Steelers celebrate rare ‘Victory Monday’ after winning 2nd consecutive game

Not many terms derive universal joy from NFL players like “Victory Monday,” the colloquial term for when a coach doesn’t schedule mandatory meetings for the day after a win.

Victory Mondays have been a rarity for the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers if for no other reason than they have had so few victories on Sundays.

This Monday was different, falling on a day after the Steelers’ second Sunday win since Week 1. As such, the locker room at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex was a little more bare during an early-afternoon 45-minute window that was open to the media. But it was far from vacant less than 24 hours after a 19-16 victory at the Atlanta Falcons gave the Steelers consecutive wins for the first time this season.

“That just added confidence for us,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “Even though it’s Victory Monday, it’s not an off day. We are still in here, guys lifting, guys recovering, guys watching film, so we are still getting after it but we just really have to have a good week of practice this week starting Wednesday. We’ve really got to lock it in. It’s an AFC North matchup (Sunday), and it’s a big matchup.”

At 5-7, all involved recognize to tread lightly when talking of “contention.” But a home win against the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens (8-5) at least would keep the Steelers alive in the races for a wild-card spot and even the unlikely prospect of the division title.

The current holder of the final AFC wild-card spot, the New York Jets, are 7-5. Of the five teams the Steelers are tied with or chasing for that No. 7 seed, three hold tiebreakers against them. But the mere thought that scenarios can even be discussed would have been unthinkable as recently as seven days (and two road wins) before Monday’s open locker room.

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“This is building confidence because we know what type of team we can be,” Highsmith said. “We know we weren’t perfect (in Sunday’s game). We never will be, but we came out of there with a ‘W.’ ”

Three of the Steelers’ final five games are against teams with losing records: the Carolina Panthers (4-8), Las Vegas Raiders (5-7) and Cleveland Browns (5-7). The other two are against the Ravens, a bitter rival against whom the Steelers have won four consecutive. Baltimore also might be without star quarterback Lamar Jackson, who left Sunday’s 10-9 Ravens win against the Denver Broncos during the first quarter because of a knee injury.

Clarity in Jackson’s status was unknown Monday. Remarkably, Jackson has started only three games against the Steelers over his five NFL seasons.

“We saw (fill-in Tyler Huntley) last year (in the season finale), but it’s really hard to replace a guy like Lamar,” Steelers defensive lineman Chris Wormley said. “I know Huntley has been in their system for a couple years now, and he can do some similar things, but I think Lamar is kind of a class of his own.”

Regardless of who is available for the opponent — and no matter how realistic the Steelers’ playoff hopes actually are — that they are playing a meaningful game again in December has provided a jolt for a team that, a week ago, had won just twice over the prior 10 weeks.

“We’ve got to keep stacking,” safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said. “We’ve got our whole defense back healthy. It’s our third game together. You can feel the mojo, the juice coming back together. The offense is getting better and better every game. The offense is running the ball more, and they’re making more plays down the field. We’ve got Baltimore next week, tough team, division game. We just have to stack a third one.”

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .