Another Steelers loss, another series of criticism from team alumni

For the second time in three weeks, former Pittsburgh Steelers ripped the current iteration after an abysmal performance Thursday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

But Ryan Clark had the most blistering take of all.

Speaking on ESPN’s “Get Up” Friday morning less than 12 hours after the Steelers’ 36-28 loss in Minneapolis, Clark tore into Steelers receiver Chase Claypool — but the ex-Steelers safety didn’t spare the organization as a whole.

“That’s what’s wrong with this team,” Clark said at one point during a rant of almost 2 minutes that mostly focused on Claypool. “No accountability, no thumbs pointed (inward) at me (by any players), to say, ‘I’m the reason.’”

Claypool had eight catches on nine targets for a game-high 93 receiving yards, but he had a first-quarter personal foul unnecessary roughness flag and fumbled soon thereafter (it was overturned by replay review).

But what Claypool is catching the most ire for is his celebration after a first-down catch with less than a minute to go, the Steelers out of timeouts and trailing by eight points. While the rest of the team rightly scrambled furiously to line up to preserve time and spike the ball to stop the clock, Claypool froze in a pose he’d struck with an arm extended while holding the ball.

Claypool even appeared annoyed that veteran teammate Trai Turner ran over to grab the ball from him.

.@Realrclark25 went OFF on Chase Claypool ????

"Chase Claypool is as mentally and emotionally underdeveloped as he is physically overdeveloped. ... He only cares about himself! And that self-centeredness is part of what's bringing the Steelers team and organization down." pic.twitter.com/1ElNGKx5EU

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) December 10, 2021

“Chase Claypool is as mentally and emotionally under-developed as he is physically over-developed,” Clark said. “This is a dude who has all of the things you need from a physical standpoint to be a superstar wide receiver (but) he has a remedial level of mental understanding of what it is to be a football player, of what it is to be a good teammate, of what it is to be a winner.”

Claypool was criticized on social media among fans, former players and outside media, including by longtime former Steelers defensive lineman and Clark teammate Brett Keisel, who poked fun of Claypool’s affinity for the social network TikTok.

“Way back in 2014 when I was playing,” read a message posted to Keisel’s verified Twitter account, “Tick Tock was spelled this way and meant the clock was running(.) Time flies.”

Columnist @MarkMaddenX: Chase Claypool’s stupidity, selfishness and narcissism killed the Steelers on Thursday. https://t.co/4UICtYbWRh

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 10, 2021

After the game, Claypool acknowledged he “has to be better.” But he also said the officials were not near him to collect the ball and that the ball later getting pried loose by a Vikings player was the biggest issue regarding the situation.

The sequence perhaps cost the Steelers one more chance to tie — and ultimately, perhaps win — the game. Regulation ended when a first-down pass to Pat Freiermuth in the end zone was knocked away amidst three Vikings defenders.

“After he got the first down,” said Clark, who played eight seasons for the Steelers and has been an ESPN analyst since 2015, “he did my thing. At that point it’s not about my thing, it’s about our thing. It’s about when you watch a guy like Larry Fitzgerald, who’s one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, sprint faster to give the ball to the referee and put it on the hash then he did to catch the football. It’s about our thing, when I make the mistake, when I do my first-down point…

“No, you weren’t looking for the referee, no you weren’t looking for the hash, you weren’t attempting to get the ball to the referee in order to get it placed where it needed to be in order for you to get the ball and have one extra play after Freiermuth gets the football knocked out of his hands.”

Claypool has eight penalties for 83 yards assessed against him this season — according to nflpenalties.com, no other wide receiver in the NFL has been penalized more than five times or for more than 45 yards. He had a personal foul called against him in the Steelers’ loss at the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 28.

After that game, Clark and Rocky Bleier were among former Steelers players who blasted the team.

“He only cares about himself,” Clark said, “and that self-centeredness is part of what is bringing this Pittsburgh Steelers team and organization down.”

Friday morning on KDKA-FM, former Steelers quarterback and current analyst Charlie Batch also expressed some exasperation with the current state of the team, which stands at 6-6-1 with four games to play.

“‘The standard is the standard’ was created because of the expectation levels that we have around here,” Batch said. “Right now, it’s not being met.

“I’m frustrated, everyone else is frustrated. It just gets to the point of where we are, mediocre, that’s where we are. If anyone were to ask you, ‘Where are you at with Steeler nation?’ We are just average because that’s what our record says and it’s shown that for a long time now.”

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