Sitting at 7-7 and missing defensive starters such as safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and linebacker Elandon Roberts, among others, for a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, things looked relatively bleak for the Steelers in terms of making the postseason.

Yet three weeks later, the Steelers rattled off three consecutive wins to earn a playoff spot despite their myriad of injuries.

While quarterback Mason Rudolph has gotten plenty of deserved praise for stepping into the lineup and performing well, at least he's been on the team's roster all season.

The Steelers also have gotten some critical contributions from players who didn't join the team until late in November that have helped propel them into the postseason in veterans Eric Rowe and Myles Jack at safety and linebacker, respectively.

Both were signed to the practice squad by the Steelers in late November. And both have played pivotal parts in the team winning its past three games to get to 10-7 and earn a trip to the playoffs.

Rowe started the past three games for the Steelers at strong safety, filling in for a suspended Damontae Kazee. He has 29 tackles, an interception, two pass defenses and a forced fumble.

Jack, meanwhile, also has appeared in the past three games, starting one, while making 17 tackles, one sack and two quarterback hits.

Not bad for two guys who still aren't even on the Steelers' 53-man roster.

"Me and E Rowe, we rep the practice squad," said Jack. "I'm proud of it. I love the awesome challenge. I embrace that. You've got to kind of start from the bottom and work your way back up again."

Because of COVID, the NFL expanded its practice squad sizes and also allowed for more veteran players to be stashed on the practice squad in case of emergency situations. A rule also was implemented to allow for two game-day callups that effectively increase game-day roster size to 55 players.

The one caveat to that is that practice squad players are only permitted to be a game-day activation three times before they must be signed to the active roster during the regular season. But that rule is waived when the playoffs begin.

So Jack and Rowe remain on the Steelers' practice squad – though it is highly likely both get called up again before Sunday's playoff game in Buffalo.

Considering Rowe is an nine-year veteran who has started playoff games and in Super Bowls during his time with the Patriots, while Jack is a eight-year veteran who was with the Steelers in 2022 before being released in the offseason, it takes a certain amount of swallowing of one's pride to be willing to accept such moves. But both Rowe and Jack see the big picture.

Initially with Carolina earlier this season, Rowe was released by the Panthers and signed to their practice squad before being released again Sept. 19.

At that point, it was largely crickets for Rowe when it came to another opportunity and he had to face the idea that at 31, his NFL career might be over.

"When it got to November, I was thinking like, 'Man, this could be it,'" Rowe admitted. "I had a couple of workouts with other teams and it didn't work out. I got a call one day, I was walking my daughter down the sidewalk. She likes to go out and play with sticks and stuff. I got a call from my agent and he said, 'You in shape?' I said, 'Who.' He said, 'Pittsburgh.' I was like it was a good opportunity and they signed me. I've kept that little chip on my shoulder."

If Rowe has a chip on his shoulder, Jack could have had a boulder. Signed by the Steelers before the 2022 season, he appeared in 15 games, starting 13 of them, last season. But the Steelers released him prior to the start of the 2023 offseason.

Jack signed with Philadelphia in training camp, but soon left the team, announcing he was retiring from football. Then, the Steelers called when Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander – two of the players signed to help replace him – were injured.

Jack wasn't bitter. In fact, he blamed himself for his release.

"I thought it was over with, 100 percent. There was 0 percent chance I would ever play ball again, ever run through a tunnel, hear the national anthem, none of that," he admitted.

"I like to look at life like everything that happens is my fault. I feel like I got myself in this position, I feel like I can get myself out of it," Jack said. "I just kept grinding every day. I showed up every day with a smile on my face. I stayed grateful that God gave me that opportunity. I just worked every day and got in a couple of games. It all worked out. I think the coolest thing is that you can lose it and get it back. I take pride in that.

"I understood that I hadn't been playing ball and they wanted to see where I was at. I didn't do what I needed to do last year, otherwise I would have been here. A lot of that I put on my shoulders. I took it like a man and said, 'OK, there's an opportunity to come back. I'll see what I can do with it.' It worked out."

It's worked out for the Steelers, as well.

With Minkah Fitzpatrick returning from injury and Kazee's suspension lifting at the completion of the regular season, Rowe has established himself as a piece of the puzzle on the back end of the Steelers defense that could still be a factor against the Bills.

The same goes for Jack, who is working in a rotation at inside linebacker with Elandon Roberts and Mark Robinson.

Both guys are playing loose because they know what being out of the game looks like. And they don't necessarily like it.

"Yeah. Sitting at home and watching, I'm thinking, 'Man, I know there are people that I'm better than. I should at least be on a roster,'" Rowe said. "When I got here and got a chance to play, I took all that into perspective. I'm going to go out there and just kind of play. The heck with it. If I play and I don't do good, I'm back where I was at. I'm just playing."

• When the Steelers were adding veteran depth throughout the offseason – and in the case of Jack, Rowe and others, in the regular season, as well – it often goes unnoticed.

But when you get into tough games during the season, having veteran players to bring off the bench makes a difference.

"(It) makes a huge difference," said Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. "I know COVID was a bad deal but that was a good deal in terms of being able to have veterans on your practice squad and being able to have those guys called up.

"A lot of times when you get in a situation you're bringing a guy that's in development, a rookie, somebody that's probably not quite ready. Now you can bring in a guy that's had some experience, played in some big games, and I think that's really something that's really beneficial to all of us."

The Steelers still have some quality young guys – such as outside linebacker Nick Herbig, defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and others – who are less established players, but there's something to be said for being able to bring in a player in big games and having a pretty good idea of what you're going to get from them instead of guessing if the young guy is up to the task.

It also lessened the pressure on the young players to produce right away. Because of the veterans available, the young guys could work their way into bigger roles organically.

That helped the Steelers elevate their play all season.

The Steelers went 5-3 against teams that qualified for the playoffs this season. They also played 13 of their 17 games this season against teams that finished above .500, which is remarkable considering 19 teams finished with winning records this season, including the Steelers.

In those games against teams that finished with winning records, the Steelers finished 8-5.

You do that by having quality depth. Credit to GM Omar Khan and his staff for continually identifying quality veterans, not only last offseason, but throughout the course of the season, as well.

The eight wins against teams with winning records, by the way, was tied with the 49ers for the second-most in NFL history for a team in a single season. Baltimore set the record this season by going 10-4 against teams with winning records. And yes, two of the Ravens' losses came against the Steelers.

• The weather forecast for Buffalo on Sunday calls for snow and chilly temperatures. But that's really not all that surprising and those factors by themselves won't affect the game.

What could, however, affect the way this game is played is the wind.

Per forecasts, it's expected to be at least 25 miles per hour wind throughout the game with gusts of up to 52 miles per hour.

That could make life difficult for both passing games.

It did in a Dec. 6, 2021 game in Buffalo against the Patriots, a game New England won 14-10.

That game featured 26 miles per hour wins when it kicked off, with gusts up to 36 miles per hour.

The Patriots, realizing that throwing the ball would be difficult, barely did so. Quarterback Mac Jones attempted three passes, completing two for 19 yards.

The Bills, meanwhile, played relatively normally with Josh Allen. He finished the game 15 of 30 for 145 yards and one touchdown while also being sacked twice.

Buffalo ran the ball 25 times for 99 yards compared to 46 runs for 222 yards for the Patriots.

Did the Bills learn their lesson in that game? Perhaps. They've been running the ball 53 percent of the time in their home games this season, the highest amount for any team in the NFL.

But the Steelers run the ball 53 percent of the time in their road games this season, also the highest percentage in the league.

• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast

• With Bill Belichick now out in New England as the head coach of the Patriots, the longest-tenured coach in the NFL is Mike Tomlin with the Steelers at 17 seasons.

In fact, the two head coaches with the longest tenure in the NFL are in the AFC North, as Baltimore's John Harbaugh is second at 16 seasons.

Cincinnati's Zac Taylor is now tied for fifth in terms of tenure with the same team. He's been with the Bengals since 2019. Cleveland's Kevin Stefanski is tied for sixth with four seasons with the same team.

• How difficult is it to win a road playoff game?

Realize that Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is 4-4 in the postseason as a starter. But all four of his wins have come at home. He's 0-3 in road playoff games.

The Steelers are 9-13 on the road in the postseason in their history. But that .409 winning percentage is third-best in the NFL since 1970 in road playoff games with a minimum of 20 games played.

The only teams that have been better are the Rams (10-12, .455) and the Titans (10-13, .455).

The Ravens are 11-8 in road playoff games in their history, but haven't yet gotten to 20 road playoff games in their history. And as the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, they won't get there this season, either.

Even so, it goes to show how difficult winning road playoff games happens to be.