The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive players were unhappy with their performance after their third straight loss in Week 17 to the Kansas City Chiefs, and numerous players, including DeShon Elliott, called out teammates for missed assignments and mistakes in the third straight game that was marred by communication errors. While Elliott said he regrets calling guys out, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin had no problem with his players venting.
“I would much rather have them be emotional and be upset about things not going their way than not giving a shit. Our guys give a shit. So to me, that’s important, that’s an important thing to have. And that tells me that they want to get it right, and they’re not satisfied with it going the way it is. So I’m perfectly fine with that” Austin said via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter. “Out of that frustration, I think we can find some prosperity.
It was the first game of the three-game losing streak that Elliott played after missing the prior two with injury, and players got a little testy after the loss to the Ravens, with Patrick Queen vocal and calling out teammates for not doing their job. Poor communication defensively has been the Steelers’ biggest issue over their three-game losing streak, and with it continuing at home against the Chiefs, Elliott was rightfully upset. It would be a bad sign if players didn’t care about the issues and were passive about the issues defensively. That would really be a sign of a fractured locker room.
While calling teammates out (no one was named) might not look great, sometimes tough love is needed, and it’s a good sign that the Steelers want to fix and think they can fix their poor defensive performances.
Austin detailed how the Steelers plan to get back on track after their rough defensive stretch.
“It’s not gonna be changing and moving a whole bunch of different things and doing a whole bunch of new things at this point. It’s going to be reinforcing things that you do well and making sure that we do them well,” Austin said via video from Chris Adamski of TribLive.
With just one week left in the regular season, there really isn’t much of an opportunity to make sweeping changes. The defense has been a strength for much of the season, and Austin and the Steelers need to get back to finding what’s worked for them and figure out their issues so they can return to playing the brand of football they did earlier this season. Figuring out the root cause of the missed assignments and issues communicating is going to be key, and the Steelers have to work on that so they don’t let QB Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals torch them.
While it’s too late to make any sort of significant changes, they’re also just not needed because the Steelers have shown they can be an elite defense. Getting back in the lab with a few extra days off between Week 17 and Week 18 should be beneficial, but their performance in Week 18 will show if they’ve truly figured out how to return to form, which they need to do ahead of the postseason.
