It doesn’t seem as though bi-weekly pow-wows have really helped the Pittsburgh Steelers come together, at least on the field. They are still quite an undisciplined unit with repeated unforced errors in terms of alignment and assignment, pre-snap penalties, and poor post-snap communication.
All of that has to fall on the head of the coaching staff, right? Well, not if you ask someone who played. One of the chief concerns that former Steelers players seem to have, for example, is what is lacking within the locker room. “It’s not even close” to how it used to be, former Steelers OL Trai Essex told Kevin Adams on the Steel Here podcast, speaking about the team leadership, adding that it’s more on the offense.
“We got the guys on defense in T.J. [Watt] and Cam [Heyward] and Minkah [Fitzpatrick], but even still, I think the way they lead, it seems different”, he allowed. “We don’t have any alphas, no dogs, nobody that’s gonna get in your face and put you in your place and say, ‘You’re not doing what we need to do. You’re not holding up your end of the bargain’”.
A 2005 third-round pick, Essex over the course of his career played with everybody from Alan Faneca to Maurkice Pouncey, with the likes of Hines Ward, Marvel Smith, and Willie Colon in between, all of whom he listed by name in talking about the leaders the offense used to have.
“There was always somebody that if a position group was lacking, there was somebody in that room that’d be like, ‘You know what, get your shit together, man’”, he said.
And if you look at this current roster, particularly on offense, and you’re really honest with yourself, in whom are you confident that he is supplying that level of accountability? While everybody seems to look upon QB Kenny Pickett as a leader, it doesn’t seem as though he is quite there yet.
RB Najee Harris is supposed to be one of the leaders, as well, and sometimes more than others he might actually sound like it. He has repeatedly called for meetings this season to try to get everybody on the same page, but it doesn’t seem to have worked.
In terms of personality, this current offensive line doesn’t have that “alpha” player, at least not yet. Perhaps rookie first-round pick Broderick Jones can be one of those dogs—he was a Georgia Bulldog, after all—but I don’t think we have that in Mason Cole or Dan Moore Jr. Perhaps Isaac Seumalo to some degree, but he is in his first season here.
At wide receiver, you ostensibly have Allen Robinson II, but he is more of an uncle than a father figure, a veteran past his prime who is around to share sage advice. It doesn’t seem as though his efforts are working to keep George Pickens composed and focused—nor Diontae Johnson, for that matter, who should be much more of a leader than he is.
