Desperate to find some sort of way to get his players focused and turn their season around after an 0-4 start, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has banned all games and recreational activities from the Steelers locker room to turn the focus back to winning football games.
According to ESPN, Tomlin has extended a prohibition that was only to be used for players with less than four years of experience. While games can be a nice distraction for his team off the field to unwind, Tomlin thinks that outlawing them will hopefully keep his team focused on trying to fix its troubles after a bad start.
His team, it would seem, agrees.
"It makes everything focus on football right now," left guard Ramon Foster told ESPN "which is A-OK with me."
Veteran players such as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, safety Ryan Clark and defensive end Brett Keisel had passed an edict that younger players couldn't play games during the team's workout time in the locker room after their 0-2 start, but as the team slipped to 0-4, Tomlin decided to extend it to all the players in the locker room.
"It divided the team in a way since one set of people couldn't do a certain thing," said Clark, one the Steelers' captains and a 12-year veteran, according to ESPN. "[Tomlin] just wanted everybody to be together because we're all in the losses together. We're all in the business of fixing this problem together, and we didn't want anything to divide us."
Added Clark: "Nobody is really tripping about it." We understand the spirit in which it's done in, and we're just playing football."
The Steelers are hoping to right the ship and that a bye week in Week 5 will help them come into Sunday's game with the New York Jets (3-2) with a clear head and a new focus on winning.
The Steelers dropped their season opener to the Tennessee Titans 16-9 before falling to the Cincinnati Bengals 20-10 in Week 2. Pittsburgh then dropped its Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears 40-23 before falling in Week 4 to the Minnesota Vikings 34-27.
Roethlisberger has had a bit of a rough start as his five touchdowns match his five interceptions, and he's gone 103-for-162 (63.6%) for 1,231 yards while being sacked an astounding 15 times in the first two weeks.
The Steelers hope that coming into MetLife Stadium Sunday that their new rules will leave them clear headed enough to win their first game of the season. If not, an 0-5 start could start to put the lights out on their season.
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