Looking back on last Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans, your first takeaway likely would be that the Pittsburgh Steelers are a hot mess with issues at all levels. QB Kenny Pickett looked frazzled again as a passer prior to leaving the game with a knee injury while the offensive line struggled again to protect him consistently and establish a presence up front in the running game. The pass rush failed to get home against a makeshift Texans’ offensive line while the secondary got torched by rookie QB C.J. Stroud.
Many fans were again calling for the head of OC Matt Canada after Sunday’s 30-6 loss as the play caller made some questionable decisions, including dialing up a pass play that got read like a book by CB Steven Nelson for a pick as well as attempting a pass on fourth and one when the running game was heating up, resulting in Pickett getting sacked and injured.
Many media personalities and analysts have been calling for Canada to get the boot after Pittsburgh’s dismal performance, but former NFL defensive back and current co-host of GMFB on NFL Network Jason McCourty defended Pittsburgh’s coaching staff Wednesday morning, pointing to the players and their lack of effort.
“It’s a different team, and [Peter Schrager], to your point, when you hear a head coach say, ‘A team played harder than us,’ then there is no coaching change,” McCourty said on GMFB. “The change has to come within the players because that is the worst thing that you can say about a game. Usually, no matter how a team plays, a head coach stands up there and says, ‘You know, we fought hard, but we weren’t prepared,’ or whatever the case may be. But when you are not playing hard, that’s a different level.”
QB Mitch Trubisky said after the game that the offense needs to show more heart, taking more pride in the product it puts out there as the results have been poor thus far. When asked about Trubisky’s comments yesterday during his press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin said that he thinks it’s not necessarily a lack of heart, but rather that it’s a matter of playing hard and that Pittsburgh showed a lack of that Sunday in Houston.
The coaches shouldn’t be abstained for their sins as it’s their job to prepare this football team for battle on a weekly basis, putting them in position to succeed with good schemes, play calls, development of fundamentals, and the implementation of culture and mindset throughout the organization. Tomlin preaches about playing “Pittsburgh Steelers football” but hasn’t been consistent himself in holding his players accountable when they don’t reach that standard.
Still, as the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
It’s up to the players to ultimately apply that coaching and meet those expectations the coaching staff has for them out on the field. The coaches may want it badly for the players, but ultimately, they need to execute on the field and demonstrate that they are the tougher team. Pittsburgh has struggled to show that consistently to start the season, and can either wallow in it, or commit to changing it.
The players need to start executing better and display more toughness than what we’ve seen the first few weeks, but the coaches also must be held accountable to holding players accountable to achieve such change, doing their part where they have a sound game plan to give Pittsburgh‘s players every opportunity to be successful.
