What Art Rooney II spoke this week won't matter. What action he takes, that will matter.
So, to that end, oh, you bet, he's off to a lousy start.
Because in espousing accountability the other day at the Rooney Complex, saying, "When you miss the playoffs, nobody gets absolved — coaches, players, scouts, front office," he also was fresh off singling out one favorite media outlet for a one-on-one questioning the previous week. Say what one will about Mike Tomlin's press conferences or Kevin Colbert's lack of accessibility, neither would pull a bush-league stunt like that. Especially not so soon after what should have been an embarrassing, humbling episode for all concerned. When those two are available, they're available to face questioning from everyone.
Once all major outlets were eventually invited to meet with Rooney, our Dale Lolley asked the owner about the perception that his team's setting has become circus-like, and this was his response: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s nonsense. We work hard to get to where we are. I think you evaluate the season, we didn’t achieve our goal of winning the division, but we finished a half-game of winning the division. We had a lot of opportunities to get there. It’s disappointing, but I’m not sure how that makes you a circus.”
This, not surprisingly, generated the bulk of the public fuss afterward. Which is one of countless reasons that facing questioning from everyone comes with real value.
That aside ... I know this won't be popular, but I'll agree with Rooney on this specific stance.
There isn't a circus. There's never been a circus.
There's just been one clown.
I've been bringing up this point in discussions, casual or otherwise, for a couple weeks now, and I've found it takes only one query to kill the debate: Name another player on the current 53-man roster who's been part of this circus.
Hello?
Anyone?
Yeah, the crickets chirp every time.
Occasionally, there's some random Hail Mary about Ben Roethlisberger's radio show or even Le'Veon Bell's contract dispute, but the former's as common as common gets, and the latter is, you know, a contract dispute. It's got nothing to do with any kind of atmosphere or culture or whatever other teams are being tossed around.
LeGarrette Blount was a problem. Gone in midseason.
James Harrison was a problem toward the end. Gone in midseason.
Joey Porter was a problem that lingered a year or two too long. He's gone now, too.
Who else? What else?
Everything else can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to Antonio Brown. A crazy person. A fool. And, as Rooney took care to delineate, none of AB's behavior was anything the team couldn't tolerate or navigate until he finally went off the deep end by abandoning his teammates before a must-win Week 17 game.
Where, pray tell, does such behavior get predicted, much less prevented?
This circus portrayal originates, of course, with a huge, highly vocal portion of the Nation being upset with Tomlin. Or outright hating him. They'll latch onto anything at all -- even the departure of a 59-year-old offensive line coach to be closer to his family, for crying out loud -- to keep tearing the guy down.
I'll criticize Tomlin as vociferously as anyone, as the writings here have shown over the years, but I'll work hard to keep it fair. When he messes up on the field, I'm all over it. When he cuts off his own postseason press conference, I'll pounce. When he stubbornly refuses to use video replay properly, I'll pound the issue into submission.
But affixing this AB stuff to the head coach, combined with this concoction of some broader culture or 'circus' issue, this is precisely what Rooney called it: It's nonsense.
• Maybe the most indefensible statement from Rooney's gathering with all outlets was blaming -- no, the prioritization of blaming -- Chris Boswell for the Steelers missing the playoffs: "No. 1 was a lack of even an average kicking game. For somewhat inexplicable reasons, our kicker went from one of the best to one of the worst in the league. The games we won close last year, we didn’t win this year."
And that was on the kicker?
That's scapegoating of the lowest order, and it was jarring from a man of such composure.
As Ramon Foster told me on the season's final Sunday, "Don't be putting this on Boz. This was on all of us. Every single one of us."
• No team in town could covet more from their locker-room leadership than what the Steelers get from Cam Heyward and Maurkice Pouncey. And those two aren't alone. Once AB is out of there, once the worst of the exceptions is excised, that'll become all the more obvious, at least to those operating with open minds.
• Everyone's ready to roast Tomlin and Colbert over drafting anytime the Steelers lose, but having the top three picks of their 2017 class -- T.J. Watt, JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner -- selected for the Pro Bowl is damned impressive. Congrats are in order not just to the athletes but also to those who scouted, selected and developed them.
• The usual theme for the draft complaints is defensive duds, perceived or otherwise, such as Jarvis Jones, Artie Burns and now Bud Dupree, as well as other unnamed unproductive players from the first three rounds over the past five drafts. Well, Jones was a bona fide bust. Burns is looking like one, too. I'm nowhere near affixing that label to Dupree. Beyond those three, there are eight others: Watt's been wonderful. Stephon Tuitt, Sean Davis and Javon Hargrave are fellow starters. So was Terrell Edmunds as a rookie. Cam Sutton might get that chance next season. Ryan Shazier was a great pick. Senquez Golson might have been a good pick coming from Ole Miss with a history as a ballhawking corner, but his bum shoulder crushed his chances.
So we're talking about ... what, Jarvis still?
Or Jarvis, Artie and Bud out of all 11 of those guys?
Come on.
• Jim Rutherford told our Chris Bradford yesterday in Arizona that the Penguins haven't decided whether or not to trade Derick Brassard, dismissing the matter thusly: “That’s somebody else deciding that he's the topic of the day.”
Hm. OK.
Let's find a respectful way to phrase this: Rutherford makes lots of good trades. And one reason he's been able to do that for a long time is that he doesn't devalue existing assets. Ultimate case in point, at least over his tenure in Pittsburgh, was how he'd endlessly build up beleaguered Derrick Pouliot, right up until the day he was finally, mercifully able to send Pouliot to Vancouver. That's Smart GMing 101.
• Didn't understand the Derek Grant signing from the first shift he took at training camp. He couldn't keep up, he wouldn't use his size, and he didn't have the hands to compensate. So getting anything at all in a trade for him, much less a younger, faster, snarlier player in Joseph Blandisi from Anaheim, certainly mitigates that.
The Penguins could use more of what Blandisi brings, less of what Grant brought. Their most common issue when things haven't gone well has been a lack of energy. As one team official observed at one point earlier this season, every once in a while this group occasionally needs that one nutty guy to fly around, make opponents mad, and get everyone's attention.
• Speaking of the Ducks, remember their ridiculous losing streak?
That ended late last night at an even dozen with a 3-0 win over the Wild in St. Paul, and it coincided with Daniel Sprong being demoted for the first time down to the fourth line, his ice time reduced to 12:53, part of Randy Carlyle's biggest shakeup yet:
Lots of changes to the lineup tonight, and we have them all for you below!#LetsGoDucks pic.twitter.com/QcdXg13ebP
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 18, 2019
I didn't get the impression from Carlyle out there that his evaluation of Sprong was any different than Mike Sullivan's. That's why I'm sharing this. Even though Sullivan has won championships by trusting young players, even rookies, there's this weird tendency to paint him as not liking young players. It's not applicable at all.
Coaches like players they can trust.
• No one stops Patric Hornqvist, not on the ice, not off it, not even at the Cranberry Starbucks, which he'll enter with enough palpable purpose that the poor barista's probably quaking while pouring out the steamed milk.
The onus is ultimately on him, as with any concussion victim, to be truthful with a medical staff about his symptoms. There's only so much independent/outside testing that can be done. Most of it consists of asking a lot of questions about how one is feeling, how one is reacting. And if he or anyone wants to swindle that process, he can.
This man's had five concussions now in the past three seasons, and that's just the number that's been reported. But he just flew to Phoenix to participate in two fairly hollow regular-season games when he could have stayed in Pittsburgh and had 20 consecutive days to recover -- elapsed injury time plus the looming All-Star break -- and he'll be right back out on the ice tonight against the Coyotes.
It's not a perfect process. But before faulting the Penguins or their medical staff, remember the individual still holds the keys in this case. And this particular individual is more stubborn than most.
• Garrett Wilson got a ringing endorsement from Rutherford, too. Sounds like he'll now be a fourth-line fixture.
I'm OK with that. He's been effective on the forecheck, committed on the penalty-kill, and he's at least got an AHL history of sticking up for his teammates, evident by being captain in Wilkes-Barre as well as through the odd fight. But based on what I've heard, he'll need to get a lot meaner to truly stick in the NHL. That's what the Penguins want to see.
• Rick Tocchet's Coyotes are No. 1 in the NHL in penalty-killing at a surreal 88.2 percent, they've got 12 short-handed goals -- including a beauty Wednesday night by Richard Panik against the Sharks -- and they're facing an opponent that passes out short-handed chances like M&Ms on Halloween.
What could go wrong?
• Next schedule entry for the Pirates is the annual PiratesFest, Jan. 26 at PNC Park, and this one sounds pretty cool.
Yeah, it's fallen off a cliff from what it used to be. As recently as a handful of years ago, it was a three-day extravaganza filling the massive top floor of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, bringing more than 10,000 visitors, even with a $10 cover charge. We Pittsburghers love our big events, and this was one of the biggest each winter.
Now, it's down to one afternoon -- noon to 5 p.m. -- in the much smaller indoor areas of the stadium, and admission is instead a $10 donation to the Pittsburgh Police's Fallen Officers Fund, with all in attendance getting a free calendar as an extra lure.
But is it worse?
I'd dispute that. If anything, this is more of what this team should have been doing before allowing the civic relationship to deteriorate to this stage. Autographs for current players used to require a charge, and now they're free for all children. Many of the team's most prominent players -- Starling Marte, Corey Dickerson, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell among them -- will be on hand, as will Bill Mazeroski and other legends. So will Clint Hurdle and his staff. And, in what patrons have told me has been their favorite component since the move, the stadium itself is part of the attraction, including a walk along the warning track and through the dugout.
Good for the Pirates for making the smart adjustment. A little humility goes a long way in this town.