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NorthCoast
03-12-2018, 07:36 PM
Some fans say Belichick wouldn't put up with the shenanigans of Bell (or Ben or Brown). The question is what would you be willing to do about it?:


Do the Pittsburgh Steelers have a culture problem?


by Wyatt Krehbiel (https://stillcurtain.com/author/wkrehbiel/)1 week ago

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ rockstar locker room could be one of their biggest flaws as a team.

The Steelers have a star-studded roster. Guys like Le’Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger, and Antonio Brown are all at, or near the top of their respective position. They are just three of multiple players I would like to see more of a team centered approach from.
Since the team’s early exit in the playoffs people have been questioning the reason behind the loss to Jacksonville. Questionable statements made by members of the team are commonly brought up in these discussions.

In the week leading up the game, Bell took to Twitter (https://twitter.com/LeVeonBell/status/952402718555017217) to say: “I love round 2’s…we’ll have two round 2’s in back to back weeks.” Comments like this have led many people to question if the team was looking ahead to the Patriots.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin is not making the situation any better. Earlier in the season, he made comments to Tony Dungy that suggested he was already taking a postseason matchup with the Patriots for granted. These comments and, apparent lack of discipline for players causing distractions make me question Tomlin’s handling of the team.
Ben Roethlisberger’s public retirement consideration last year cast a shadow over the entire offseason. I’m sure that the front office, liked knowing what was going on in Ben’s head, but a public announcement wasn’t best for the team. It’s not hard to see why Ben has been considering retirement. The only concern is that he is no longer completely committed to football, and to the team.

Martavis Bryant is a player whose off the field antics have detracted from his play on the field. He has had multiple substance abuse suspensions in his past including missing the entire 2016-2017 season. The more recent issue was his public complaining this season. He expressed a desire to be traded midway through the season, making waves throughout the organization.
Star running back Le’Veon Bell has repeatedly caused problems with off the field antics. He has had substance abuse related suspensions as well. He was responsible for the tweet before the playoff game, which was not even his biggest mistake of the week. Showing up late to the team’s walkthrough he showed a complete lack of respect for his team and coaches. A team needs a better example of someone who is one of your most talented players.
The question is if any of this is as big of an issue as it is made out to be. The more issues like this that crop up the more concerning it is for Steelers fans. However, this may not be as big of an issue as it sounds like. In fact, the offense is where most of these questions arise from, but that side of the ball performed very well against the Jaguars talented defense. The defense was a bigger issue in the game. The issue may lie in the talent on hand, or coaching, rather than team chemistry, and dedication.
Whether, or not it was the issue in the loss to Jacksonville the culture needs to be fixed. The first solution would be for Tomlin to crack down on the antics. The best coaches would not allow someone to get away with something like showing up late to a walkthrough. This was evidenced by Bill Belichick’s willingness to bench Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl. Tomlin needs to take control of his players and instill punishments for those who hurt the team.
It also might be necessary to restock the roster with high character players. This cant happen overnight, and will require years of drafting the right players, but will help down the road. This process could be jumpstarted by getting rid of players who have been problems. The team could refuse to pay Bell, and allow him to walk. Also, Bryant could be traded, Buffalo was one team that reportedly had interest midseason. This all depends on how the front office values their on-field impact compared to their damage to the culture.


https://stillcurtain.com/2018/03/02/pittsburgh-steelers-culture-problem/

Steelerphile
03-12-2018, 07:57 PM
To me it is a load of exaggerated junk per usual. Ignore everything that went well and focus on side issues. Belichick may be the standard but Tomlin is still not far behind and you don't have 13-3 records despite a playoff loss with everything in shambles, and huge culture issues as the article seems to suggest.

Tomlin did crack down on Bryant and he mended his ways and played better as the season progressed. I attribute the playoff loss more losing a key player in Shazier and not being able to find an adequate replacement, than players antics. Bell, I believe, had a legit excuse for showing up late for practice.

I don't think the team chemistry, effort, performance or coaching is nearly as questionable as he makes it sounds. But when you don't win the SuperBowl, everybody is a critic.

I personally don't think they should pay Bell, but I don't think he could be accused of not training or playing hard. I wouldn't like to see a continuation of having him not come to training camp and threatening to miss games. That could be an issue, but I don't think this team could at all be accused of giving up or not playing hard, especially with the number of comeback victories they had, at times when the situation appeared quite bleak.

Buzz
03-12-2018, 08:01 PM
It might not be that "everything is in shambles," but if you can improve team chemistry a little bit, it might make enough difference to get to the Super Bowl.

Sugar
03-12-2018, 10:14 PM
What a bunch of crap. The draft can't get here soon enough.

RuthlessBurgher
03-12-2018, 10:51 PM
This was evidenced by Bill Belichick’s willingness to bench Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl.

How'd this work out for ya, there, Mr. God's Gift to Coaching?

williar
03-13-2018, 10:41 AM
This team was getting along just fine, winning games, doing what I would imagine that professional teams do. Unfortunately, they had a major setback when Ryan S. (heart and soul of the defense) went down the way that he did. In spite of all that they still went on to go 4-1 in their last 5 games, and truly (as we all know) should have been 5-0 until they were robbed by the officials against NE.

Everybody was happy and continued to expect great things ahead. It is not talked about much but I believe one of the problems came in getting the bye that we all coveted and the matchup we came up against (Jacksonville) You have to remember Ben did not play in the final game against the browns, so that meant he hadn't played in 3 weeks. How many of us know how rusty Ben can be coming off of a 3-week layoff!!? Jacksonville was the last team any of us wanted to see. With all that said we still should have won that game if we would not have come out of the gate so poorly!

We all were disappointed, yes! Anything short of a SB victory and we would still be feeling letdown. But let's not go overboard with all of this nonsense! I am not seeing the correlation here between 13-3 season, and a team full of turmoil! I am convinced that the people who keep writing this stuff have an agenda against Tomlin!

Northern_Blitz
03-13-2018, 11:29 AM
I think that the problem with having so many star players is that there isn't enough cap space for quality depth. We have had a significant issue with injuries to star players that derailed at least our last four playoff runs.

Instead, we get guys who shouldn't have been in the league (or were soon out of it) playing critical roles against the best teams in the league.
Examples include:
2017-ILB-Spence
2016-RB-DeAngelo Williams right before the end. Good career, but no one wanted him after this game.
2015-RB-Toussaint/Todman
2015-WR-Coates (this is the one time we had good depth when AB went out. Coates was probably the worst of the 3 WRs Bryant/Wheaton/Coates and he had a good day...but we needed to have a good day passing because our RBs were Toussaint & Todman. Bryant almost outgained them on two carries (40yards) vs. 45 yards on 17 carries for T&T)
2014-RB-Harris/Tate.

The problem isn't twitter. It's depth. This is why I don't agree with the arguments that we're the "most talented in the league" because that only really looks are a few guys on O and neglects that our D isn't good (without 50) and we have little depth at key positions where we pay our stars.