Following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ third straight loss on Saturday to the Indianapolis Colts, WR Diontae Johnson broke the unwritten rule in a postgame interview shown on KDKA. He acknowledged that the offense must make more plays, but said the defense was “leaking.” Rarely do you see a player talk about the other side of the ball, but Johnson went there and risks raising tensions in the locker room because of it. Former Steelers DL Chris Hoke spoke about this on KDKA’s Extra Point after the game.
“That’s why there’s no leadership on offense,” he said. “I played 11 seasons with the Steelers, and we had some bad games at times. We never called each other out. We never said this defense was leaking. There’s been a lot of times that the offense couldn’t get a first down and the Steelers’ defense bailed them out and won games for them and they never went out and said, ‘Hey, the offense was leaking’…For him to say that is the definition of why this Steelers team has no leadership on offense.”
Johnson is one of the longest-tenured players on the Steelers’ offense. Of the 11 starters, six are on rookie contracts and four are external free agents who signed with the team over the last two offseasons. That leaves Johnson as the lone offensive starter has been in Pittsburgh for longer than one contract, and he is among the highest paid on that side of the ball. His status as a veteran in the locker room should mean he knows better than to point fingers, especially to the other side of the ball on defense.
QB Kenny Pickett is the offense’s captain and players have pointed to RB Najee Harris, C Mason Cole, and WR Allen Robinson II as the leaders people look to on that side of the ball. The only issue is, Pickett is injured and is still trying to get his feet underneath him in the NFL and the other three haven’t consistently played winning football.
“Some of the guys you’re going to look to, who would be your leaders, have not played leadership-type quality football,” Hoke said. “When I played for the Steelers we had guys [like] Hines Ward. If you want to be in this league for 10-plus years and you want to be productive like him look at Hines Ward. Do what he does.”
It has become a glaring issue for this team. There are no been-there-done-that type of players that are both playing quality football and exhibiting leadership qualities to the group. Or, as Hoke said, “There’s no type of player on offense right now that these young guys and Coach [Mike] Tomlin can point to and say, ‘Follow him. Do what he does.'”
That is a difficult fix, but one that will need to be examined in the offseason. Even if it means bringing in a highly respected veteran off someone else’s roster who has a proven track record as a high performer and leader.
