The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost three straight games in 11 days, taking their record from 10-3 to 10-6 in the blink of an eye- and this constant losing seems to be boiling over into something much bigger.
After the 29-10 Christmas day loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, multiple members of the Steelers’ defense not-so-subtly called out an unnamed player. Safety DeShon Elliott was very blunt with his words.
“First off, guys can’t be wide f*cking open,” Elliott said. “That’s the first thing. Do your job… it’s [Week 17]. We shouldn’t be having these problems in [Week 17]. This is a Week 1, Week 2 problem. So I don’t know where we went down the line and started becoming a whole different defense of who we were.”
#Steelers SS DeShon Elliott on another frustrating day for the defense:
“First off, guys can’t be fucking wide open. That’s the first thing. Do your job. I thought we communicated. Guys weren’t doing their freaking job. Just get back to the drawing board. It’s Week 18. We…
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) December 25, 2024
Alex Highsmith says that some players don’t have enough urgency and “want-to” right now.
“There’s got to be a want-to,” Highsmith said. “There’s not enough of that right now… it’s that time of year where we’ve got two guaranteed games left. We’re gonna find out who wants it.”
#Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith said some players do not have enough want-to right now.
“There’s got to be a want-to. There’s not enough of that right now. There’s got to be a want to. It’s that time of the year where we’ve got two guaranteed games left. We’re gonna find out who… pic.twitter.com/7elo5Hyzf5
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) December 25, 2024
Cam Heyward is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career, and his frustrations were evident, as well.
“When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we’re screwed.”
Cam Heyward: “When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed.”
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 25, 2024
T.J. Watt praised the guys in the locker room who love the process, but hinted that there were players that don’t in doing so.
“I love football. I love the process and I know there’s a lot of guys in the locker room that do also.”
There is evidently a lot of toxicity going around right now on the defensive side of the ball, and it needs cleaned up if the Steelers want to end this drought of playoff winless football.
