Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers will wear customized cleats to honor their injured teammate Ryan Shazier when they play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.
It’s been a long week for the Pittsburgh Steelers since linebacker Ryan Shazier was injured making a tackle during Monday Night Football. Shazier was stretchered off the field and it was later revealed he underwent spine stabilization surgery. His status beyond that remains unclear as he’s in the good hands of the doctors and surgeons who will do everything in their power to make sure he can have a full recovery.
You can bet Shazier will be on the minds of his teammates when they take the field for their Sunday night game against the rival Baltimore Ravens. Not only will Shazier be on their minds, he’ll also be on their feet.
Members of the Steelers will be wearing custom cleats to honor their injured teammate on Sunday. The cleats are adorned with Shazier’s likeness and the hashtag “Shalieve” so even though he physically won’t be present for the game, he’ll have his presence felt.
Several Steelers will wear cleats supporting Ryan Shazier on Sunday. (via @coreypaneart) pic.twitter.com/6XxIBcvvRj
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 9, 2017
The Steelers-Ravens rivalry may be the most ferocious rivalry in the NFL today. There is no love lost between the two AFC North rivals, but Sunday’s game will have a bit of a different tone than any of the previous games. There will be mutual respect between the two and an understanding of what the Steelers players are going through as Shazier has a long road to recovery ahead of him. At the end of the day, the NFL is a brotherhood and no one wants to see what happened to Shazier happen to anyone.
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I can only hope there won’t be any fines levied by the NFL for wearing these cleats, but I have to think the NFL won’t be that tone-deaf and will give their blessing for any and all Steelers to wear these cleats.
The Steelers and Ravens play at 8:30 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on NBC with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth on the call.