After the Christmas Day shellacking that the Pittsburgh Steelers took at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs at Acrisure Stadium, some of the comments coming out of their locker room were rather pointed and concerning.
Veteran safety DeShon Elliott ripped into the defense, stating that players just weren’t doing their “fricking jobs” leading to guys running wide open for the Chiefs. Team captain Cameron Heyward said that when 10 guys do their jobs and one doesn’t, “we’re screwed.”
Even linebacker and green dot wearer Patrick Queen stated that nobody seemed interested in doing something about the communication issues and the inability to execute properly.
Fortunately for the Steelers, they were able to get a mini-bye week and get away from the game a bit, regrouping and working out the communication issues. Now, everyone seems to be on the same page entering the final week of the regular season as the Steelers get set to host the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday night at 8 PM/ET.
For veteran outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, the meeting the Steelers had Thursday after the loss to the Chiefs was good because everything was aired out and transparent. Now, the Steelers are aiming to block out of all the negativity and just play football.
“Yeah, I mean, just sticking together, just drowning out any negativity that’s out there,” Highsmith said of how the Steelers proceed, according to video via Steelers.com. “And just really just sticking together and just putting our head down and working, ’cause that’s all we can do at this point. You know, we’ve lost those three games. It sucks. It sucks. No one wants to lose three games in a row.
“But ultimately, we just gotta put our heads down and work and just desire to get better.”
That’s really all the Steelers can do at this point. This late in the season in Week 18, the communication issues shouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they are happening and there’s not enough time on the practice field or in the classroom to get them fully ironed out.
It’s up to the players to get on the same page, and on the coaches to simplify things.
The last three games have been brutal. That they’ve occurred in just an 11-day span amplifies things. There really wasn’t much time to focus on the issue and correct it between games because of the lack of downtime (thanks, NFL). But now the Steelers have had that chance to regroup.
Things are negative right now and the Steelers appear down, going from in charge of the AFC North to now likely playing for Wild Card seeding. It’s a real shame.
For Highsmith, though, the Steelers just cannot listen to the negativity or buy into it despite their play creating that negativity.
“Yeah, we can’t get engulfed by that. Like I said, we just gotta rally around each other in, in this locker room and know the guys that we have in this locker room and know the talent that we have,” Highsmith added. “You know, we got the team to do it. And so I think just at practice, too, and just being really detailed every single snap, whether it’s, even if you’re not in, just be locked in mentally on the sidelines and just be really detailed.”
Highsmith is spot-on that the Steelers can’t get engulfed by it. Words were said, things were worked out and everyone was transparent and accountable. That shows the players care and are together as a team.
What they can’t do is let media attention and comments seep in. It’s all about the Bengals right now. Treat it like a playoff game and be diligent in your preparation. That’s the way forward. There is no magic button to press to fix the issues. It comes down to the players and sticking together, working together.
They seem to have the right mindset right now. Hopefully it translates onto the field on gameday.
