Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward shut down the narrative that the Steelers quit in last Saturday night’s Wild Card loss the Baltimore Ravens. He believes effort wasn’t the problem.
“You had guys like Patrick Queen fighting through illness. If they’re giving less than 100 percent, they’ve got to live with that, but from my perspective, there wasn’t anybody like that,” Heyward said on his Not Just Football podcast.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Monday on X that Queen had the flu in last Saturday night’s loss to the Ravens. Queen had to received four IV bags before the game, in which he totaled 10 tackles, six being solo efforts.
Kirk Herbstreit ripped Pittsburgh’s first-half effort in last Saturday’s loss to the Ravens. At times, it looked like multiple Steelers players didn’t even want to be there.
“Where the hell is the fight?! This is the Pittsburgh Steelers! There’s nothing! They’re just going through the motions!” Herbstreit said during the Amazon Prime broadcast. Ravens All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey also sensed some internal issues with the Steelers.
The Steelers have received a lot of flak from the media and fanbase for not winning a playoff game in eight years, but Heyward clarified that the players are even more frustrated. He said the loss to Baltimore was unacceptable.
“Yeah, this is our life. We live for this. And it’s not just letting our fans down, it’s just letting ourselves down. We carry so much on our shoulders,” Heyward said. “We appreciate every fan that’s there that cares. But it doesn’t … we’re more than just frustrated.”
