The 2018 Steelers season came to an anticlimactic finish, as the team posted a 9-6-1 record and failed to make the playoffs.
Monday — one day after getting officially eliminated from postseason contention — several players held court at the Rooney Complex, summarizing the season and its various ups and downs.
Among them, I was able to get some time with Cam Heyward, David DeCastro, Terrell Edmunds, Vance McDonald, Jordan Berry, and Mike Hilton.
You can read their comments in full below, but pay particular attention to the length and detail of some of the players’ responses. The mood was not a happy one in the locker room, and certain players handled the situation more seriously than others.
DeCastro's comments, for example, were particularly short and powerful, while McDonald still seemed shocked and sullen as his year came to a close.
VANCE MCDONALD
How do you decompress from the season and missing the playoffs? "Stepping away, just for an amount of time. You know, it usually takes me a few days, maybe a week before I even decide to look back and reflect on the season."
On making an impact this season: "(It came down to) availability. This was the first season that I was available for, I guess, 15 games. So that's a huge step I think, something that I battled for my first five years. That's great. In terms of numbers, that's something I don't really care too much about or value. I just care about winning and anything I can do to get us to win games, man, it's going to be a plus. It's something that I'm going to try to do and strive for."
Highlight of the year:
How do you recap this season? “It's all about just team success, and we didn't have enough of it this season. We're not in the playoffs and we're not playing right now, so, yeah. You always want to be better."
On viral stiff arm during Week 3: "I've had a couple of things, art that guys made me (of the play). It was pretty unbelievable. It's really cool. It's always going to, of course, be there to appreciate and enjoy."
JORDAN BERRY
How do you decompress and unpack from the season? “I don’t know — just hang out. I don’t really do anything crazy.”
On working with Matt McCrane on short notice: “Basically, you just got to get used to their hold, which it wasn’t that much different than Chris, so it didn’t take too much. His procedure was very similar as well, so there wasn’t really a whole lot of change on my end. It was just making sure he was comfortable with it all.”
On upcoming kicking competition with McCrane and Boswell: “It’s obviously something that they’re going to have to compete with each other, but yeah, it doesn’t really affect me. I’ve just got to go out there and hold the ball for them and make sure they’re happy with what I’m doing. That’s about it.”
Assessing his performance in 2018: “I just had a slow start. Obviously the first couple games weren’t great, but since then I got the hang time back up and yeah, we pretty much did what we needed to do for most of the year. We had goal-to-go that one return against the Chargers, but overall I was pretty happy with the later half of the season. So yeah, just gotta keep that going next year.”
CAM HEYWARD
Do you feel certain players over/underachieved this year? "When you don't accomplish your goals, you underachieve as a group, and that's what ultimately matters.
What went wrong? “Just missed opportunities. I'm not going to say it was just one person or one side of the ball or an aspect of the game, whether it was turnovers, offense, defense, not getting off the field in critical situations. Those are all things we all have to look at and be accountable for because it wasn't like we were not in these games to win. There were plenty of opportunities to be made, and we didn't capitalize on them."
MIKE HILTON
On disappointing finish: “We feel like we should be in the playoffs, but we let some games slip that cost us in the end and it hurt us... We gotta find ways to finish, defensively and offensively. Just find ways to close the games out when you have the opportunity.
“It’s frustrating — very frustrating. Like I said, we feel like we let some games go that hurt us in the end. A team of this caliber, we shouldn’t be in this type of situation. It’s part of it. We got guys that (are) going to be here next year, and we gotta make sure we do those things to put us in a better position for next year.”
The one loss that bothers him most:
On secondary's improvements through the season: "Anything can happen, but the guys we have, we know they’re capable of doing their job and getting the job done. As you can see, everybody was rotating and everybody was getting series, different series, and guys were making plays. The secondary as a whole, we came a long way, and we can only get better from here.”
Assessing his performance: “It was alright. Personally I feel like I missed a lot of plays and I gave up some plays that had (I made) pieces of the outcome would have turned differently. Overall, I feel like I played alright.”
TERRELL EDMUNDS
Which game do you wish you could have back? “You just don’t want to lose any games, so every game that we lost, I definitely say that we wish we could’ve had that game back, just wish that the outcome would’ve been different. We lost some tough games, we lost some games that we shouldn’t have lost, so we just gotta bite that bullet now because you can’t do anything about it now. Just gotta build off of it, keep that same drive, that same hunger for next year and just don’t get comfortable and we will come back even harder.”
Assessing his performance as a rookie: "You had your ups and downs of the season, just gotta keep on working, keep that same drive, that same mentality. Just gotta win ballgames. That's just the main focus coming out next year. We're dwelling on it right now, but in the offseason just work harder and work on the things coach (is) going to tell (us) in today's meeting and just work on that and get better at that.
Which veteran did he work most closely with? "Really all the older DBs, they definitely helped me out on the journey. They taught me their ways, they took me under their wing, just taught me how to be that pro from a college player, and they just stayed in my ear about everything. Keep on working, keep on moving forward and just keep making plays. That's just the main thing."
On evolving into a 'playmaking' role: "Sometimes with interceptions and things, they gotta come to you. Yeah, you can make some, but if you're not in that position to go and make that interception, you can't force it or you're going to put yourself in a bad position and give up a touchdown... We just gotta keep working in the offseason, come together as a team, grow in stripping the ball, grow in trying to just attack and get some takeaways."
On growth throughout the season: "I've definitely grown throughout the season. Beginning of the season was up-and-down, towards the latter part of the season (I) became more solid, helping out the defense more, just trying to be that player that everybody can depend on on the team. I just stay with my guys, staying team-first. I'm not trying to get all in my head, because I know these guys are going to be with me regardless — win, lose or draw."
On Coach Mike Tomlin: "I can't say enough about Coach T. He's a very smart man. He knows exactly what's going on on the field at all times. He tries to put guys in the best positions. He's trying to oversee everything. He's not trying to take over a position, but he's trying to oversee every position on the field. Coach T, I can't say enough about him because he's just a great coach overall, I'd say."
On Tom Bradley: "He's been good. He's been a good coach, just trying to get us in position. It's his first year too, so he's just trying to get us in a position to make plays and to keep on developing our game."
DAVID DECASTRO
Do you feel the team got what it deserved in missing the playoffs? "Football's an honest sport. That's why I love the game. It's honest, man. It lets you know how it feels about you and what you put in and what you get out. The record is what it is."
What does 9-6-1 say about this Steelers team? "It wasn't good enough. That's for sure."
Is leadership an issue in the locker room? "It's the NFL, man. It's a business. I don't know. That's how it is."
Do you feel the team subscribed to a 'less talk, more action' mentality? "We didn't make the playoffs. So I guess not."
On disappointing results despite lack of distractions: "I don't think the distractions were ever a big, huge factor. I think they're made to be more than they are. I think a lot of times a lot of guys in the room can just block them out and just go play football and not worry about it. So I don't know. I don't know what it was this year. Just not enough. Not enough."
Any regrets? "I don't live my life with regrets. That's for sure. You can ask some other people, I don't know, maybe they have some, but not me. It's how it is. Like I said, it's a brutally honest sport sometimes and we got what we got."