Everyone wants a scapegoat right now. The Pittsburgh Steelers are struggling. Their season is literally hanging by a thread. Their best player went on the Covid-19 list today and all anyone in Steeler Nation wants to do is talk about who is to blame. Very seldom does a team’s failure sit with one specific area. It’s a combination of things as it with the Steelers right now but maybe it’s the players themselves who need to look in the mirror.
At some point, players have to be accountable. You can’t blame coaches, you can’t blame the general manager and you can’t blame the owner for everything. There will be plenty of time for that when the season ends. Players are the ones who block and tackle. Players are the ones who go up and get balls. Players are the ones who execute the gameplan. Through 12 weeks of the 2021 season, the players aren’t doing any of these things.
There are of course isolated cases of positivity. Najee Harris plays as hard as anyone and the same can be said for T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward and perhaps a few others but can every player say that? Not a chance. It’s one thing to get beaten by the guy across from you simply because he is better. It’s another to be beaten simply because you’re being out-worked.
Go back and watch yesterday’s game if you dare. You’ll see what I’m talking about. There are instances of players who were bested by better players but there are moments where attitude and effort just aren’t there. Isn’t this the Pittsburgh Steelers? How in the hell does this happen?
Two weeks ago, Joe Schobert made the comment that “the team needs to be serious” about practice. Today, Minkah Fitzpatrick pretty much said the same thing. Correct me if I’m wrong but the opposite of ‘serious’ is uncommitted, half-hearted and even flippant. Players can’t allow themselves to be this way. I’ll have plenty of things to say about the coaches and front office when this season ends but professional athletes have to police themselves and it’s apparent to me no one is doing that.
Former Steelers Ryan Clark and Chris Hoke both blasted the Steelers today and it wasn’t Tomlin or Keith Butler or Kevin Colbert that was in their sights. It was the players. Clark called them “soft” and both guys said no one fears them as they’ve lost their once dominant physicality that was feared throughout the league. I guarantee you that doesn’t sit well with the Heyward’s and Watt’s of this current defense.
It’s my hope that those two, along with Ben Roethlisberger start holding themselves and their teammates more accountable. A look in the mirror can sometimes lead to revealing truths about ourselves and there are a lot of Steelers right now that could use that.
