Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward. Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

Steelers players downplay 'heated' locker room argument

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 11/26/23

Word surfaced on Saturday that several Pittsburgh Steelers star players were involved in a "heated" locker room argument following their Week 11 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Several players downplayed the altercation following their 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and chalked it up as the sort of thing that tends to happen over the course of a long season.

Defensive lineman Cam Heyward, who is also one of the team's biggest leaders and was apparently a part in calming things down in the locker room, told ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio on Sunday that the team expects players to be passionate about football and the results.

“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.”

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson shared a similar sentiment.

Diontae Johnson on the reported altercation w/Minkah Fitzpatrick last week: "That's my brother at the end of the day. We are passionate about the game. Everybody wants to win. You all can’t look at it as we had an all-out brawl or whatever. It wasn’t that. Don't get it twisted."
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) November 26, 2023

Johnson was seen being visibly upset on the sidelines in an emotional discussion with members of the coaching staff.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Saturday that Johnson continued to chirp at the coaching staff on their way off the field, resulting in defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick stepping in.

Johnson and Fitzpatrick continued to have words in the locker room, leading to Heyward and T.J. Watt stepping in to as cooler heads to try and put a stop to it.

The Steelers fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada just two days later with the offense looking significantly better in its first game without him.

At the end of the day Heyward and Johnson are right. Heated arguments will happen all of the time in the NFL. Football is an emotional and physical game and sometimes people have disagreements. Sometimes those disagreements become very intense. It happens. We just do not always hear about them.

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