Mark Madden: The Steelers have a culture problem, and this group can't fix it

i think we truly are at the end of days. this is the 2nd time within a month i have read a mark madden article that aligned with my thoughts.
i will quote the important parts that sum it up.

Mark Madden: The Steelers have a culture problem, and this group can't fix it
https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-the-steelers-have-a-culture-problem-and-this-group-cant-fix-it/

Quote :

The Steelers have good leaders in Heyward and Ben Roethlisberger. But they lack followers.

Quote :

The culture isn’t correctable. Brown passed it down to the current group. The current group will pass it down to the next group.

Tomlin can’t fix it. The enabler can’t suddenly be the fixer.

Tomlin will coach till he quits. So the culture problem isn’t going away. Not unless the Steelers get some really good players.

A ton of talent can neutralize a poor culture. But the Steelers are about 45 players short.

Yeah, I'll disagree. A young WR makes a stupid comment after getting a thorough beat down and Madden wants us to follow his lead to the Steelers having a cultural problem. And the solution is to burn it all down. I call BS. Whether it's Claypool, JuJu or any other WR diva around the league, their attitudes are usually not reflective of a majority of their teammates. There's a reason AB is no longer on the Steelers and it's because the Steelers were not going to allow him to continue to impact their culture.

What Madden is doing is shitting on the large majority of this team who literally are busting their balls while strapping it on. The Steelers hitting the skids are about talent and not culture. I would say their issues are:

1. ILB play - mostly around Bush and his struggles and extending to not having a viable backup
   
2. Offensive Line - going through a rebuild of the line, young players, and now an injury
   
3. Defensive Line - Losing two of your 3 starters just plain sucks
   
4. Rookies - 4 rookies on offense and multiple playing significant roles
   
5. Canada- Offensive scheme and play calling
   

maddens inspiration came from some former steelers pretty much saying the same thing.

Quote :

"There’s absolutely no physicality," Clark said. "There’s no energy defensively. There’s no tone-setters."

Clark said Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is "one of the best play-making free safeties in football" but added that he’s "a fifth linebacker" because the Steelers linebackers fail to tackle runners.

Clark also touched on the Steelers’ use of social media, and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was famous for making TikTok dance videos.

"Pittsburgh football ain’t about having fun," Clark said. "Pittsburgh football is about dominating people on the field because of your physicality."

"But that ain’t what y’all want. What y’all want to do is show up, and y’all want to live on the backs of legends. Don’t nobody care about that no more. Young people aren’t respectful to the past. In the past, Pittsburgh was something. This Pittsburgh defense ain’t jack," Clark added.

I didn't expect this team to be a contender this year, with all the rookies starting, Ben on his last legs, and a ton of money tied up in him. Clark sounds like Grumpy Grandpa - "Back in MY day..."

Well shove it, Grandpa. Social Media wasn't anywhere near as big a thing in the past. You think every team doesn't have players on social media?

There are a lot of players playing their ass off. There are also players underachieving - like Bush. No idea what his work ethic is in practice - I can only hope that another year from his knee injury and he will see big improvement. Most of the time its a 2 year arc.

Its gonna be another year (at least). Rookies will mature - it appears to have been an amazing draft - Ben will retire and $ will be freed up. QB play will obviously be a question. The Oline may be 2 players away. The D line may be one Dominant player away. Bush might be a star next year.

This just isn't our year. I'm certainly not throwing the whole team under the bus because of it.

him saying 45 players short may be a bit harsh...its probably more like 36.
seriously...when i look at our roster i can only see about  18 guys that i think are worth moving forward with... ..but im giving all the rookies a pass.
if i were the coach i would have one of these installed in the locker room to send a message..

I think the entire league has a culture problem. It's about how the HC handles the issue. Sure Tomlin got rid of AB and Bell but it took him too long. He seemed to learn from them when he traded Ingram before the deadline. We're not alone in our contempt.
They say to be an NFL QB you have to have a short memory. True but when you're playing as bad as Ben (currently ranked #29 of 32) it's hard to forget. When you're getting the snot kicked out of you,finally make a tackle for a stop and you celebrate that's just stupid.
I don't know what the percentage is of players posting dumb and derogatory shit on social media but I am sure it's more than fans want to see.
As a Steeler fan all I want to see right now is these players DOING THEIR DAMN JOB! I'm not on twitter and if I was I'm sure I'd be banned for my views so I'm safe from moronic comments.
What the Steelers and NFL needs is a little less talk and a lot more quality play.
Some of the players in the last 20 years I admire most are not wearing black and gold. You never saw Barry Sanders celebrate or act a fool. Megatron dominated and didn't showboat. Larry Fitzgerald is a class act who I would have loved to have play for us.
So yeah I agree we have a culture problem but so do the other 31 teams. Of course I could be wrong.

I actually agree with Mark Madden...

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

maddens inspiration came from some former steelers pretty much saying the same thing.

Oh, I'm sure his inspiration came from others and he's dumping shit on the team, as per his M.O. I agree with the former players and disagree with Madden.

The former players are older brothers telling their younger brothers they aren't showing enough heart and they need to grab their balls and give better effort.

Madden is telling everyone that the ghost of AB has poisoned the mindset of the players on the team and this poison continues to permeate the team because Tomlin isn't a good coach. Well, Tomlin is not Marvin Lewis, the Steelers aren't the Bungles and we shouldn't act like Bungles fans, which is what Madden would love ... after all, just think of the following he'd have if we grasped at the tiniest threads of desperate hope of winning, only to see it cut down by reality. And in response we dump on the entire organization from players, to the coaches, to the front office, and up to the ownership. Madden could increase his following 10 fold in a Bungles style fanbase. I'm not purchasing a ticket on that train.

I agree with Madden that this team has had cultural issues and they've only gotten worse over time. Tomlin is way too soft on these guys and let's his players say whatever they want to the media. It's been going on for years, I think he's given these guys too much leash since before the whole AB filming the locker room speech thing. It seems these younger dudes like Bush, and Claypool aren't focused on football, same with Juju who appears to me to be more interested in his brand than in being the best professional football player and teammate he can be. Dancing on other team's logos, creating stupid distractions week after week. Claypool telling the media they should play freaking music at practice to make it more fun, dudes talking to the media about practice needing to be better, that's the kind of shit that should be kept in-house. And yet here we are next week tuned in for the next episode of "Days of our Steelers lives" eager to see what drama comes up next.

So yeah I think there's an issue here with the overall culture and it's fueled by a lack of discipline, and it has lead to a lack of focus, and execution.

All these egos and Tomlin just strokes em. Do you think Belichick would let his players say the shit to the media ours do? While I very obviously don't like Belichick it's hard to argue against his "Do Your Job" mentality. He doesn't put up with much from selfish players, and he just seems to keep winning because of how he runs that team. He managed to keep Randy Moss under wraps... We have Claypool whose in the middle of a pretty disappointing second season who is worried about music being played at practice so it'll be more fun... wtf man. I can't wrap my head around that. That lack of focus on what is most important... that starts at the tippity top. Tomlin has his hand in that cookie jar, he's the one that is supposed to keep this team focused and get them game-ready. He has failed at that task numerous times this season. Devin Bush out there lolly-gagging and half-assing it, yet he still keeps playing...bench that bum. He doesn't want to play, he can ride the pine. That would send a message to the rest of the team that that kind of lack of effort won't be tolerated. Instead they just hand-hold and VW is on social media making lame ass excuses for Bush.

I dunno what to call this "product" this season but it damn sure isn't the Steelers "standard" that Tomlin talks so much about.

going to be some lean next few years as the Steelers are at the start of a team rebuild.

I don't want the 80s back man!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

I don't want the 80s back man!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!

or the 20+ year wait for a franchise starting QB.

now Canada can start installing all of his offense not what Ben likes part of the offense.

If we're picking around 17, and the following are available, who do you pick?
Jordan Davis
Kenny Pickett
Matt Corral.

Great Randino wrote:

If we're picking around 17, and the following are available, who do you pick?
Jordan Davis
Kenny Pickett
Matt Corral.

they cant afford another first round miss right now. im going the safe route and say jordan davis. even if pickett or corral turn out to be decent QB'S it wont be next year for the steelers. throwing one of them into the fire on a bad team will not help their development. look at the jags, jets and bears this year with their rookie QB's. are they making their teams better ? those QB's were all much better prospects with higher ceiling potential.than anyone from this class.