Steelers' Miles Killebrew Gets Emotional After Disclosing He Received Unexpected Death Threats Following Week 13

Miles Killebrew has been a steady presence for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Danny Smith's special teams unit for the last three years now. He's not only been the best contributor on special teams, but he's become the veteran of the group. Killebrew was a named a captain for the 2023 season, his second consecutive campaign in the role. In Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals, the safety had arguably his worst game as a Steeler.

Actually, it's not even really arguable. Killebrew was flagged not once, not twice, but three times in the loss to the two-win Cardinals. All flags happened on special teams too, which can be even more costly at times. After yet another loss to the New England Patriots on Thursday evening, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, Killebrew was emotional. Just days ago, he received death threats after his performance against the Cardinals. He spoke to the media after the game about the recent threats that he's received.

"I was just telling James, I was fielding a bunch of hate mail and death threats three days ago, so it was nice to kind of flip the script a little bit... It's part of the game. But at the end of the day, we're human, so I just want everybody to remember that. We're trying to do our jobs and we're trying to do it well. I love these guys, so if anyone's gotta take them, I'd rather it be me."

Fans often lose sight of the human element with these athletes. While they possess superhuman-like abilities, they are just like us at the end of the day: humans. Unfortunately, every fan base has these kind of fans. Thankfully, Killebrew was able to respond in a big way against the Patriots. In fact, he was nearly the hero of the game after he blocked a punt in the early stages of the fourth quarter. 

The big play set the Steelers offense up in prime field position and led to Mitch Trubisky's rushing touchdown. The score cut the deficit to just three points with just under 12 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the team wasn't able to put any more points on the board on the night. It was still a nice bounce back performance from Killebrew. It had to be a great feeling for him, especially after the last few days that he's had. 

Should The Steelers Use Killebrew More On Defense?

The Steelers' safety room has been banged up over the last month or so with Keanu Neal and Minkah Fitzpatrick both dealing with injuries. Neal actually remains on the IR at the moment, while Fitzpatrick played through a broken hand in Week 14. When the star injured his hamstring over a month ago though, Steelers Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin specifically praised Killebrew. 

Austin planned to use Killebrew a lot to help replace the impact of Fitzpatrick on the back end of the secondary. That never truly came to fruition though, as Killebrew has only played 33 (4%) of the team's defensive snaps. He hasn't played more than 100 snaps on defense since 2017 with the Detroit Lions. Regardless, he continues to make his impact felt on special teams. That was on full display once again on Thursday night, and it's why the Steelers prioritize his return on an annual basis. In the meantime, shameless behavior from some "fans" in Pittsburgh.

How big of an impact has Killebrew provided since he arrived in Pittsburgh? Do you think the coaching staff should give him some more snaps on defense? What are your additional thoughts from Thursday's loss to the Patriots?