LANDOVER, Md. -- "We're only going to go as far as he takes us."
Willie Gay, one of the Steelers' four team captains and maybe its singular spiritual leader, was telling me that the other day on the South Side. And to be honest, I was floored. Because he wasn't speaking of Ben Roethlisberger. Or Antonio Brown. Or, perish the thought, Le'Veon Bell.
No, the reference was to one Ryan Dean Shazier.
"The ceiling, for that guy ... it's the sky," Gay continued, motioning over toward the stall marked No. 50. "It's because he's a tremendous athlete. We all see that. We all know that. But it's also because he's a tremendous person, a friend, a brother to all of us. When you have all those gifts ... man, he's capable of great things."
Gay thumped his heart with his right thumb.
"Because it's in here. The passion, the love for the game of football, it's in here."
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