Ryan Clark’s drama with the Steelers and Mike Tomlin, explained

Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark started drama with the team, including Mike Tomlin and Diontae Johnson.

The Steelers effort last Sunday against the Buffalo Bills was tough to watch — literally. Pittsburgh was down early and often in the first half to a far superior opponent. The only bright spot was, perhaps, rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.

Now, a poor performance and lack of effort are two separate points entirely. Clark suggested that the team lacked actual effort, meaning they weren’t trying to their best ability, in Buffalo.

This rubbed some current Steelers the wrong way, and it’s easy to understand why.

Ryan Clark backtracks comment about Steelers

ESPN reporter Brooke Pryor paraphrased Clark’s statement to Diontae Johnson, who was not a fan to say the least.

Clark then proceeded to go after Pryor, stating that it’s silly for players to have to answer questions about what analysts have to say on television. However, a statement that vulgar from a former Steeler is newsworthy in its own right, so it’s easy to understand why Pryor asked in the first place.

Clark continued to dig his own grave, but did so graciously, complimenting Mike Tomlin in the process.

The ESPN analyst seems to have an ax to grind with Pryor, either because he feels like his comment was misconstrued or because he didn’t think it would be posed to the current Steelers in the form of a question.

Tomlin is the only person, minus Pryor, who handled this situation like a professional.

“Ryan is paid for commentary,” Tomlin said. “I understand that, and I think our guys understand that. I mean, he’s on ESPN every single day, and so it’s his job to talk about what transpired and we realize how poorly we played on Sunday. So we don’t dispute anything that somebody says from a commentary perspective, or dig too much into it.”

And there you have it — much was made about nothing.