Leaders come in many different shapes, styles and sizes. There are loud ones who never stop talking. There are quiet ones who rely on their actions entirely and there are those that fall somewhere in between. With Cameron Heyward still out with his groin injury I have to ask, where is the leadership on this Pittsburgh Steelers’ team?
I feel confident when I say that Heyward is an excellent leader both on and off the field. He’s exactly what you want if you’re the owner, general manager or head coach of a franchise. But when he’s seemingly the only one – and he’s been injured for most of the season – the leadership void has to be filled by someone. Currently, I don’t see anyone stepping up to the plate.
Where is the guy who walks over to George Pickens and tells him to “knock this immature shit off?” Where is the guy who brings the entire offense over after four straight three and outs and demands better from the unit? Was there a single Steeler who saw the Jacksonville Jaguars celebrating an interception with our Terrible Towel? I miss the days when a Joey Porter would have likely raced across the field to confront said player.
Of all people on the offense, Mason Cole tried to be a leader on Sunday. He saw his quarterback, Kenny Pickett, racing towards the Jags’ sideline. He was shoved out of bounds and then he slipped. Cole believed there was more to it than that and ran over to ‘get after’ the guy who he thought had done it. What Cole thought he’d seen didn’t actually happen but I’ll say this much for him, at least he was showing some of the leadership this team lacks.
For as wonderful as T.J. Watt is as a player, I’m honestly not real sure what kind of leader he is. I’m not saying he isn’t a leader, I guess I would just like to see it more often. As quickly as the officials are handing out 15-yarders against the defense these days maybe Watt needs to lose his shit and get after an opponent and to hell with the consequences.
This team needs to play angry more often, especially on offense. I hoped Isaac Seumalo would be the guy to bring that type of attitude and maybe he does at times but there just isn’t enough ‘like-mindedness’ around him. With such a young group overall, leadership is hard to come by on the offense. We see it from Kenny Pickett often times late in games but where is that earlier? Pickett has to connect on these early throws and build his confidence while doing the same for his offense.
Leadership alone will not suddenly cure what ails this team, but I know for one thing, it can’t hurt. It would just be nice to see from more than just one guy.
