Two things in the last day left a bad taste around the Steelers: Mike McCarthy leaving a group of players in Pittsburgh for the preseason finale in Buffalo, and D.K. Metcalf drawing heat for a video he posted to Instagram.
The Metcalf situation is the easier one to sort through. He recorded himself mocking a man working at a grocery store and then put the clip on his Instagram account.
The source makes clear that criticism of someone’s appearance is one thing; broadcasting it for laughs is another. The reaction has been harsh, and the piece says Metcalf was “rightfully dragged by most fans” for it.
The writer also points to how surprising the episode felt by asking, “can you imagine Troy Polamalu doing such a thing?”
The other issue is less flashy, but it bothered the writer just as much. During last night’s preseason finale in Buffalo, several players weren’t visible, and it later became clear that Cam Heyward, T.J.
Watt, Aaron Rodgers, D.K. Metcalf and Michael Pittman, Jr stayed back in Pittsburgh.
The game was only a three-hour road trip north, which made the decision stand out even more.
That’s where the frustration with McCarthy kicks in. The source argues that if these players weren’t going to Buffalo, then the better move would have been to keep them home for the earlier games in Pittsburgh too.
From that view, letting them stay behind sends the wrong message. The writer leans on a personal standard shaped by coaches who demanded accountability and discipline: if you were part of the team, you showed up, whether it was a game or a scrimmage.
The point isn’t that either incident changes the team’s season. The source says flatly that they won’t “make or break this team.” But both moments, in the writer’s view, are poor looks - one because of Metcalf’s behavior, the other because of the precedent set by McCarthy.
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