Yeah, the Steelers hear it, too.
They've been hearing it, really, since they trudged off that soggy turf in Foxborough nearly 11 months ago, from the inebriated, insufferable Bostonians leaning over the rail to toss invectives their way.
I caught some of this on video from the runway:
It was a terribly sad scene for a team that had built up so much beforehand, streaking toward an unexpected AFC North title and tearing through Kansas City to reach that conference championship game. The locker room itself was that much more somber.
But most off-putting, by far, they've been hearing it at home.
There's been this borderline bizarre subsection of the fan base that's all but given up on their favorite team ever being able to beat Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England machine. Never mind having a better record now. Or the home field. Or the better collection of offensive stars. Or the better defense.
Suffice it to say the Steelers, having cleared the Bengals and Ravens from their collective plate, are now savoring the opportunity to do likewise with the sourest taste of all.
"We want to play. Let's just play," David DeCastro was telling me Thursday at Rooney Sports Complex. "We're sick of all of this. For a long time now. Let's play."
That was a common sentiment. There's resentment. There's anger that they're seen as Little Brother.
There's also respect.
"I can't say enough about how I feel about that franchise, everything they've accomplished, Coach Belichick, everything," Maurkice Pouncey told me. "It's not just who they are now. It's how long they've been doing it."
At the same time -- and this, too, was a common theme -- there is such a thing as too much respect. Or awe. Or whatever anyone would call what that bizarre subsection of the fanbase is experiencing.
"One thing you never want to do is take the football field feeling like you don't belong," Martavis Bryant was telling me. "They've got 11 out there. We've got 11 out there. You appreciate what they've done, but we've done a lot, too."
This part's nothing new, in a sense, and not at all unique to facing New England. The Steelers have felt the public doubt, through the run last year, through the far more impressive run this year, through the squeakers and the routs along the way, through injuries and other distractions ... and all they've done is keep a cool, mostly quiet confidence about them.
This sentence won't paint much of a picture, I fear, but I've not seen them like this. Not this collected. Joking. Having fun. At the same time believing -- as palpably genuine as it gets, too -- that they've got the better talent, and going seriously about the business of preparing to walk through a different tunnel Sunday night in an infinitely better mood.
Maybe they'll even hear something nice from the faithful on the way out.
MORE STEELERS
• Ben Roethlisberger likes it when people doubt him. Look at his stats since saying, "Maybe I just don't have it anymore," after a five-interception game against the Jaguars earlier this year: He's thrown for 2,475 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. His passer rating is 100.8. In eight games. Roethlisberger played with a similar chip on his shoulder back in his early days, when he was a "game manager," and in 2010, when he was coming back off a four-game suspension. The Steelers feel Roethlisberger is playing better than Brady -- right now. As one Steelers player told me, "Don't judge this game on history. Judge it on how they are playing right now." - Dale Lolley
• Brady showed up on the injury report with an Achilles' tendon injury three weeks ago. Brady has thrown four interceptions in the past three games and looks every bit a 40-year-old quarterback. - Lolley
• One of the hidden factors in every game is who the referee and crew will be. For Sunday's game, that is Tony Corrente, which means be ready for plenty of flags. Corrente's crew calls nearly 16 penalties per game for an average of just over 125 yards. That's well above the average for the league. Corrente's crew does call slightly fewer penalties on the home team, but the home team has won just 46 percent of the time when he's officiating. The league average is 55 percent. Corrente has been the official for a Steelers-Patriots game one time before in his career, that being a 30-14 win by New England in the 2002 opener. That game included 20 called penalties, 13 on New England and seven for Pittsburgh. Corrente has not officiated a Steelers game this season. He has done one New England game, that coming at New York against the Jets, a 24-17 Patriots win that included a touchdown by Austin Seferian-Jenkins being inexplicably overturned. New England had six penalties for 69 yards, while the Jets had six for 45 in the game. - Lolley
PENGUINS
• When Jim Rutherford was hired in the summer of 2015, he said he suspected his term as general manager would be "two or three years." Well, three years and two Stanley Cup championships later, Rutherford's perspective has obviously changed.
Pittsburgh is now far more fond of him and Rutherford is clearly fond of his players, the ones who have solidified his Hall of Fame credentials.
Speaking with Rutherford outside T-Mobile Arena in an impromptu session with beat writers Thursday, it's clear that the GM doesn't relish the thought of parting ways with any of the guys who were part of the past two remarkable seasons.
This might be Las Vegas, but the Cup hangover that has gripped the Penguins should have subsided by now. Realistically, Rutherford's not-so-thinly-veiled threat of shaking up the team via trade is the only card he has left to play. That said, his hand is tied by the salary cap as the Penguins are just $736,986 under, according to Spotrac.
When I asked if any players were off limits, Rutherford thought it silly. And it is, because there's no chance of dealing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Matt Murray. But who else? Phil Kessel and Kris Letang? Perhaps. The aforementioned -- except Murray -- have no-movement clauses anyway. Just as an example, since his name had been bandied about two weeks ago, Rutherford could deal Ian Cole, but that hardly qualifies as a blockbuster.
Rutherford can move a few complementary pieces around but ultimately, the answer for the Penguins is going to have to come within the locker room as is. - Chris Bradford in Las Vegas
• You heard it again Thursday night with another terse response from Nevada: Mike Sullivan will not accept any kind of questions regarding his team's ability to keep up with quicker opposition. Believe me, I tried to broach the subject after the Leafs sped past the Penguins last Saturday, only to get shot down by Sullivan.
The coach's point seems to be that his team can be plenty fast when they a) make smarter decisions with the puck, and b) go about their business with more urgency. Sullivan ultimately sees the Penguins' pace of play as their biggest competitive advantage. No surprise that he won't concede anything to the press on the matter, even if their team speed appears to be lacking at times. - Matt Gajtka
PIRATES
• It shouldn't come as a surprise that Neal Huntington told reporters Thursday that the Pirates could either retool for the future or try to compete with this core in 2018.
Holding three valuable assets in Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole and Josh Harrison, Huntington has leverage in negotiations. He'll have to receive significant trade offers for any of the three for a trade to happen.
If those talks prove to be fruitless, he can proceed with the original plan, which is to add complementary pieces while finding other ways to create financial flexibility. After all, the type of free agents the Pirates are targeting will likely be on the market until at least the holidays. - Lance Lysowski in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
• According to an industry source, the Pirates informed a few free-agent relief pitchers that they planned to make a roster move that would create a need for a reliever who is capable of handling high-leverage situations.
No, the Pirates aren’t actively shopping Felipe Rivero and they’ll surely hang on to George Kontos, considering his salary. That leads us to Daniel Hudson.
The club would love to shed his $5.5 million salary, from what I heard at the Winter Meetings.
Hudson struggled after signing a two-year deal with the Pirates last offseason, posting a 1.46 WHIP in 61 2/3 innings this season.
He particularly struggled in high-leverage situations, although he was signed to handle the eighth inning. With prices high in free agency, I was told the Pirates are hopeful a team would be willing to take a chance on Hudson, and they are willing to accept a small return. - Lysowski
• Francisco Cervelli was not shopped to other teams. Sure, Huntington would listen to offers — he does for almost every player — but the Pirates view catching as critical to their ability to compete in 2018. Additionally, there is some level of concern that Elias Diaz isn’t quite ready to be an everyday catcher and any trade of Cervelli would likely force the Pirates to absorb a portion of the $22 million he’s owed over the next two seasons or a salary dump similar to the trade of Francisco Liriano. - Lysowski
• Juan Nicasio wanted to return to the Pirates. He loved the players in the clubhouse and is particularly close with Rivero. He also enjoyed his time with the coaching staff. But in the end, the Pirates weren’t going to match his asking price. - Lysowski
RIVERHOUNDS
• The return of Kevin Kerr with a new contract yesterday was both welcome and predicted. Bob Lilley's made clear he didn't want to disrupt the positive aspects of continuity with the team, both on and off the pitch.
But it only takes a glance at the five players signed so far -- Kerr, Romeo Parkes, Chevy Walsh, Kay Banjo and Tobi Adewole -- to see that Lilley, a brilliant defensive coach who's won both USL titles and knocked off MLS competition in U.S. Open Cup, values the Hounds' previous assets a whole lot more up front than in the back. Only Adewole is a defender. Only Kerr is a midfielder, and even he is better up front.
Don't be surprised to see the Rochester pipeline start filling the rest of the roster, particularly in the midfield, where the Hounds have long lacked creativity and speed, in that order. And Christiano Francois will be a fine start, offering a burst down the wing that the Hounds didn't have at all this past summer. - DK