Pittsburgh Steelers' tight end Pat Freiermuth reflects on his 2023 season.
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00:00 >> Yeah, it sucks, obviously, I was just a close team.
00:03 But it's part of the business and I'm not really too focused on next year.
00:07 I'm just kinda reflecting on this past year and learning lessons from that.
00:12 >> How about just for you individually, what was the season like?
00:15 There was injuries and then some of the questions and
00:17 inconsistencies with the offense as a whole.
00:19 >> I think it was frustrating, obviously.
00:21 The beginning of the year was not what I envisioned myself.
00:24 Being out, missing five games, the hamstring.
00:27 It definitely wasn't what I wanted initially, but I thought to myself,
00:31 I came along later in the year and I got healthy.
00:34 And obviously, I think the offense found its groove later in the year,
00:38 which was big time.
00:39 I'm just gonna continue to build on that in the offseason.
00:41 >> Historically, the Steelers would have contract negotiations and
00:44 talks with somebody like you entering the final year of their deal.
00:46 Is that something you imagine would happen and
00:48 you look forward to a possible extension?
00:50 >> Yeah, I love Pittsburgh.
00:51 I wanna play the rest of my career.
00:53 But that's not really what I'm thinking about right now.
00:56 I'm thinking about obviously this past season and where I can grow.
01:00 >> What do you think that this offense and team needs to do as a whole to elevate,
01:03 to get to that level of being a team that wins playoff games,
01:07 that gets to the Super Bowl, those things?
01:09 >> Yeah, find our identity quicker.
01:11 Obviously, we found it late in the year and it worked for us.
01:13 And we gotta continue to hone on that in camp next year and
01:18 OTAs next year and have that earlier in the season.
01:22 And I think that'll be big for us.
01:24 >> When you say it worked for you, did the two coordinators then work well?
01:28 Is that something that's sustainable?
01:30 >> Yeah, I mean, I think they both did a great job with the circumstances that we
01:35 were put in.
01:36 But I think Coach Falken, Coach Lillie did a great job of handling it.
01:42 And we kinda just moved on the fly.
01:44 It was kinda hard to, not adjust, but self-reflect, I guess,
01:49 in the middle of the year when it happened, just because we're trying to win
01:53 the next game.
01:54 So I think they did a great job, both of them.
01:56 >> And when you say identity, you mean like a run first type team?
02:00 What did you see that you would like to build on from this year,
02:02 maybe changes for next?
02:04 >> Yeah, we were able to run the ball, obviously,
02:05 opened up our play action in our past game.
02:07 So we just gotta be able to click on all cylinders.
02:11 >> Pat, when you look at what happened this year, you being injured,
02:13 Delonte being injured, changing play callers, three different quarterbacks,
02:16 does it kinda give you the sense that maybe the end product doesn't represent
02:20 the talent that you guys kinda had on paper coming into this year that you
02:24 didn't maybe get to completely realize?
02:26 >> Yeah, I mean, injuries are part of the game.
02:28 It sucks, but we just know we have to overcome that.
02:33 But I think at the end of the day, we did what we tried to do.
02:38 We got into the playoffs,
02:39 just obviously we didn't finish with a couple wins that we wanted.
02:43 So I mean, it's there.
02:44 We just have to figure out how to get there early in the year and
02:47 get ourselves in situations where we can be successful.