Former Kansas City Chiefs and current Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Steve Nelson joined Kristine Leahy’s Fair Game last week to reflect on the 2018 season and his time in Kansas City.
The most interesting nugget to come from the interview was a story Nelson told about the 2015 AFC wild-card game, in which the Chiefs won 30-0 over the Houston Texans. Nelson was a rookie at the time and hardly played on defense with both Marcus Peters and Sean Smith ahead of him in the lineup.
“I remember—I’m going to say his name, Marcus Peters, that’s my guy, plays for the Rams now—his shoe blows out in a critical part of the game,” Nelson told Leahy.
The Chiefs were winning 13-0 in the second quarter, but the Texans were driving inside the red zone.
“They’re on the 10-yard line. They’re about to score and DeAndre Hopkins is amazing at this point of his career. Marcus Peters springs off the field and the coaches are looking for somebody to step up behind Peters, and I’m just right there. Young me.”
Nelson said nobody called his number.
“They’re not yelling for me because I’m young,” he said. “And so I’m right there—I used to always stand by my coach because I had hopes of going in, and so I’m like, ‘OK, nobody’s going to run out there.’ I sprint out there. I don’t care. I sprint out there. It’s do-or-die right now.
“It’s a big risk and at this point, it’s like in my mind, ‘If I make the play, I’m going to do great. Everybody’s going to celebrate with me. If I don’t make play, I might not be here next year.’ It was crazy. They came at me twice with Hopkins, and it was all good. [I] defended the play, made the play. We won the game. It was all good.”
Nelson would go on to start the next three seasons for the Chiefs before leaving for Pittsburgh this offseason.
Nelson also talked about losing to the Patriots, being overlooked and getting off and on social media while in Kansas City. Leahy tried to press him about his tweet the day Bob Sutton was fired, but the former Chiefs cornerback downplayed the post. Watch the video above or click here.