The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ 2-2 start has created plenty of questions, but Pat Freiermuth wants to clear up one of the biggest narratives that came out of Mike McCarthy’s latest comments.
McCarthy raised eyebrows Monday when he said Pittsburgh needed to “clean our own house” after a 27-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. The quote quickly took on a life of its own, with some interpreting it as a warning about bigger problems inside the Steelers locker room.
Freiermuth says that wasn’t what McCarthy meant.
PennLive’s Nick Farabaugh reported Tuesday that Freiermuth said McCarthy’s message was about correcting what Pittsburgh put on film through the first four weeks and getting everyone on the same page before the next stretch of the season.
Pat Freiermuth Pushes Back on Steelers Locker Room Narrative
McCarthy’s original comments came while discussing Pittsburgh’s plan for a self-scout before turning its attention toward the Indianapolis Colts.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor shared the line that quickly spread across social media.
“We need to clean our own house. Our house is not clean right now,” McCarthy said.
Freiermuth believes too much was read into it.
“I think people got took that inaccurately. It was more so of us going over the first four weeks, what we can get better at, going on the same page, and what we can do over the next four weeks until the bye week. Everything is good in the locker room. We are working to win. We’re 2-2, we wish we were better, but there are things on film that are correctable that we are able to fix.”
Pittsburgh has certainly given McCarthy plenty to clean up from a football standpoint.
The Steelers have alternated wins and losses through four games. They beat Atlanta in the opener, lost 20-3 at New England, rebounded with a 30-27 win over Cincinnati and then fell in Cleveland.
The latest loss included another uneven performance. Pittsburgh fell behind 21-10 before Aaron Rodgers led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to tie the game, only for Cleveland to win on Andre Szmyt’s 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining.
Mike McCarthy Using Steelers’ Mini-Break for Self-Scout
Pittsburgh had a longer break after playing Thursday night, and McCarthy is using it to focus internally.
The Steelers spent Tuesday reviewing their first four games before beginning their normal preparation for Indianapolis.
That fits Freiermuth’s explanation much more closely than the idea that McCarthy was publicly calling out a broken locker room.
The timing matters, too.
Pittsburgh has four games before its Week 9 bye: Indianapolis at home, road games against Tampa Bay and New Orleans, then another matchup with Cleveland at Acrisure Stadium.
At 2-2, that stretch could go a long way toward determining what McCarthy’s first season in Pittsburgh becomes.
There are obvious issues to correct. The Steelers have dealt with inconsistency on both sides of the ball, injuries throughout the secondary and stretches where an offense led by Rodgers has struggled to sustain drives.
Freiermuth isn’t disputing any of that.
He is disputing the idea that McCarthy’s words were a warning about something more serious happening behind closed doors.
The Steelers’ house may need cleaning.
According to Freiermuth, the locker room itself isn’t the mess.
Steelers’ Pat Freiermuth Clears Air on Mike McCarthy’s ‘House Cleaning’ Comment