The Pittsburgh Steelers defense isn’t happy with their recent performance, and they’ve been calling each other out for not doing their job, which has shown itself in communication issues over their last three losses. LB Patrick Queen, who’s been one of the most vocal in calling out issues, said that he and others calling out the defense isn’t anything personal. It’s just a byproduct of the team knowing how good they can be and wanting them to play to their full potential.
“I just know, I know what this team could be. I know what this defense could be with the players that we got. So anytime you see any of that going on, it’s just ’cause we care. It’s never personal, it’s never trying to be a sore thumb in anything. I think it’s just us going out there ’cause we really care. We really want to win. We know how good our defense could be, we know how good this team could be if our defense is at a hundred,” Queen said via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter.
Queen said the group reinforced that they need and want to do their job in a team meeting.
“Just the same thing with the preseason, guys just gotta do their job and you gotta want to do it. And it’s just that simple,” Queen said via The Pat McAfee Show’s Mark Kaboly on Twitter. “We just gotta all lock in together.”
While no one in particular has been called out, Kaboly said he thought that the players wanted to say something about somebody specific after the loss to the Chiefs, where the communication issues continued even after Queen said something after the loss to the Ravens. Calling somebody out publicly by name does nothing except fracture the locker room, and whoever is at fault for the brunt of the issues likely knows it and is being talked to privately by coaches and defensive leaders.
While the Steelers have played three really talented opponents, they haven’t helped themselves with the poor communication that’s led to wide-open receivers, chunk plays and easy touchdowns. It’s something that has to get cleaned up if the Steelers want to have any success in the postseason, and saying something publicly can reinforce the importance of needing to fix things. But it’s something that’s mostly going to be handled privately, and the Steelers know the importance of cleaning things up.
Mike Tomlin said the same thing as Queen about players bickering being because they care. Hopefully that care shows through with real change coming in Week 18 and beyond for Pittsburgh’s defense.
