The Pittsburgh Steelers have been in a sort of free fall over the course of the last week and a half. After losing Shaun Suisham, Maurkice Pouncey and Stephon Tuitt to injury, the Steelers knew they’d open the regular season without running back Le’Veon Bell. Now the team will be further handicapped by receiver Martavis Bryant’s four game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Bryant, expected to have a big second season, lost some time in training camp due to surgery on an infected elbow. Now he is facing more time off of the field for marijuana usage. Bryant expects to appeal the suspension in the next week or so.
The Steelers will be forced to make yet another adjustment to what appeared initially to be a well-balanced offense. The team appears to be imploding, begging questions of the level of leadership left with the squad and in the locker room.
Rookie receiver Sammie Coates will likely see an increase in playing time as Pittsburgh now looks at the depth at the receiver position as possible fortuitous. Darrius Heyward-Bey is expected to play a larger role when the Steelers face the Buffalo Bills on Saturday in preseason play.
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DrGeorge
August 28, 2015 at 1:35 pm
Actually, the print media alleged that Bryant has failed multiple drug tests. Does anyone know if that is, in fact, true? If so, is this indicative of the kind of drug prevention program the franchise is running? After the pot-smoking episodes involving Santonio Holmes, Blount, Bell, and now Bryant, the Steelers should be all over this issue. Instead, people are beginning to wonder if the organization is soft on drugs. Are drug use and other illegal activities by professional athletes, like those of actors and rock stars, perceived by management as just another hazard of being in the entertainment business, something to be tolerated? And what is the deterrent value of a brief suspension? For millionaire athletes, it’s like sitting in detention hall for chewing gum in class — the crime is in getting caught. That’s the message we’re sending to kids. Come on, folks — we’ve got to do better than this.
DaveB
August 28, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Rediculous , unacceptable , and inexcusable . After watching LeVeon Bell go through this exact same thing last year and staring at a two game suspension to start the season , Martavis Bryant was stupid enough to fall into the same trap . That tells you alot about him . He talked of having a new training program and coming into the camp in the best shape of his life . At the end of the day , its all words , and nothing more . Knowing the offense was already behind the eight ball losing Pouncey , and he allows this to happen ? Whats even worse , is this is not an isolated incident with Bryant . For the league to slap him with a four game suspension , he has to have had a prior incident involving the same thing . Bottom line , he let the team down , the fans down and lastly himself down . At the end of the day it boils down to this . The Pittsburgh Steelers look like an organization that is imploding from within . It shows a lack of leadership from the Rooneys all the way down to Colbert and Tomlin . This one looks bad . Good luck fixing it .