PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Steelers defensive captains spoke about the team’s real or perceived practice habits and culture on Thursday.
Cam Heyward said he’s had talks privately with George Pickens and it’s not the place to share what they said. He did not the issues the Steelers are having is not just a George problem.
“It’s not George in general, it’s everybody,” Heyward said. “There’s a way we do things around here. It’s as the group goes, not how one guy goes. When we are losing and not getting the job done, it falls on the group, not just one person.”
He added you are defined by wins and losses in the NFL. When you fall short you have to stick together. You have to fight for each other. Heyward still believes they can bounce back and be better after dealing with the adversity they’ve faced.
TJ Watt said it’s about trusting the players next to you. He said everyone is at the same meetings, all are at practice. None of that work matters if on game day you don’t believe in the person next to you. Watt said it’s when you believe in your teammates, the good plays make themselves.
Heyward said he does that not by yelling and being loud, but the best way is to be upfront. Don’t embarrass your teammate, tell someone who makes a mistake that you are in all in this together. Watt said he leads in different ways, not just by example. A lot of what he does as a leader the public or media never sees.
“It’s about continually getting better,” Watt said. “If we are satisfied with what we are doing then we are wrong. We need to continue to strive to be better.”
Practice comment
NFL Network’s Rich Eisen did the play-by-play of the Steelers game against the Colts. Thus, he was in production meetings where they get one-on-one time with Steelers players the day before a game. He said Watt told them it was wild that the guys don’t respond on a field or at practice. It’s been perceived a number of different ways.
Watt described that discussion with Eisen and others and what he was attempting to convey.
“I referred to myself when I was a young player just learning how to practice,” Watt said. “How to apply yourself on the practice field. It wasn’t attacking anybody, it was a general statement that as a leader on this team, I feel obligated to show people with my actions how to practice. It was not taking anything away from guys not practicing.”
“I’m not sure how that happened (the interpretation).
It is what it is and we move on.”
Steelers culture
Steelers culture has been a big talking point in the last week-future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said maybe the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is done. Heyward asked if it feels like the same culture as when he arrived in 2011?
“Everybody likes to make a big deal about it,” Heyward said. “For someone to have an opinion that doesn’t know what is going on in here, I kind of laugh at that. It’s about being with the group. Understanding that the Steelers are the Steelers because they care about each other.”
“It’s not one guy who wins, it’s everyone who wins. I know these last games have not gone the way we want, and it’s been hard. It’s about your practice habits. You can’t run away from it. You take care of everybody in this group. You got to have those hard times and those hard conversations to make things go.”
If hard times make better players, you would think it would show itself in a game at some point.