Steelers Blame Themselves, Winners Thank Coaches

The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking in the mirror. At least the players are.

PITTSBURGH -- If you ask the Pittsburgh Steelers where the problem lays on both sides of the football, the answer is the players. "Execution" has been the cause for concern this season. Not the coaching. Not Matt Canada. 

"The coaches only can coach," running back Najee Harris said about the situation. "At the end of the day, we’ve got to do what we have to do. I see everybody talking about this coaching stuff, about play calling, like bruh, do y’all know how football works? Coaches only can coach."

So, what now? If the Steelers play-caller isn't the reason they aren't winning. If the coaching side of development isn't the problem. What can they do to fix it? 

They started by hosting a meeting. Players sat down and addressed the "man in the mirror" and stopped pointing fingers. Much like they did last season at the bye week, Pittsburgh decided it was time to light a fire to try and spark their team before they sunk further than 2-2. 

Next, they changed their practice attire, putting the pads on and being more physical throughout the week with the hopes of carrying that energy into the game. 

Both moves should help. And with Mike Tomlin leading the charge, they're both moves that fit the bill about how the head coach has been successful over the last 17 seasons. Tomlin is a leader of men, and when times are tough, he has the ability to make a group rise. 

But why are the Steelers here in the first place? If it's not the coaching. If it's not the play-calling. If it's the players being too "soft," as Harris put it, then how did it all get so bad so quickly? 

Without disagreeing with those who were in the meetings and deeper in the organization than the locker room, shouldn't the coaches have their team fired up from the start? Shouldn't they have them prepared? Shouldn't they have the understanding of how to bring them out of ruts? 

Lack of execution has been a huge issue for the Steelers. Their play from almost every position has been below par throughout the season. And even in the wins, it's never been a clean game for this team. 

"Whenever we don't play well, forget win or lose, whenever we don't play well as a coach, man, you start there," Tomlin said after the Houston loss. "And so, that's where we always start. In particular, at the early portions of the season, forget whether or not you play poorly or you're losing. There's a get-better component of this process, particularly at early stages of the year and it has a lot to do with Coach decision making. How you structure preparation, how you allocate time and preparation in terms of the things that you highlight about what other people do and the amount of physical reps that you tee up for things that you prepare to do. All of that is coaching and elements of coaching, decision making, and strategy."

Yes, the players need to take some blame. Yes, the players need to play better. Yes, the Steelers roster has holes that are concerning, and in a big way, they need to take a step forward - all of them. 

But anyone who watched a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans and thought their backup offensive line - which included a player the Steelers cut - and their defense, that also included a player the Steelers cut, were better simply because they had better players, well, everyone has their own opinion. 

"For me and Bobby [Slowick], we have a pretty good idea on what we both like, the offense we want to run and he is calling it. He is doing a great job," Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said after the game about his offensive coordinator. "Case Keenum always says he calls it, we ball it. It’s been a blessing to work with somebody like Bobby, who we all can trust, not only from him, but the O-line to the tight ends to the running backs to the receivers, and we’re starting to buy into the system, and I think it’s showing."

When teams struggle, they blame themselves. When they succeed, they credit coaching. It's been some time since the Steelers have credited coaches. 

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