Ryan Shazier says Mike Tomlin and members of the Steelers organization would show up to his rehab sessions to support him after his spinal injury left him paralyzed, and says his teammates would come to his hospital room every friday night to eat pizza and play cards “Yeah, and so that's the one thing I do like about my time in Pittsburgh, and even at Ohio State. We really build friendships, and we build a chemistry. Guys really want to support each other, and we all just wanted to win.” “As I was getting better, I would go to the facility. But when I had rehab, I'd tell Coach Tomlin, Kevin, and Mr. Rooney, ‘Hey, I'm having therapy today. If you guys have time, I just want to let you know.’ And sometimes they'd show up. It was awesome. It would be cool just to see that, as I was going through the toughest time in my life, those people were there for me.” “They had my back. And when we had the linebackers, when you're in the hospital so long, it can be very depressing. So they'd come in there, and we'd just have a Friday night where we'd all chop it up, play cards, have pizza, and just hang out.” “I think it really built our friendship with a lot of those guys. But then I think it also made it a little easier for them to play together and understand responsibilities and family bonds. Because they're great people over there, and not a lot of people do that.” “Some of my friends that played on other teams tell me all the time, ‘Man, a lot of teams would not have done what the Steelers have done.’ And to me, I always say, because people always tell me, ‘Ryan, I don't know what I would've done if I was in your situation.’ And I'm like, most people, when they're in that type of situation, they try to step up. Most people just don't think they will. But I'm just really happy to see that the Steelers did in that situation.”