His voice welcome — in-house — on Steelers defense, DeShon Elliott isn’t afraid to use it

Of the six dozen or so players in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room, few speak their mind more openly — and more often — than DeShon Elliott.

“You know, DeShon is DeShon,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “He likes to talk. He’s great for you guys (in the media).”

Actually, not so much. Or, at least, not so often.

Highly self-aware, Elliott knows that though speaking his mind can have it advantages, doing so with reporters — in regards to in-house team issues or disagreements, at least — can sometimes not be in the best interests of himself or the Steelers.

Approached by a group of reporters Wednesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Elliott acknowledged as much.

“I know,” he said when told he was a good talker to media. “And that’s not good.”

Regardless, Elliott gave it a shot Wednesday, seven days after his comments soon following a blowout home Christmas Day defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs raised some eyebrows.

“If anyone knows me, I’m a very truthful person,” said Elliott, a veteran strong safety in his first season with the Steelers. “I don’t sugarcoat anything. So it was just in the moment.

“I meant what I said, but I should have phrased it different or not said anything at all. If I felt that way I should have said it behind closed doors.”

Among what Elliott said last week in regards to the Steelers’ third consecutive loss: “Guys can’t be (expletive) wide open… Guys just weren’t doing their job… It’s Week 18. We shouldn’t be having these problems in Week 18. It’s a Week 1-Week 2 problem… (The Steelers defense needs to) get the ball off the offense, play well in the red zone, get off the freaking field.”

Elliott wasn’t the only Steelers defensive player who was saying similar things and expressing frustration in what had evolved into a somewhat tension-filled locker room after three double-digit losses in 11 days. But his comments were the most poignant.

“I probably shouldn’t have said anything,” Elliott said before a walkthrough Wednesday morning. “Maybe should have kept things in-house just out of respect to the guys in the locker room and the coaches.

“But it was out of emotion. I love ball. Everyone knows that. I love these guys, but we just have to get back to the drawing board and we’re doing that… We’re just trying to work out the kinks, get back to playing Steeler football. I think we will, especially at this time of the year. Those couple of days we had off (late last week) give us some time to refresh our brains, get back to the basics and I think we’ll be OK.”

Elliott echoed coach Mike Tomlin’s characterization that the players on the Steelers defense “bicker because they care” and that they can emerge from the situation being better off for it in large part just by communicating with each other on and off the field.

“Being an adult,” Elliott said.

Austin said he welcomes input from any of his players.

“Guys always have suggestions … in terms of we’re grown men working together,” Austin said. “It’s not like (a coach says), ‘Hey, you do this,’ and, ‘I’m going to yell at you and you do this,’ and that’s the only way we’re going to do it. There’s always a collaboration between grown men as to what’s great and what’s best for us. Obviously, I’m going to have the final decision on what moves forward, but I want that input. I want the guys to be invested in the defense and what they do and how they get better.”