There’s been plenty of criticism for the Pittsburgh Steelers after getting bumped out of the playoffs on their first try. The negative press that’s coming out either from players or media: David DeCastro’s comments about the team not being focused, Mike Tomlin taking over Keith Butler’s job, Le’Veon Bell being late for walkthroughs and the game.
All of it adds up to on theme: overconfidence. But Vince Williams says he doesn’t think it was the issue.
“I don’t think there’s a such things as being overconfident when you’re as talented as we are,” Williams told reporters via the team website. “When you have an amazing offense and amazing defense, statistically speaking, I don’t think you can be overconfident.”
He also said he felt players had complete focus on Jacksonville and that the distractions created existed only outside of the locker room.
“I’m definitely satisfied with it. Some things came out in the media but that was misrepresented. I feel like we got it cleared up. I think we had our eyes on the prize. We just didn’t get it done. Dropped the ball.”
Clearly though, some Steelers seem to disagree with that assessment. It was DeCastro expressing frustration about some players mentioning New England. Here’s what he said right after the Jaguars’ loss.
“It’s embarrassing. It really is. It just blows my mind. They beat us 30-9, we played like crap, and we want to talk about New England. It’s just stupid. It’s just now what you do. You don’t need to give a team like that more bulletin board material.”
To most, a quieter locker room in 2018 would do the team a lot of good. But Williams thinks in a way, the daily soap opera made the team closer.
“We had a great year in spite of all that adversity. To be honest with you, I kind of think it helped with the continuity of this team. Because we had so much we had to overcome, we had to come together.”
But if things can be a little less drama free next year, I think we’d all be better off for it.
