Pittsburgh Steelers: Did an obsession with the New England Patriots cause them to lose

As we saw on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars by the score of 45-42.

The aftermath was interesting as many people picked the AFC Championship game to be between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. Since the Steelers lost on Sunday, there is one Steelers player who is calling out his teammates. Steelers guard David DeCastro was talking to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and blasted several teammates. He basically said that several teammates had the mindset that they were going to play the Patriots next week. However, by overlooking the Jaguars, it gave them a ton of fuel to come into Pittsburgh and beat them.

DeCastro said, “They were ready to go, they were mad, they were angry, they had something to prove and they did it.” He would go on to say about his own team’s performance, “Yeah, it’s embarrassing. It really is, man. It just blows my mind. They beat us 30-9, we played like crap and we want to talk about New England! I don’t know what to say about that. It’s just stupid.”

In fact, it seemed like several Pittsburgh Steelers were more focused on playing the Pats next week. Especially players like safety Mike Mitchell and running back Le’Veon Bell. Mike Mitchell bragged all last week about playing the Patriots and Bell talked about taking care of two rematches. It even got to the point that head coach Mike Tomlin was bragging about playing the Patriots.

To be honest, this is part of the blame. Personally, I am sick and tired reading about teams making excuses for why they lose. Thus, I give David DeCastro a ton of credit for what he said. Nonetheless, I still feel it is an excuse. So, why can’t they just admit that they lost to a better team?

Jon Blayne

Jon is a diehard wrestling fan but still takes time to show his devotion to the Giants, Mets, and Knicks