Jerome Bettis has not been afraid to speak his mind about his former team since walking away from football after Super Bowl XL. Now he’s talking again about the recent Steelers collapse, talking about it earlier today on the Dan Patrick show.
“The Steelers are done. It’s not official yet, but pretty much. When you lose your spirit, then everything is pretty much gone,” Bettis said on the show. “And that’s what I saw when they hit the field against the Cleveland Browns. It tells me the leadership isn’t there, there was a lack of commitment. The season is basically over.”
From the sounds of it, Bettis isn’t the biggest fan of Mike Tomlin, who says that he’s lost the team, which others have agreed with during this recent 5-game losing streak.
“I know there had to be a disconnect between the head coach’s message and the players. You hear coach Tomlin talking about unleashing hell, and they go out and lay an egg . . . I don’t think the players responded to it in practice, either week in practice: The Oakland week or the Cleveland week.”
Is that Tomlin’s fault? Or the fault of the players that are paid a lot of money to go out and get the job done?
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DrGeorge
December 16, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Bettis knows what he’s talking about. Strategy and discipline start at the top. Bad players can be replaced; schemes can be modified to suit changes in talent; game plans can be simplified to improve execution; play calling can become creative. But when talented teams play ineptly, when tackling and basic technique are poor, when strategies are flawed, the coaching staff must bear the blame, starting at the top.
mark
December 16, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Could not have said it better myself! The Bus is on the money.
Derek
December 16, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Jerome’s right the steelers just have no identity anymore
jay
December 16, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Wow, I just read the comments Tomlin had in the post gazette. The article entitled: “On the Steelers: Tomlin wants to concentrate on the future.” I can’t believe what I’m reading from this guy. He makes excuses on the plays that go awry. he has ruled Troy out again and it’s his fault that he got hurt in the first place. He says he’s wearing the idea that getting blamed for losing comes with the territory and then states that he really doesn’t care what outsiders think. He’s making guys win starting jobs on special teams which isn’t totally bad but it would be nice to get a look at Lewis now before going into the offseason and knowing what you need. And what’s with the scouting: how can a guy be picked in the third round and fail to be a special teamer?!? Same with Urbik!?! And then Ryan Clark is bitching about the fans and media. Whatever! I can’t believe what’s happened to this team in such a short amount of time. That’s definitely organizational especially when you factor in all the talent this team has. I don’t want to hear form any pro athlete about hard work; not saying they don’t do it but let me get this straight, I’ll get up and go work with crazy people for 13 dollars an hour, come home and study for my grad classes, drive 45 minutes to grad school, come home, do chores, kiss my wife and thank God I can pay my bills and have a roof over my head and a car that goes from point a to point b…Hey, Clark, KISS MY ASS!
George H
December 19, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Jay your right… Although Bettis isnt in the locker room and shouldnt speak on behalf of the team anymore…
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