryant has done so after getting a chance at a "fresh start" after the Steelers' bye week, and after a couple heart-to-heart exchanges with Tomlin.
"You can't fight the process," Bryant said. "You just have to be willing to get better. Me and 'Coach T' had talks about not fighting the process. He knows that I'm not going to fight the process. He knew it wasn't going to be easy for me.
"It's all about being on the same page, working hard and going out and executing."
Consecutive games that earned Roethlisberger's approval haven't taken the pressure off, Bryant maintained, mostly because he insisted he wasn't feeling any.
"I don't have any pressure," he said. "All I want to do is win. As long as we're winning, we're having fun doing it, what pressure do I have?
"Our season is defined by the Super Bowl. We want to win the Super Bowl. The individual stuff will come later but right now I want to win a Super Bowl. Everybody else in here wants to win a Super Bowl. We want to do it for Mr. Rooney."
