Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Arthur Maulet made headlines directly after the Steelers embarrassing 38-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Orchard Park Sunday after media members caught him venting his frustration at teammates.
Maulet’s frustration with his teammates is that he saw them laughing and smiling despite the score of the game Sunday, something that Maulet does not believe is acceptable. Days after that moment, he spoke with the media, telling the Pittsburgh Trubine-Review’s Joe Rutter:
“We lost by 30,” Maulet told Rutter. “You’re not supposed to be happy about that. I reminded guys to find your why, find why you love this game and use that for your motivation.”
Maulet is right. Seeing teammates on the bench laughing and having a good time when the team is suffering their worst loss since 1989 is not only disheartening, but also concerning.
Some people may wonder why a player like Maulet had an outburst and not a star player or established leader like Cameron Heyward or Minkah Fitzpatrick, but that is missing the point. Leadership can come from anywhere on a team; it doesn’t matter if it is the long snapper or the quarterback, anyone can be a leader. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, Maulet has been a high-energy, high-effort player trying to raise the locker room standard.
Rutter noted that Maulet said no one took exception to his outburst and that it was understood by his teammates in the locker room.
The question now is if his outburst invokes a reaction from the Steelers this Sunday. A win seems like a long shot just based on the talent disparity between the Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but similar to Maulet, fans want to see more fight from Pittsburgh.
Blowout losses for bad teams are not uncommon, but the way those teams bounce back from them is what shows their mettle. Can the loss to Buffalo bring Pittsburgh closer together and lead to them being a better team as the season continues, or will it end up splitting the locker room more as some guys check out while others, like Arthur Maulet, give it their all for 60 minutes each week?
