Immediately after losing in Week 7, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen lamented the defeat pretty strongly. But while speaking to reporters Monday, Queen took a softer approach with a first-place showdown up next.
“It’s the NFL. Sometimes it happens even though you don’t want it to,” said Queen, via TribLive.com’s Chris Adamski. “Sometimes, it’s ugly, but at the end of the day, it’s the NFL.
“They get paid to play. Their coaches get paid to coach. We just gotta make the plays, go out there and execute better.”
While fans could see Queen’s comments as a more positive spin on what happened last week, a couple Steelers pundits referred to the Steelers defensive signal-caller as downplaying the team’s defensive struggles against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Reaction to Patrick Queen’s Latest Comments on Steelers Defense
The common phrase, “It is what it is,” might best summarize the reaction Queen had Monday on the team’s Week 7 defensive performance.
That type of phrase is reserved for situations that are out of a person’s control. For that reason, it’s possible Queen will rub some fans the wrong way with his Monday reaction to Week 7.
It’s also not like the Steelers have been elite defense this season and just had a bad night in Cincinnati.
“If Thursday was the Steelers’ first poor defensive performance of the year, it would be a lot easier to flush it and chalk it up to life in the NFL,” wrote Steelers Depot’s Joe Clark. “But the reality is the defense has been bad more than it’s been good.
“The Steelers have allowed 30 points in three of their six games this season, they’ve struggled against the run, and when they aren’t getting pressure, teams have thrown all over them.”
Queen’s reaction would probably also be more acceptable for some pundits if the Steelers had a young or inexperienced defense. But the team has decorated veterans all over the unit.
Queen and his defensive teammates are paid as such too. According to Spotrac, the Steelers are spending the most amount of salary cap space on their defense in the league this season.
That’s a big reason why there was so much disappointment expressed in the media over the Steelers’ Week 7 defense.
Steelers Moving Forward to Face Green Bay Packers
In Queen’s defense, how he and the team played Thursday is now out of his control. All he and his teammates can do now is be better going forward.
The linebacker took more accountability in other answers to the media to begin this week.
“I don’t think we were physical enough,” Queen said. “I don’t think we was expecting them to run. Because the whole ranking and all this and that, like hey, they’ll run the ball this amount of times, whatever.
“So, I think we got pretty complacent with thinking they wasn’t gonna run a lot.
“Definitely can’t have that, definitely gotta get better at that.”
The Steelers will be aiming to bounce back against the first-placed Green Bay Packers. The Packers will visit Acrisure Stadium on Sunday Night Football.
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