After a third straight defeat, NFL insiders interpreted December 25 postgame comments from Pittsburgh Steelers players to mean one defender was largely responsible for the significant step back the team’s defense has taken in recent weeks. One of those postgame comments came from Steelers captain and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward.

But on the latest episode of his “Not Just Football” podcast, Heyward clarified that on December 25 he was not trying to point to one player as the problem for the Steelers defense.

“Guys, I did not mean someone in particular,” Heyward told his co-host Hayden Walsh. “All I was simply saying is when you don’t have 11 guys doing their jobs and one guys doesn’t , or two guys or three guys or four, vice versa, you name it.

“But when you don’t have everybody doing their jobs, you are putting yourself at risk of the offense.”

Heyward continued, criticizing anyone who thought he would use the media to publicly blame one of his teammates.

“To think we would zero down on one person, say, ‘Hey, you’re not doing your job, and I’m gonna use the media to do that,’ like, I’m a grown man. If I have a problem with somebody, I’m gonna go talk to them. And I’m probably talking to them on the field,” said Heyward.

“We don’t have this thing where I’m trying to put somebody in a position where they gotta answer questions about that. That’s not fair.”