Alejandro Villaneuva says blame lies with Steelers players, not coaches
PITTSBURGH 鈥� Accountability and discipline, or the lack of both, have become the buzz words around the Steelers of late.
A four-game losing streak that has seen the Steelers drop from Super Bowl contender to 4-5 and fighting for their playoff lives, has left some pointing fingers. Some have hurled the blame at the coaching staff, Mike Tomlin in particular.
Alejandro Villaneuva is not one of them.
Having been raised in a military family and having served in an elite Army unit, accountability and discipline aren鈥檛 new concepts to Villanueva. They have been a way of life.
Villaneuva, a highly decorated Army Rangers captain, says don鈥檛 blame the generals. This one鈥檚 on the soldiers or, in this case, the Steelers players themselves. They are the ones who are not executing, not playing with a sense of urgency.
鈥淗ow you practice is going to show up on Sundays and that鈥檚 the biggest problem we, as players, have failed to address,鈥� Villanueva said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not being accountable on the things that we must correct. The things that we have been told by the coaches 鈥� the coaches have done a great job of laying down the foundation for the week, of setting all the keys to victory on paper. We鈥檙e all aware of them, but then during the week, we don鈥檛 execute the plays the way they should be.鈥�
The Steelers have just failed to 鈥渃onnect the dots,鈥� according to Villanueva. During the course of this four-game slide, the Steelers have publicly said all the right things, spouted all the clich茅s, but have failed to put a consistent performance together.
Villanueva doesn鈥檛 pretend to know all the answers and doesn鈥檛 absolve himself from blame. The offensive line, which figured to be among the best in franchise history, has underperformed. But he does know that preparation in the classroom hasn鈥檛 been a problem. It鈥檚 been a matter of transferring it onto the practice field and then into games.
鈥淚 feel especially guilty and embarrassed because guys like (offensive line) coach (Mike) Munchak and (offensive assistant) coach (Shaun) Sarrett stay up to 2 in the morning on Monday and Tuesday breaking down film and doing a lot of hard work to get us ready for our opponents and it truly gives us every answer and it comes to the game and we come up short,鈥� Villanueva said.
鈥淵ou feel for the guys who have put in more work than you. Even though you鈥檙e the one out there playing, you understand there鈥檚 a great network and system of coaches that are trying to provide us with every single answer.鈥�
Ultimately, the answers will have to come from within the locker room. The Steelers have seven games to determine whether this four-game slide is a bump on the road or the signs of a team that was crushed by lofty expectations. The one thing the Steelers must do, according to veteran guard Ramon Foster, is they must stick together.
鈥淭he thing we can鈥檛 do is bury ourselves,鈥� said Foster. 鈥淎t this point, it seems like everybody鈥檚 against us. Everybody in this locker room has to be about us. Everything that鈥檚 going on right now is about us. We have to treat it that way.鈥�