{"id":1017348,"date":"2026-10-03T08:54:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1017348\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:54:33","slug":"steelers-frustrations-t-j-watt-cam-heyward-aaron-rodgers-voice-displeasure-during-after-loss-to-browns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1017348\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ frustrations: T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Aaron Rodgers voice displeasure during, after loss to Browns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> had a frustrating night on Thursday, and it showed. Numerous players were visibly upset, from quarterback<\/a>\u00a0Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, to defensive stars T.J. Watt<\/a> and Cam Heyward.<\/p>\n

The Steelers were down 21-7 against the Cleveland Browns<\/a> with less than two minutes to go in the first half, with their second-quarter drives reading “interceptions, punt, missed field goal” and the home team’s resulting in “touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.”<\/p>\n

It was a tough showing for the offense and defense and one player decided to take things into his own hands.<\/p>\n

Watt, a former Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time Pro Bowler, asked for a coach’s headset so he could speak to those in the booth, including defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. I’m not a body language expert, but it certainly didn’t look like a pleasant conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s a look:<\/p>\n

It’s certainly not typical for a player to do this, so Watt must have really felt strongly about how the game was called to step in.<\/p>\n

Whatever Watt did seemed to work to some degree, as the Steelers came back to tie the game with just under two minutes to go, but ultimately lost 27-24 after a late field goal from the Browns.<\/p>\n

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Watt said after the game. “To not sit here at 3-1 isn’t acceptable. Obviously, it’s a long season to go, but we just have to put it together.”<\/p>\n

He said there were situations in the game that they feel like they would want back or done better, and they’ll watch film this week to see where those spots were.<\/p>\n

Watt added that there is an urgent need to improve, saying, “We have to get better and get better quick.”<\/p>\n

When asked if he felt there was anything weighing the defense down, he gave a very immediate and strong, “No.”<\/p>\n

While total yards on offense (Browns 372 to 361), turnovers (2 per team), third down efficiency (Steelers: 4-of-13, Browns: 4-of 10) and red zone efficiency (Steelers: 2-of-3, Browns 2-of-2) were comparable, the Browns easily marched down the field when it mattered most. The former first overall pick took accountability for the defense’s woes, while giving credit to his offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We always have faith,” Watt said on the near comeback. “Anytime we have 8 [Rodgers] at quarterback we’ve seen those guys move the ball up and down the field all the time so we’re just trying to give those guys a chance and we didn’t do it tonight.”<\/p>\n

He was far from the only Steeler to have a notable reaction during the game. Seven-time Pro Bowler Cam Heyward appeared to scream<\/a> at another player, “That’s f—-ed up man. That’s f—iing crazy!”<\/p>\n

The cameras also caught Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy in a heated exchange<\/a>, using colorful language other over play calls.<\/p>\n

After the game, McCarthy unsurprisingly got questions about what was said and his response could also apply to Watt and Heyward.<\/p>\n

“What’s said on the field, the way I grew up in this game, usually stays on the field. That’s not the case today. I understand that. Any negative communication on my part, I wish I wouldn’t use those words,” McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

The Steelers now sit at 2-2, with their other loss coming in a blowout defeat against the struggling New England Patriots<\/a> in Week 2. Next up for Pittsburgh is the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, who sit at 1-2 coming into Week 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers had a frustrating night on Thursday, and it showed. Numerous players were visibly upset, from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1017349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1586,54,7,392,249,6,57,5226],"class_list":["post-1017348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-football","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-t-j-watt"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117376140177794207","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1017349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}