Gunner Olszewski to make his Steelers home debut vs. former team, Patriots

As rich as the rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots seems, it’s been so long since the traditional AFC powers met that only three starters and eight Steelers overall remain from that Sept. 8, 2019, most recent matchup.

There is, however, a ninth Steelers player who will be on the field for Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff that also played in the meeting that opened the 2019 season for both teams.

“That was my first game in the NFL,” Gunner Olszewski said, proudly, Friday from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “‘Sunday Night Football’ in 2019, we played the Steelers. It was pretty cool.”

It was a lot cooler for Olszewski than for his now-teammates who were around for that game back then. That’s because Olszewski — then a rookie return specialist — was playing for the Patriots that day. New England won 33-3.

Now, Olszewski gets to be the rare NFL player who has played for both Mike Tomlin of the Steelers and Bill Belichick of the Patriots — the NFL’s two longest-tenured head coaches.

“I took good notes in my notebook every time Bill got up there and spoke, like I do now with Mike when he gets up in front of the team,” Olszewski said. “And (Belichick) told us how good a team the Steelers are, and now I got to experience who the Steelers are — and he was right about every word.”

The Steelers signed Olszewski to a two-year, $4.2 million contract in March. But Olszewski was only available because the Patriots declined to offer him a tender as a restricted free agent after he’d spent three seasons there as a former undrafted player who was named first-team All Pro punt returner in 2020.

“Sure, it stings a little bit,” Olszewski said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been let go from a job, or someone doesn’t want you back, but it hurts. But I am very fortunate to be where I am now.”

Gunner Olszewski played his NFL debut against the Steelers for the Patriots - now he’s on the other side Sunday pic.twitter.com/AD9R8Cv0q5

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 16, 2022

Olszewski had a 20-yard punt return on his only attempt during his Steelers debut, last week’s season-opening win at the Cincinnati Bengals. He didn’t have any balls thrown his way during limited action on offense (nine snaps), but Olszewski regularly got first- and second-team reps on offense during training camp and preseason games.

Olszewski was rarely part of the offensive gameplan in New England. He tacitly allowed that he might enjoy making a game-changing play from scrimmage against the Patriots at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.

“Definitely, any time I get the ball I want to do something with it,” he said, “and yeah, playing the old team, the team that didn’t want you — sure, I wanna go out there and show them what I can do.”

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