Heyward: Lack of discipline a non-issue
ORLANDO, Fla. — Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward is a little bit lonely at the Pro Bowl. Sure, he has eight teammates with him, but seven are offensive players and the other is placekicker Chris Boswell. He’s the only Steelers defender whowill play in the game.
“After the [Jacksonville] game, I didn’t know if I even wanted to come for a while,” Heyward said Thursday after the AFC practice at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. “But you have to make the most of a situation. It’s an awesome experience. Every player should get to experience this. Now I have to tell my guys to get back here, too. Hopefully, we’re busy [playing in a Super Bowl], but I want to see more defensive guys here.”
The Steelers aren’t playing in the Super Bowl, and many fans believe it’s due to the team being undisciplined. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Le’Veon Bell missing all but five minutes of the Saturday walk-through before the Jacksonville game and that others, including a coach, did not report to Heinz Field by 11 a.m. Sunday, the time prescribed by coach Mike Tomlin.
Those were just the final story lines in a season filled with drama. Heyward is a team captain along with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and he doesn’t share the same concern many outsiders have, namely that Tomlin’s team lacked discipline.
“It’s a load of crap to me,” Heyward said. “We’re grown men. We’re not in Little League. We lost the game, and we overcame a lot. A lot of teams would have fallen by the wayside. ‘Coach T’ kept everyone focused and moving on to the next problem. Obviously, we had too many problems to deal with, but that’s not on him.
“Stuff happened this year. You never could have expected some of the stuff that happened. Some of the stuff is football-related. A.B. knocked over a Gatorade bottle. I would have knocked it over, too. You guys just didn’t catch it at the right time. If you’ve been on the sidelines, there are plenty of people who spaz out after drives. That’s just life. That’s football. If you care that much, you care about it.
“And Martavis [Bryant] wanted to play football. He was away from it for so long. There are things that happened this year that were maybe unique. We had to overcome a lot, but, at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done. “It falls on me and Ben. We’re leaders.”
Brown driven at Pro Bowl
Antonio Brown recorded more than 100 catches for a sixth consecutive season and led the NFL in receiving yards for the second time in the past five years. His 1,533 yards were 89 more than his closest competitor, and he did it in 14 games because a calf injury prevented him from playing in the final two games of the regularseason.
It’s easy to see Brown’s greatness simply by watching him play, but how does a 5foot-10 former sixth-round draft choice become the receiver of his generation?
Well, even in the most casual of atmospheres — the Pro Bowl being the most casual of any NFL setting — Brown provided a glimpse into what drives him to be the best.
“Most of these guys out here want to be in my spot,” Brown said Thursday after thesecond AFC practice of the week. “They tell me, ‘I want to be where you’re at.’ You want to come for me, just keep coming. I’m going to continue to lay bricks for the foundation, building this house up the right way. I invite all these guys to stay tuned.”
Brown could not have been more serious. He has a permanent chip on his shoulder, and it doesn’t come off, not even for the Pro Bowl. He’s in the game for the sixth timein his eight-year NFL career. He has been named first-team All-Pro in four of those seasons.
Yet Brown is never satisfied.
“There’s always pressure to perform,” he said. “There’s always pressure for getting better. That’s the fun part about the NFL. Guys have to always grow and get better.”
Brown has been matched up with Jacksonville corners A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey in practice this week. He smiles and jokes around with them on the field, but the competitor in Brown bristles at the thought that the Jaguars just ended the Steelers season lessthan two weeks ago.
“It’s pretty weird,” Brown said. “We just lost in the division round to the Jaguars and I’m out here laughing with these guys like we’re friends. I don’t even like these guys.”
Playing in the Pro Bowl with eight teammates is a nice consolation prize, but Brown would rather be preparing for atrip to Minnesota and the SuperBowl rather than enjoying sunny Florida.
“We have to find a way to win,” Brown said. “It’s pretty fun to be out here. We would preferably like to be doing something else that no one has ever done. Hopefully everyone buys in and has the attitude of growing and getting better.”