Tim Benz: Quieter Steelers on social media? So far, no good
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An early question has been raised about the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers.
Did the team purge itself of players who do distracting, corrosive, nitwit-like things such as Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, Martavis Bryant and James Harrison?
Or did they just pave the way for younger, louder, less-accomplished nitwits to emerge?
Unfortunately, so far, the latter seems to be true.
I didn’t watch “Game of Thrones.” I liked “Breaking Bad,” though. And one recurring theme of “Breaking Bad” was that as soon as a group of bad guys got killed off, new bad guys filled the void.
For instance, Walter White took over for the drug dealers he killed in the first few episodes. Then the twin hitmen appeared, and Walter knocked them off, too. After that, Walter blew up Gustavo Fring so the meth-dealing biker gang could become the villains.
I get the feeling that’s what’s happening to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now that Harrison is muckraking on FS1, Bryant is petitioning the league for reinstatement, Bell is causing front-office upheaval in New York and Brown is still tweeting away in Oakland, those of us in Pittsburgh are wondering who the new internet distraction jockeys will be in Black and Gold.
It didn’t take very long to figure out.
On Monday, Terrell Edmunds “liked” that Brown tweet, which seemed to be calling Ben Roethlisberger “two-face(d).”
Then on Wednesday, Bud Dupree called Steelers writer Mark Kaboly of The Athletic a “fat boy.”
Apparently Bud isn’t on the text chain about limiting distractions. pic.twitter.com/8tR04csD1k
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) May 22, 2019
Dupree has since deleted the tweet and made his account private.
If anyone knows about being too wide, it’s Dupree. Have you ever watched his path to the quarterback off the edge?
On the one hand, we should probably look at this as a positive. At least Dupree didn’t call Kaboly a racist or threaten to break his jaw as Brown has done in the past.
I see that as progress for the Steelers. A major step in the right direction.
Seriously, though, what is with these guys? When will they learn? And how badly does this reflect on head coach Mike Tomlin?
A lot, I think. If Tomlin hasn’t said anything to these jokers about keeping their thumbs in check, he should’ve. If he did say something, they ain’t listening.
Consider the irony here. Dupree kicked up this whole new situation Wednesday after a writer tried to credit JuJu Smith-Schuster for “taking the high road.” Yet Dupree seemed more concerned about deflecting criticism away from Brown 3,000 miles away, just as Edmunds liked Brown’s tweet.
Why? Because a reporter took a shot at Brown? So what?
Media members give opinions and disseminate information. That’s the job. Dupree should get more sacks. That’s his job.
It’s not Dupree’s role — or Edmunds’ — to stick up for Brown out in Oakland. Out of one corner of their mouths, these Steelers love to yap about how it’s time to move on and turn the page. Many players at practices this week have said that since those dismissed players are gone, they shouldn’t be talked about anymore.
However, within 72 hours, two ex-teammates went online to add their two cents on A.B. How is that letting it go, exactly? Wow. It took longer for fewer current Steelers to come out in defense of their Hall of Fame quarterback who is still on the roster, than a vocal faction did to defend the departed, defecting, no-show wide receiver.
That makes no sense.
Cam Heyward said of the Steelers’ social media fiascoes in recent years, “We’re talking about a few, not talking about the many.”
Sorry, Cam, I’d like to believe that. But the number of players prone to this social media stupidity is greater than you think.
And some of them are still on the roster.