Losing in the NFL is always a bitter pill to swallow. All the work and preparation leading into the week, the blood and sweat on gameday, just to lose a game and sit in it for the next week until you get to try again. Though the Pittsburgh Steelers are, on paper, still in a good position, 6-4 and the seventh seed in the AFC, the frustration of a team no longer able to sustain its ugly winning ways is felt in that locker room.
In a YouTube short from Browns reporter Jimmy Watkins, he explained what he saw, and more importantly what he felt, inside the Steelers’ locker room following the game.
“His players are frustrated to a level that suggests it’s not just the Browns defense,” Watkins said, referencing Mike Tomlin’s comment that the offense struggled because of how good Cleveland is. “Diontae Johnson is aggressively waving off the media as they try to start a scrum around his locker after the game. George Pickens very short with the media. Can’t get into what’s actually going on with the offense. And Najee Harris, I could barely hear Najee Harris, but I know he said some very inflammatory things about the offense.”
Harris was candid with the media after the game, as much as any player was in the locker room, questioning the Steelers’ ability to sustain and win ugly as they have all season long. Low-scoring slugfests by the slimmest of margins. A path that can win games in the regular season but unlikely to last, especially late in the year and certainly if the team makes the playoffs where scoring more than 14 points will be required to advance.
Johnson did not speak with the media but took to Twitter to respond to one user who claimed he ran the wrong route in a critical part of the game. Johnson refuted the idea but the levels of miscommunication the offense had yesterday was off the charts, regardless of who there is to specifically blame.
Pittsburgh’s frustrations stem from more than a tough loss to Cleveland. It comes from a defense trying to prop up the offense, an anchor around their ankles dragging them down, and a passing attack unable to cobble together anything despite having one of the NFL’s strongest running games over the past month. Perhaps, and this is speculatory, there’s frustration over QB Kenny Pickett and Mike Tomlin’s habit of blaming circumstances around him instead of Pickett himself, who should draw large responsibility for the Steelers’ offensive struggles. He’s the quarterback, he’s the first-round pick, and he’s not making any plays.
Watkins then offered a gut-punch with this comment.
“It’s usually the Browns’ locker room that’s like this after games,” he said. “Now it’s Pittsburgh’s.”
Cleveland was the team of chaos for years, churning through quarterbacks and head coaches at record rates. Pittsburgh isn’t at that level of instability, but the locker room might be reaching a boiling point. Beating Cincinnati would go a long way to settle things down, though it’s a Band-Aid and not a cure to what plagues this franchise.
