Chase Claypool’s been the most talked about Steeler over the past few days. It hasn’t been for any good reasons, as he made multiple notable mistakes in the Thursday night loss.
Claypool was benched after a forgettable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the first quarter. That meant more tick for James Washington, who talked about Claypool on Monday.
“I think he just kind of lost track of what was going on in the game,” Washington said via the team’s official website. “It was just a mistake on his part and I’m sure he owns up to it and realizes it. We haven’t talked with him, but it’s one of those things that we just got to move forward and continue to regroup as a team.”
Claypool had a bit of a mixed response in talking about Thursday night’s incidents. While partially admitting fault, he reiterated that the referees should’ve called a penalty for Eric Kendricks punching the ball away.
After seeing 98% of the snaps in Week 12 against the Bengals, Claypool’s snap counts have decreased immensely in the last two weeks. He’s been on the field for 63% and 60% of the team’s offensive snaps in the past two games.
The nature of the Week 12 game certainly led to more passing downs, meaning more snaps for Claypool. With that being said, it seems the Steelers’ coaching staff is running out of patience with the second-year wideout.
“Coaches have talked to us about [those sort of moments]. It’s just one of those common sense deals, but when you’re in the moment, guys make mistakes and do things. It was a costly deal for us, but at the end of the day, we’re still a team.”
These latest actions only add to Claypool’s up-and-down season. He’s missed time due to injury and had the heavily criticized “music” comments a few weeks ago, as well.
He did manage to have eight catches for 93 yards against the Vikings. Between his inconsistencies and his costly, ill-advised mistakes though, Week 15 is a big one for Claypool.
