According to Phoebe Schecter, Diontae Johnson needs to show himself to the Pittsburgh Steelers after leaving the team.
This week, Diontae Johnson faced criticism for not supporting his teammates after Jaylen Warren mishandled the ball during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The wide receiver and Minkah Fitzpatrick had previously gotten into a fight in the locker room.
Diontae Johnson, a wide receiver with the Pittsburgh Steelers, faced criticism this week.
Picture: Diontae Johnson, a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, faced criticism this week.
Wide receiver Diontae Johnson of the Pittsburgh Steelers apologized to teammates this week after leaving a play against the Cincinnati Bengals. Phoebe Schecter, a former coach of the Buffalo Bills, provides her opinion on the incident in her most recent column, which takes us inside an NFL locker room.
You need to be aware right away that everyone will see that when they see the movie the following week, particularly with regard to that interception, so you need to take a strong stance against it.
Such behavior is unacceptable, and I’ve been on teams with toxic players where it kind of creeps in. If you let that, you teach it and give the impression that it’s acceptable behavior, which makes other people start to lose respect. Therefore, if you ignore something like that, you could easily lose the locker room.
It’s been evident for a few weeks in Pittsburgh, where there have already been a few player-initiated conflicts and moments of dissatisfaction within the Steelers locker room. Prior to Sunday, Diontae Johnson was a part of one of these incidents. It’s evident that something was probably about to explode, but when a seasoned actor leaves a play like that, it usually means they’re leaving other aspects of their work as well.
What do they appear like during walkthroughs? How much work do they put into both the classroom and the film study? Or did they give up there as well?
I understand that it’s a run play and that he won’t interfere or attempt to sell anything during the passing game, but that’s not how you should ever act. They have surpassed you in terms of turnover.
The more important point is that each player has a responsibility to their team; after all, if one individual fails to perform, it may be the same as not being able to provide for your family. When you are in that building, that is how the players think.
You see that person who walked off a play and you think, “Maybe that’s why I won’t be able to put food on the table for my family.” For them, that is the essence of football and what it signifies. Their way of life revolves around football, and if you don’t give it any thought or put in any effort, you’ll find yourself in a very difficult situation.
For times like that, team veterans and captains will always gather players in the locker room. In certain locker rooms I’ve been in, people take a backseat, tell them to “fight it out,” and then let them go ahead and solve the problem. They practically encourage fighting, so call them if you guys need to fight.
It is the veterans who will take the initiative to approach them, offer advice and say, “Hey, this guy is not going to change, they have checked out,” while also allowing those veterans to have that conversation. Though it’s a difficult scenario, you do have to consider whether to extend this guy’s contract until the end of the season. Is there any chance he’ll change, or should we let him leave because, in terms of team culture, he’s actually doing more harm than good?
The fact that this occurred with a Mike Tomlin team surprises me a little. ‘The standard is the standard’ is his mantra, and I think it makes it very obvious where and what the expectations are. It is strange that the Steelers are experiencing this in that regard, but this season is the Steelers’ to examine.
Each year, they manage to be average, but they still manage to succeed. It’s not pretty, it’s challenging, and as a receiver, your motivation comes from being the guy, making big plays, and catching passes. Now since you’re not doing that, you’re asked to run block more and look for other, more altruistic ways to win. It won’t always be in the look you desire.
George Pickens expressed his desire for the football. To be fair, ever since he and Kenny Pickett teamed up, he has been a major weapon. “Just get me the football,” he adds, but that option hasn’t always been available to them. Play calling hasn’t always been beneficial either.
I’m not sure when they were a prolific offensive, possibly under Ben Roethlisberger. Even so, they are still rather entertaining to watch since they play with a “we are going to fight for every single thing we do” mentality and everything seems difficult. As a player, that will wear you out and be tedious if you do it every week.
To Tomlin, though, that’s ideal. Bring it back. That’s almost the way of thinking. Some of my buddies who played in Pittsburgh told me that this preseason was the hardest and most physically demanding they had ever experienced.
Tomlin is familiar with his team. He manages his relationships pretty well. That could have been the most widely reported instance of it, but I doubt it was the first time they had seen it with Johnson. There are undoubtedly more scenes in the movie where people aren’t doing their hardest, but that would be the worst.
However, Tomlin will have managed to pull it off. Simply put, I believe it to be a really bad reflection, particularly at this point in the season.
There were two locker room leaders when I played for the Buffalo Bills: Lorenzo Alexander and Kyle Williams. It was fantastic that you have a seasoned player on each side of the ball to be able to listen to them if they spoke. Lorenzo was a somebody you could always count on to stand up, and he was good friends with Sean McDermott, so they could talk openly and honestly in the locker room. Kyle was a staple of Buffalo culture.
There are a lot of those players in the locker room. When you consider TJ Watt from Pittsburgh, Minkah Fitzpatrick also plays a significant role. It is necessary for such players to take responsibility for their actions, since he initiated the argument with Johnson.
After the Pittsburgh Steelers played a preseason game at Croke Park in 1997, Art Rooney II, the owner of the team, said he would love to visit Ireland again for a game someday.
Because the entire team is behind those leaders, it means so much more and has so much more weight when it comes from a peer. Even when one or two guys are talking to you, the entire team will support it. You turn into the exception.
We’ve seen what happens to teams without excellent leadership—those guys are essential to a team’s success. They don’t have those seasoned players who can bring everyone together in a crisis.
Johnson had to apologize to his teammates. It seems to me that he required accountability, which entails apologizing in person in front of the group. The group would have anticipated that from him, expecting him to essentially tear down his barriers.
It all comes down to having that talk and then demonstrating it by the work he produces on a daily basis. Is he going above and above at this point? Alternatively, is he indifferent? Has he made an appointment? What are his next course of action?
Johnson will have the last say over what that entails moving ahead.
The Steelers are 7-4 and very much in the running for the AFC playoffs. That defense plus Tomlin, in my opinion, is the combination. It is difficult to give up on someone when you have players like TJ Watt who come up every week and continue to give it his all to help that team win. It all comes down to having faith in your team’s leaders and players.
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