PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Mike Tomlin, Cam Heyward and TJ Watt said it after Sunday’s dreadful 41-10 loss in Cincinnati. Minkah Fitzpatrick said it during a Monday Zoom. Their exact words may have been different but the message was exactly the same – “Things have to change and it has to start at practice.”
So when I asked Chase Claypool what they can do in practice to improve I got this interesting response. “This is something I’ve said since I’ve been in college (Notre Dame) and we never had it but I think having some music would help,” he said. “We’ve had music in warm-ups and that’s so much fun and people are having fun. I think music would make practice a little more fun and a little more up-tempo.”
Claypool, however also knows the score. “That’s my one suggestion but Coach T’s been doing it a lot longer than I have,” he concluded.
So forget the music during the practices themselves; in fact, you would think Tomlin would be more likely to take it away during the warm-up.
It’s a mess right now and, like everyone else on the Steelers, Claypool needs to be better – and more consistent. After a more-than-promising rookie season, with 11 touchdowns in the regular season and 2 more in the payoff game, Claypool has found the end zone just once in 2021.
“I don’t really want to talk too much about my own expectations of myself (but) if the team’s not winning then I obviously have play better,” he said. “I definitely have to eliminate drops, especially the ones that are gimmes.”
The game in Cincinnati illustrated Claypool’s hit-or-miss kind of season so far. He made plays on two deep balls, but went the wrong way on one which led to an interception and got tangled up and tripped on another.
He also juggled and finally missed a quick slant, one of those gimmes he mentioned.
Claypool also committed two penalties that could/should have been avoided. He lined up incorrectly after Zack Banner had reported eligible and later ripped a guy’s helmet off for a 15-yard personal foul, albeit with the game out of hand.
This has been a strange season in a lot of ways. That 1-3 start, then 4 straight wins followed by a bizarre 1-1-1 stretch which concluded with one of the worst losses in my 31 seasons of covering the Steelers. That obviously is fresh in every Pittsburgher’s memory but who’s to say we’ve seen the last of the strange stuff?
“It’s past halfway through the season but there are a lot of divisional games left - the Ravens twice, the Browns again – (so) there’s still time to make an impact,” Claypool insisted. “I’m not ready to put a stamp on the season or anything like that.
That would be kind of silly.”
Almost as silly as playing music during practice.
Then again, the way things have gone the last 4 games, that may not be the worst idea in the world.