Steelers drama is neverending drama Time for a talk about reporting the truth, and the clicks it doesn't generate Jim Wexell Jan 4th, 8:12 AM I dislike the term "room" to define a position grouping on a football team. But, yet, I am here today to write about the "rooms" that people are celebrating this week. The awards won yesterday by mentor Patrick Peterson and mentee Joey Porter Jr. underscore these celebrations. As voted on by the local chapter of the Pro Football Writers Association, we selected Peterson, the 33-year-old cornerback, as the winner of the Chief Award, for not only willingness to talk to us, but for his insight. And that insight no doubt helped the 23-year-old cornerback in his "room," Porter, whom we voted the team's Rookie of the Year. As noted, this relationship, this "room," only underscores what's happening in the big room, the locker room, as a whole. Such as the quarterback room. Wow. So much negativity from the many fans who follow awful media. And awful media is something with which football fans - especially Steelers fans - need to come to grips. Cam Heyward and teammate Christian Kuntz summed up the floundering state of journalism this way during Cam's most recent podcast: Heyward: "When did journalism become like just gotcha, I got a rumor?" Kuntz: "It's clicks. That's why." With the rich appetite for news about their team, Steelers Nation is a fertile ground for drama. That drama is then reflected back on the team, in a bad way, and when the journalists in the locker room refute such nonsense, they are said to be "carrying water." I don't know what to say other than the term's just a product of jealousy. The Steelers Do. Not. Care. about our opinions. Seriously. It goes way back to The Chief scrapping for publicity away from the college game. But strange people make strange reports. And when one of my colleagues clapped back on Twitter against the belief that Kenny Pickett had actually said he wouldn't mop up - as Bubby Brister famously told Chuck Noll after being asked to replace Neil O'Donnell late in a blowout - said colleague received a phone call. It was from a blogger I don't know. He doesn't work with us in the locker room. He reports what he hears, apparently, from "Jersey Jerry's buddy Jim back in Kenny's hometown." That was the explanation of the "information" chain described to my bemused colleague. It was explained to him that that's where the other "reporters" got the same information. And the fact that numerous outlets reported this, the unknowing fan sees reason to believe it. It's called an echo chamber. Pickett called a press conference for early the next morning to refute the charge. And anyone who's met Pickett for five minutes can tell he's a young man of character. He stood strong as several different variations of the same question were asked regarding his lack of activation for last Sunday's game. Did he refuse to be second team? And did Mike Tomlin then refuse to activate him at all? "There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two," Pickett said in the opening statement. "If I was healthy enough to play, and the coaches and trainers felt I looked good enough to play, I was going to start and play. If they believed I would not - which they believed I was not - I was not going to dress and suit up for the game. So, whoever reported that, I don't know where it started. It's kind of crazy what people will write and put out there to try to prove their point or help their careers in what you guys do. But disappointed to see that without any proof or basis of it." He went on to say the same thing when asked a different way a number of times throughout a presser that didn't end until all reporters were satisfied. He also said this about his desire to play at less than 100 percent health: "This thing's tough. You can do things to get through games. There's a process of getting through games. When your health is not ideal, there are things you can do to play. So if that needed to be the case, I could do those things. The trainers and coaches didn't see a point of me doing that if I wasn't going to start." Talk about standing strong in the pocket. Of course, the reported nonsense was believed mostly by those appalled the previous week when Pickett answered a slap-in-the-face question about whether he learned anything watching Mason Rudolph play against Cincinnati. Pickett merely answer "No." I got it. I thought he was being kind at stopping after one word. And I didn't for a minute believe there was friction in "the room." But it seemed many fans did. Could Pickett have answered the question better? I guess, but it didn't befront me for one second. I hear - and ask - bad questions all the time, so that's all I took it as. The fact I'm speaking up for a young guy who oozes character is part of my purpose. It's not "carrying water" for a team that really doesn't give a crap about me or my opinions. I care about the readers, and some of them throw shade back at me when I report that some guys aren't so great. They want to know why I'm so negative? What's my agenda? Did he not give you an interview? No. I tell you that stuff so that you believe me when I tell you the good stuff. Anyway, the ridiculous report sent us reporters scurrying to the other quarterbacks, who seemed all season as if they get along quite well. While Mason Rudolph was holding court in another building, an interview I would be able to observe later on video, I went in search of Mitch Trubisky in the locker room. He didn't have a minute, but I got him as he walked to a scheduled meeting. I told him I only wanted to ask about the perceived friction in the QB room. "There is no friction," he said with a scoff. But, what do you think when you read all those reports? "Don't read the reports." (continued)
Pg. 2 If Trubisky never plays another game for the Steelers, that last line can serve as his contribution to "Steelers Way" wisdom, particularly for the fan base. Rudolph, in his presser, expanded on it. "We met yesterday as a quarterback room with the staff as we always do," Rudolph said. "Talked about passing concepts we like, and there's never been an awkward air. Those guys are dear friends and always professional and they know that I did nothing but support them and make them laugh in the three role the last couple of years. And so, it's just great to see that reciprocated. They're all competitors, and we all know that, but they're just great dudes to go to work with." Pickett confirmed the reciprocation angle. "Listen, we have a great friendship," Pickett said. "Truly. I've spent two years with Mitch and Mason and it's been nothing but awesome coming in here every single day, sharing laughs, sharing memories. So when I come to the sideline, we would talk. Now when he comes to the sideline, we talk. I don't overdo it, overstep. You want to give him information; you don't want to give him too much where he's thinking. He bounces ideas off me and I bounce them back and it's a good relationship." Anyone who's spent five minutes with Pickett, or watched him for two full seasons interact in the locker room, believes him, just like anyone who'd spent five minutes with Rudolph and watched him interact in the locker room the same amount of time knew he wasn't a racist. But. People lie. So, let's move on to the other "room in the news" this week. It's a room you and I need to hang out in. It's the outside linebacker room with that hard-edged funster, T.J. Watt. Remember the t-shirt Greg Lloyd used to wear? "I wasn't hired for my disposition." I brought that up to defensive coordinator Teryl Austin the other day, and then added that James Harrison - another notorious outside 'backer from Steelers championships past - didn't even need to wear a t-shirt, that his look said what Lloyd's shirt said. So I asked Austin if Watt - the team's newly named MVP - possesses a similar edge. I asked him what it's like to coach Watt. "He's outstanding, obviously," Austin started. "He's a great player. He wants to be great. He wants to be coached. He does. He can be a little bit surly, and that's fine. We know that you need that edge if you want to compete at a high level in this business. But he's good to be around. We all have our days when we're not real pleasant to be around, but he moves on to the next day. He helps his other teammates. "You know what's really neat?" Austin added. "You see him sitting in the back. He sits next to Alex (Highsmith). He helps all the guys in there. They all talk about different things and what they see. He and Larry (Ogunjobi), because they work on the same side a lot, they always talk about things. He's an outstanding player, we all know that, but also I think he's a really good teammate." Nick Herbig thinks so. Nick is a rookie out of Watt's alma mater Wisconsin. Their mentor/mentee relationship has been described since the day Herbig was drafted in the fourth round. But no one really knew how close they actually were until the explanations flowed out of last week's game. Herbig, the promising No. 4 OLB, only played two defensive snaps, but on one of them he beat a tackle and a back for a sack, while stripping the ball, and then recovering it. Right away, Watt resumed his role as mentor. "Those first big plays those first couple years - I talk about it a lot - you black out," Watt said. "You don't really know what's going on. You're just so excited. There's so much emotion. So I was just trying to coach him through the moment - 'Hey, let's hit the handshake real quick. Let's have some fun.' And then he was running over and I said, 'All the cameras are over here. Let's go over here.' I was just walking him through the process of the whole thing." Herbig admitted that he, too, only recalled the moment as a blackout. "Yeah, he definitely did. He wasn't home," Watt said. "It's a euphoric feeling, it really is, because of the work he's put in. You guys see all the reps we put in before and after practice. That goes for all the outside linebackers and all the edge-rushers here. When that feeling pays off and you get home and you're able to make a huge play, it's an addictive feeling, and I'm glad he got a taste of it and can continue to strive to do that more for us." The play was kind of big. To say the least. It occurred with seven minutes left in a game the Steelers were winning by seven. The sack-strip-recover trifecta produced the game-clinching field goal. "It just means a lot when anybody makes a play," Watt said, "but more specifically a guy in our room because I see the amount of work and I see all the things behind the scenes that go into those big plays." What a fun room that must be, probably reminiscent of the Maurkice Pouncey-led OL rooms last decade. As with that room, others are invited in a broader sense. "What does he mean?" Rudolph asked in response to a question about Watt’s value. "As much as I mess with him, he's the first-guy-in/last-guy-out kind of guy and we need those guys. And it helps when he's the highest-paid player on your team. But he's still doing that and he still works like he does each and every day. What a great example that is for every rookie or every new player that comes in here, and that's what the Pittsburgh Steelers are all about. He embodies that." Wait a minute. You mess with him? How? Or, better, why? Rudolph smiled easily before saying, "Like the last couple of weeks - and he may not like this - but sometimes the parking lot on an off day can be a little full, and he'll park kind of out there, like at the end of a row, kind of on the median. And so, I sent a picture to Derek (Watt). I said, 'The guy signs a big contract, he's parking wherever he wants to now.' "So, yes, just stuff like that because I know it really hurts him deep down, because he's a perfectionist, but outside of that he doesn't do a whole lot of wrong. So, we'll clean that up." See, all one big, happy family. Winning will do that. Just as losing creates mini-dramas in droves for the fans with the voracious appetites for information about one of the world's most beloved sports franchises. It's a numbers game just as much as it's a won-loss game. But heed this tip: Try your best to avoid the hate-driven agendists out there. I know that a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, but, instead, come inside to the light. It shines from those of us who see people for who they are, not for the clicks they can generate.
Good info. One thing the Steelers try and do is to bring in guys with character. As soon as any negatively effects the team concept they are corrected by the vets. If they don’t listen, they are traded or released.
