The Pittsburgh Steelers have seen their fair share of drama, especially during the days of Antonio Brown. But even then, they’ve usually run a fairly tight ship. While the Steelers are mostly drama-free currently, other teams are seeing serious issues pop up during the offseason. The Dallas Cowboys are one such team, and they may also be the most universally disliked NFL team, That makes their issues that much more fun to watch, especially for Steelers fans who remember Pittsburgh’s loss to them in Super Bowl XXX. One former Steelers receiver broke down the Cowboys’ problem and explained why matters like these make being a Steeler so much different.
Recently Cowboys safety Malik Hooker insinuated that teammate Micah Parsons is more concerned with podcasting than playing football. Parsons then took to Twitter to fire back at Hooker, creating more drama. Former Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress discussed this issue on his podcast, Up On Game.
“This would never happen in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room. These things would never happen because everybody is their own leader,” Burress said. “If you got a problem with somebody, it’s gonna get addressed. That is how we governed our football team. You got a problem with somebody, whatever they’re doing, if they ain’t out there giving effort that you think they should be playing with, we address you to your face as a grown man in Pittsburgh. That’s the difference between playing in a locker room with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants versus the Dallas Cowboys.”
Burress is correct that, most of the time, Steelers players have handled issues between each other internally, not taking to Twitter or a podcast to take shots at each other. There are exceptions, like when Martavis Bryant took shots at Sammie Coates on Twitter after the Steelers drafted JuJu Smith-Schuster. But even then, the matter was resolved quickly and didn’t seriously escalate. When the Steelers have had a player create too many issues, they haven’t been afraid to cut ties. Brown and Bryant both got traded, showing everyone that the Steelers have no interest in being reality television.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, love media attention. Ever since they accepted the title of “America’s Team” — after the Steelers rejected it — they’ve yearned for the spotlight. Perhaps no team in all of American sports is bigger than the Cowboys for that reason. However, that much attention can be a bad thing. When problems between teammates go public like this, they can become twisted and magnified before anyone knows what’s happening. Suddenly, a team with Super Bowl aspirations is watching everything crumble around it. There are reasons Mike Tomlin likes to keep the Steelers low profile.
The Steelers will play the Cowboys in Week 5 of this season, so if they want to keep fighting each other, that will only benefit Pittsburgh more. The Steelers going into a game and not being the team surrounded by drama in the media would be a welcome thing. While there were hints of issues involving Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph last year, players never went to the media to express their frustration publicly. The standard is the standard, and for the Steelers, that means handling locker room business in the locker room. They may have dealt with more drama than Burress lets on, but they still aren’t as much of a circus as the Cowboys.
