Pittsburgh Steelers star Cameron Heyward isn’t afraid to challenge his veteran teammates when he sees a defensive unit that isn’t playing up to its standards.
“Anything I’d say to you, I’d say to them first,” Heyward said Thursday, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I just think we all have to get better. I challenge everybody, and I challenge myself first and foremost. That’s the way I was raised. You can’t look at anybody else. You have to look at yourself. The way to get this bad taste out of our mouth is to play better football.”
The comments came after Heyward openly critiqued his team’s play following last week’s loss to Green Bay, noting he didn’t believe they handled adversity well. The 15-year vet isn’t worried about how his comments are taken by fans or media. And after all these years, he’s certainly not fretting about being a target for criticism.
“I don’t worry about it,” Heyward said. “I’m worried about the guys in the room. I worry about attacking it, trying to get better. If I paid attention to all that, I would have too much on my plate. The goal is to win. I don’t care how it’s done. I take a lot of pride in what I do. Hopefully, everybody else does, too.”
Heyward is one of the few Steelers defenders playing up to his reputation. He generated a season-high seven tackles in Sunday’s loss. Pro Football Focus ranks him as their No. 1 overall interior defender through eight weeks.
However, the situation around him is deteriorating.
