For most of this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the NFL’s best teams. That has not been the case recently. The Steelers have played ugly football for the past three weeks. At times against the Kansas City Chiefs, it looked like they didn’t have any fight left. They look like a totally different team. At this point, Alex Highsmith knows the pressure is on the Steelers.
“It’s gotta be a want-to,” Highsmith said after the game via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Twitter. “There’s not enough of that right now. There’s gotta be a want-to, and it’s that time of the year where we got two guaranteed games left.
“We’re gonna find out who wants this. Everybody in this room gotta want it. That’s the only way we’re gonna move on, we’re gonna get better. We just gotta put down our head and work, but we gotta want it.”
Those are strong words from Highsmith. It’s not like he’s calling any one player out, but his message is similar to the one Patrick Queen delivered after last week’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers’ defense is supposed to be the best in the league, but lately, they’ve looked disjointed and lost.
There was some hope that they would look better with players like DeShon Elliott returning, but that was not the case. Against the Chiefs, there were multiple instances of players being wide open. It seems like that’s more miscommunication plaguing their defense.
Travis Kelce’s touchdown stands out as a prime example. There were multiple plays where Kelce, one of the greatest tight ends of all time and the Chiefs’ best pass-catcher, was wide open. There’s no excuse for the Steelers’ defense to lose a player of his caliber. Near the endzone, eyes have to be on players like Kelce.
The Steelers assured everyone that their defenses communication issues would be fixed, but that just was not the case. Highsmith is correct that those issues need to stop as soon as possible. The Steelers don’t have much time left to make corrections.
Next week will mark their final regular season game, and then they’ll have at least one playoff game after that. If they want to not be one-and-done in the postseason, they need to use this upcoming break to regroup. The Steelers’ defense is too talented to look like this.
