Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey spoke candidly during a Friday media session, and his words landed in the middle of an already tense week under first-year head coach Mike McCarthy. Ramsey, a multiple-time All-Pro and Super Bowl champion, used a question about new teammates to describe a gap between how players want to play and how the coaching staff is teaching it.
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“All the coaches have to put them out there with us, so that we can all get on the same page. There’s a little bit of a disconnect here right now, just with what we wanna do on the field, and how we play as a team, and how we play together as a secondary, versus just throwing a playbook in their hand, and coaches saying this is how it has to look, and that’s not how football works,” Ramsey said at the press conference.
Ramsey was asked how quickly Sean Murphy-Bunting and Terell Smith could adjust to the Steelers’ secondary after Joey Porter Jr. was traded. Following Pittsburgh’s loss to Cleveland, he said the newcomers need time on the field with their teammates, arguing that reading the playbook alone is not enough to get everyone playing together.
A reporter followed up by asking whether the disconnect was between his room and the coaching staff or between his group and the new guys. Ramsey pointed back to comments quarterback Aaron Rodgers made recently, when Rodgers said player-led teams are the best teams and that Pittsburgh needs to be “even more, probably.”
“Well, I think Aaron said it the other day in his press conference that the best teams that I’ve been on in my career are player-led teams, and we’re the ones on the field. We’re the ones that see and feel how the game’s going, and the flow of the game, and when we can all be on the same page, that usually brings some success. Instead of just some guys going with the flow of the game, some guys going off of experience, and then some guys having a playbook stuck in their locker.”
Ramsey’s comments that there is a “disconnect” between the team’s coaching staff and the players sparked a wave of headlines. While media and fan reactions characterized the situation as causing chaos or a rift right before a crucial game against the Colts in Week 5, Ramsey quickly moved to clarify his remarks and deny any ill intent.
“In regards to today’s media session, I rock wit the coaches. I have absolutely nothing but respect for them ALWAYS, but the best way to getting acclimated with new teammates is being on the field with them. That’s simple,” he wrote on X.
Ramsey added that new players need to hear the terminology the group uses on the field and that teammates need to see how they play different techniques within the system. He also pointed to former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, telling readers to ask Clark whether “Troy,” an apparent reference to Hall of Fame safety Troy Polamalu, played strictly by the playbook or worked with teammates on the field within it.
Besides that, he even addressed a separate rumor tied to Porter, the idea that he had encouraged his former teammate to fake a back injury and not to play.
“aye yall are crazy lol… the Joey narrative has to stop! I ain’t tell no damn body to not play lol; that’s just flat-out dumb! I still cheat when I play Madden! I want to be teammates with good players! Why would I tell a guy who I think is a top-5 corner to fake an injury?”
Jalen Ramsey’s Comments Land in the Middle of a Week of Friction Around McCarthy
The timing made Ramsey’s words travel. Pittsburgh dropped a Thursday night game to the Browns, 27-24, on a 56-yard field goal by Cleveland kicker Andre Szmyt, and a heated sideline exchange between Rodgers and McCarthy became a viral moment in the first quarter. On Monday, McCarthy said the following, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
“We need to clean our own house. Our house is not clean right now.”
The Steelers had also traded Porter to the Dallas Cowboys just before the Browns game, receiving a 2028 second-round pick and a conditional 2027 sixth-round pick, after Porter missed the first three games with a back injury and illness amid a contract standoff. With cornerback Jamel Dean also dealing with an injury, Pittsburgh’s depth in the secondary was already stretched. Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth said the comment was not accurately understood.
“It was more so us going over the first four weeks. What we can get better at. Get on the same page these next four games before the bye week. Everything is good in the locker room.”
Ramsey will have a chance to put his comments behind him when the Steelers face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, October 11. With Pittsburgh looking to respond after its loss to Cleveland, the game will test whether the secondary can build better on-field communication against the Colts.