On Saturday, ESPN reported that, after last Sunday’s loss to the Browns, Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson and Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick got into a heated argument. Defensive lineman Cam Heyward and linebacker T.J. Watt broke it up.
After Sunday’s win over the Bengals, I asked Heyward if he wanted to add anything to the report.
“Not really,” Heyward said by phone from the team bus. “I just think for the most part things like that happen on a team all the time. Unfortunately, it became a story but man at the end of the day, it’s not gonna cause a rift or anything. It’s football. We expect you to be passionate about it. When our guys are passionate about it, we handle it. And we keep it moving.”
It’s a great take on the situation. Football is an emotional game. It’s important to care. It’s better to care too much than to not care at all.
And it’s easier to avoid the passions boiling over when things are going well. Today, they were.