Well if this isn’t some of the least-surprising news ever.
Frustrations boiled over for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they lost 13-10 to the Dorian Thompson-Robinson quarterbacked Cleveland Browns, to the point where wide receiver Diontae Johnson started “chirping” at coaches on the way to the locker room, per ESPN insider Adam Schefter.
I would usually qualify this news with “reportedly” but if Schefter is citing multiple sources, all of this most definitely happened. And can you blame Johnson for getting a little peeved? It was perhaps the best thing he could’ve done.
Since George Pickens’ cry for help earlier this season did nothing, Johnson decided to not only voice his opinion to the coaching staff, but opted to pick a fight with one of the Steelers’ star defenders in Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Everyone cites the Steelers’ as having a “winning culture” and Mike Tomlin refuses to have a losing season no matter how bad his offense or quarterback are. Kenny Pickett is not the guy in all likelihood. It also helps to a magnitude heretofore unseen by mankind that offensive coordinator Matt Canada got fired last week.
I think the culture in Pittsburgh is overrated, because Tomlin is so ego-driven and prideful that he’ll stick with a player or assistant coach beyond any reasonable time frame for the sake of continuity. I’d infer that’s at the root of Johnson’s boiled-over anger.
At least Tomlin falls on the sword when he needs to. Gotta give him that.
My Bengals have a battle ahead now that Joe Burrow is out for the season. They’re relying on a wily, feisty, non-Joe Shiesty backup in Jake Browning when they take on the Steelers today. From what little I’ve seen of Browning, I’d honestly take him over Pickett at this point.
However, I’m terrified that Canada’s dismissal will be such an addition by subtraction that maybe Pittsburgh will finally wake up and Pickett will look like a franchise QB.
Guess we’ll find out if Johnson’s near resorting to violence tactics will make an impact in the end. Somehow, the Steelers are 6-4 in spite of their offensive ineptitude. Another thing I will give credit to Tomlin for is keeping his teams together regardless of circumstance.
This whole situation may be the biggest test of his lengthy tenure to date, though. And we’re talking about a guy who somehow kept Prime Antonio Brown in line.
