Even after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12, the team found itself with drama after questions concerning Diontae Johnson’s effort on the play Jaylen Warren fumbled in the first half of the game.
Johnson took accountability for the mistake, and now it’s time to move on. The locker room has his back, with RB Najee Harris talking about the importance of sticking together as a team and ignoring the outside noise.
“There’s a bond, and if we break up as a team then we lost. If you guys write the stuff that you guys write, and it can be whatever it wants, but if we lose each other, then we lost. So it’s more of just the trust in each other and knowing that nothing can break what we got in the room,” Harris said via Jeff Hathhorn of 93.7 The Fan on Twitter.
Harris was a captain last season, so he’s a player that the team trusts in the locker room. He’s frequently talked about the importance of sticking together and ignoring the outside noise dating back to last season. Even with the Steelers now in a better spot at 7-4, the outside noise still follows them. Especially after the team fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada and numerous players, including Harris, spoke out about the state of the team after the Steelers’ loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 12, it goes to show that even though their record is good, it can’t always be sunshine and roses.
All that matters is that the locker room stays together. Johnson and S Minkah Fitzpatrick got into it after the loss to Cleveland, an incident that captain DL Cameron Heyward downplayed, and sometimes an incident like that can help bring a group together. A good team is like a family, and there isn’t a family in the world that doesn’t fight from time to time. The Steelers just have to focus on growing closer as a group and winning games, and it sounds as if that’s the case and will be going forward.
It’s not a locker room lacking in leadership. Harris, Heyward, T.J. Watt and Fitzpatrick are all veterans who, either silently or vocally, know how to lead and motivate. Harris knows the importance of keeping things in-house and ignoring the outside noise and turmoil, and that’s what the Steelers are going to have to do and will do going forward. Sometimes, struggles can bring a group closer, as Harris said what happened with Pittsburgh last season.
All focus is now on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, and the Steelers are going to look to quell doubts about their offense being unsustainable after putting up 421 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals.
