ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark did not hold back on the costly mistake by current Pittsburgh wide receiver Chase Claypool in the Steelers’ 36–28 loss on Thursday night.
Clark, who played for the Steelers from 2006 to ’13, weighed in on Claypool’s behavior on ESPN’s First Take Friday morning. He said the star wideout “did what he wanted to” in the Steelers final drive with the game on the line and no time outs.
“What he wanted to do in that moment was celebrate a first down … not a touchdown, not something that brings your team closer to winning the football game, a first down, what you are paid to do,” Clark said.
“You are paid to get to 10 yards in four downs. That’s your job … You do your job and then explicably forget what moment you’re in. We’ve watched future Hall of Famers like Larry Fitzgerald run faster for the downing of the ball to the official in order to give his team another play.”
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with Claypool on a nine-yard pass with 42 seconds remaining in the game. Instead of hurrying to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball, Claypool chose to celebrate his catch by giving an extended signal of a first down. Claypool’s antics forced an offensive lineman to attempt to get the ball from him, but it rolled away in the sequence, removing precious seconds off the clock.
“I got tackled near the hash,” Claypool told reporters. “Did my little first down point. Went to hand the ball to the ref. He just got there. So, even I got right up and looked for him, he wasn’t there.
“But I definitely do have to be better. I knew the situation, I know I’m near the has. I know the ball is placed on the hash. I’ve got to be better.”
While Claypool realizes he needed to be better in a potential game-winning drive, Clark further emphasized the Claypool was worried about himself and that his behavior is part of a larger “every man for himself” attitude currently within the Steelers’ organization.
“He [Claypool] said exactly what he wanted to say … I got the first down and I did my first down point … There was no our, there was no we, it was about I,” Clark said.
“We keep thinking of the Pittsburgh Steelers from a historic perspective, we got to think of this current team, we got to look at the team that is soft. We got to look at the team that Tomlin called JV up front on both sides of the ball, we got to look at the team that is selfish … This is not a team that understands the historic tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers are.”
Pittsburgh (6-6-1) suffered its sixth loss of the season and fell to the 10th seed in the AFC playoff race.
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