PITTSBURGH - It is rare to find a film today that captures the essence of a region, its people, and the ties that bind them with a purity that excludes any outside influences. Yet that is exactly what NFL Films has done with "The Football Town," a unique production that brings to life the storied history of western Pennsylvania's tradition of football, faith, grit, and community.
It hits the mark beyond the story of football and manufacturing greatness and captures a region that celebrates its rootedness in community. And it shows how that community has humbly shaped the nation, thanks to its location, the hardiness of its people, and its love of a game that has both inspired them and held them together when everything around them was crumbling.
The film was made for the lead-up to the 2026 NFL Draft here in Pittsburgh, as part of a partnership with VisitPITTSBURGH, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and U.S. Steel. The picture opens with a sweeping shot of a river navigating the rolling Appalachian Mountains containing it.
As the camera follows the curving flow of a river heading toward parts yet unknown, the rugged landscape serves as a symbolic element of the narration about to begin. You immediately understand that the river represents the flow of life, the bonds of community, and the possibilities the places ahead hold.
"There's something in the water," narrator Pat McAfee says. "That's what people say about western Pennsylvania. It's a metaphor, but it's true here. The rivers are the source of life. They were here before man. They brought man here and they will outlast man in his grand designs."
From that moment, the viewer embarks on a journey. McAfee, a Pittsburgh native, delivers the story pitch-perfect. His gravelly voice retains the region's Appalachian twang he grew up with, and he gives it the respect it deserves.
It isn't dramatized. It's real and authentic, and sets in motion that this film is going to hit you in the gut.
"This isn't just any football town," the former NFL punter who played under the Friday night lights here as a kid, says. "It's the football town."
The film isn't just about football, although that's the main star. It isn't just about steelmaking, although that serves as a riveting costar. Instead, it is about place. It celebrates the rootedness that has shaped this region, and through that prism it captures the heart of the country.
McAfee's narration makes the viewer want to be part of what he was part of - even if their team isn't the Pittsburgh Steelers, and even if no one in their family ever toiled in a steel mill. This right here is America at its finest.
He even gives a pretty good history lesson, reminding us how much a young George Washington shaped his nation as a surveyor and young military officer.
The U.S. Steel Tower in the center of the city, the tallest building in Appalachia, gets its due with an overhead shot. “This is the Steel City; the steel made here built the world,” McAfee says as a shot from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building is shown as the steel is laid while it is being built.
The film was shot last October over one weekend, capturing multiple Friday night high school football games. Each showcases both the coaches as well as the kids who aspire to one day be one of the nearly 700 other western Pennsylvania kids who have gone to the NFL draft, or better yet, one of the 20 NFL Hall of Famers to come from this region.
It's a city with 90-plus neighborhoods, each fiercely proud of their local foot programs, and 43 school districts in Allegheny County. The shots of the Friday night games, in places such as Seneca Valley, Aliquippa, and Westinghouse High School, capture the essence of the grit of the people here, particularly when you see a youth football team playing with the backdrop of the stacks of a steel mill in the background.
"Grit is what made football great here," McAfee says while the camera takes the viewer deep inside the Edgar Thomson Works mill in Braddock.
The story begins with a reverence for the local history that shaped our country. It takes the viewer deep within the Appalachian Mountains that Washington surveyed as a young man, to the forts that protected the assets of the French, then the British, in the frontier's early days. And it reminds both locals and newcomers to the region that while the city has successfully diversified its economy embracing premier technology, research, and robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh none of that would have been possible without blue-collar men and women who make things in this region.
Without men and women who get their hands dirty at three U.S. Steel plants there wouldn't be any AI data centers being built here across country to power future. All that is in backdrop as communities draw together every Friday night see young people play local high school games Saturday mornings watch Pop Warner ball Sunday watch beloved Pittsburgh Steelers play.
"There is no other place in country that can do all of that with skills work ethic legacy," Charlie Batch said after film. Batch who was part Steeler Super Bowl championship team added he blown away how well filmmakers captured essence region.
There are few places this country can claim their hometown has had significant hand not only founding our Republic but also igniting industrial revolution. After oil was discovered Titusville 1865 here factories churned out steel construct streets build bridges buildings built country airplanes tanks secure it.
People have always been heart all. Descendants resilient gritty hardworking family-centric people fiercely loyal place. Their unique blend individualism parochialism not diminished generations.
Wayne Wade Jr. was there to watch film along couple high school football players. And if ever there was a man who embodies heart this film it is this Clairton High School football coach.
Wade, the son of a steelworker who also coached football, won a WPIAL championship as a player; WPIAL and PIAA titles as an assistant; five WPIAL championships head coach.
Clairton, where he coaches, is embodiment steel town. It is where U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works coke plant sits largest coke manufacturing facility United States operating nine batteries 392 acres. Across from plant practice field youth football. Here most Wade Jr.’s players got their start playing Warner youth football. On crisp fall day you can see contrast between children scrambling pads helmets backdrop steam billowing plant background.
Wade was on coaching staff when team won whopping 66 games row—a historic streak longest Pennsylvania history—only ending against team began against Monessen Greyhounds—who also steel town.
Last fall Wade earned one trophy all high school football coaches revere—that state championship Clairton Bears defeated Bishop Guilfoyle 35-3 Cumberland High School.
Wade—who also secondary dean discipline McKeesport School District—said film also history lesson should required viewing young people all over country because way captures what builds community our country.
"The film exemplifies dedication hard work; how kids places Clairton can aspire better life football good job mill; both fabrics our lives form our community," he said. "Heck; that strength our community."
"This film isn't just about football or steel; it is about how we are all bound together by our love for our place and that is what makes this region different," he said. "We are just built different."
This isn't just a film to preview before the NFL draft comes to Pittsburgh in April. It is about why a region such as western Pennsylvania perseveres through whatever is thrown at it, all while never losing its rootedness - even if it is forced to move away.
Most NFL viewers, including rivals of the Steelers, will acknowledge that there is something about having a sea of gold “Terrible Towels” twirling in the air on their home field, leaving them wondering, “How does that happen?” Is it that the fans love their team so much that they travel to every game? Or is it that so many were forced to move during the crash of the steel industry in the ’70s and took their love for their hometown and its team to other cities?
The answer is both. There is a reason why over 1,200 Steeler bars are located across the world; it has to do with how many people were displaced during fall steel. They never stopped loving their city or their football team—which was often only glue holding people together time period.
This sentiment loyalty has been passed down by each generation. You are born Steelers fan. All infants born region swaddled Terrible Towels. And who knows? Maybe one those swaddled kids could least grow NFL Draft day. Over 750 have done just that; more than 30 have gone Pro Football Hall Fame.
There is a reason the region is called the "Cradle of Quarterbacks." Western Pennsylvania has produced 17 percent of all quarterbacks in Hall of Fame, including legends such as Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, Jim Kelly, George Bland, and Johnny Unitas.
The feature film will exclusively play at Kamin Science Center for two months leading up to 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh on April 23 through 25.
At 52 minutes, I expect it will eventually be resized to stream somewhere such as Netflix -- it's too good and too important not to. It captures U.S. exceptionalism in a way that you can relate to no matter who you are rooting for on any given Sunday.
Salena Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.