BALTIMORE — Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen received flak from former Steelers offensive lineman Trai Essex last week during the Buffalo Bills game. Essex stated, "I'm over the Patrick Queen experiment." Queen clapped back at Essex, saying he was never a Pro Bowler or made All-Pro and got carried his whole career back and forth from the bench.
Queen responded in a big way in the Steelers' 27-22 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Queen showed lot of heart playing through a glute injury. He said after the game he was basically playing on one leg .
"I thrived. I had a little hiccup here and there, but I made it through," Queen said.
Queen was motivated to get back in the game after leaving to get treatment.
"I was just trying to be me and get back in the game. I was trying to get back in the game two [or] three plays before that, but you can't have both of the headsets on the field at the same time," Queen said. "[ Payton Wilson ] was in there, and I trust Payton to be able to do his job at a high level, so I was just waiting for the perfect time to be able to get back there. I didn't want to have no confusion going on. I didn't want us to waste a timeout or anything. It was just me waiting on the situation for me to be able to go back in there. That's all that was."
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen during an OTAs practice on May 27, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was appreciative of Queen's fight.
"I'm just appreciative, Tomlin said in his postgame press conference. "When you start having linebackers go down, in that period of time when Patrick Queen was unavailable to us, it was uncomfortable. But that's just the component of it. That's why it's the ultimate team game. I'm just appreciative of the collective efforts."
Queen was also doubted by many in the Baltimore media after he signed with the Steelers in March of 2024. The narrative was that Queen wouldn't be the same player without playing alongside Roquan Smith .
Queen downplayed his first win back in Baltimore, however.
"I think if you would have asked me last year, it would have meant a lot. But I think at this point, I'm two years in here. What was at stake was more important, and that's all I care about — trying to win the division," Queen said. "At the end of the day, does it feel good? Yeah, obviously so. But the whole, you know, mess – I'm over it."
Alan Saunders and Brendan Howe provided reporting from Baltimore.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers LB Patrick Queen Displays Fight, Proves Doubters Wrong in Win over Ravens
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