Connor Heyward, Cameron Heyward send messages to doubters ahead of Steelers' playoff game vs. Texans

As of early Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the 10-7 Pittsburgh Steelers as three-point home underdogs for their upcoming "Monday Night Football" wild-card playoff game versus the 12-5 Houston Texans. 

During the latest edition of "The Arthur Moats Experience" podcast, Steelers fullback/tight end Connor Heyward sent a message to those who believe the Texans will advance to the next round of the postseason tournament. 

Are 2025 Steelers better than previous teams under Mike Tomlin? 

"I just feel like the team's confidence is different," Heyward said, per Troy Montgomery of Steelers Depot. "We've made the playoffs before, but I just feel like we know we can go make a run and really do this. This is not just, 'Alright, we made it to the playoffs.' We don't want it to be that. We wanna let people know we're here. ...I think we've just got the right ingredients this year. We just have to play to our level. If we do that, and we play complementary football on three phases, there's no one that can beat us."

The Steelers have lost six consecutive playoff games under head coach Mike Tomlin, and the club's last postseason victory occurred in January 2017. That said, these Steelers have shown a certain amount of resiliency since quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a reported small fracture in his left (non-throwing) wrist on the same day Pittsburgh improved to 6-4. 

Following that game, the Steelers endured two straight losses, the second of which featured angry Pittsburgh fans chanting for the club to fire Tomlin. The Steelers subsequently won four of five games to clinch a playoff berth as champions of the AFC North. 

Steelers "thrive off" being counted out

"We're a group that, backs against the wall, we like our chances because we're all together," longtime Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said while speaking with reporters on Friday, per Joe Clark of Steelers Depot. "We thrive off people either counting us out, people not believing in us, and us trying to play our best ball." 

On Friday, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Steelers last among the alive teams at +1800 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LX. That information could give the Pittsburgh roster some extra bulletin-board material through the second weekend of January.