Getty Image / Dylan Buell
Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers eking out a 16-10 win on the road in Cincinnati, Diontae Johnson got (justifiably) torched for his lack of effort on a pivotal play.
When running back Jaylen Warren fumbled the ball in the red zone the ball nearly hit him in the feet. But Diontae Johnson was seen walking unbothered and got torched for the lack of effort on the play.
Crying on the sideline last game. Dropping a td. What is this effort ??? pic.twitter.com/MpVFLTBu3L
— ricardo (@pvpes) November 26, 2023
Flash forward to mid-week and Diontae Johnson spoke to reporters about the embarrassing play. He told Chris Adamski of TribLIVE and other reporters that ‘it won’t happen again’ among other things.
Diontae Johnson addressed his Steelers teammates on the infamous fumble/effort situation.
Says he still expects to start Sunday.
“I’m not perfect… It won’t happen again… It looked bad on film.” pic.twitter.com/dBISBjtvNi
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 29, 2023
Diontae Johnson said “I addressed the situation to my teammates. They know how I feel and how I should go about the situation (and) next time if it occurs I’ll own up to it. I’m not perfect. All I can do is move forward and just keep playing football. That’s all I’m worried about.”
When asked about his teammates’ response to his apology, he said “they didn’t really say (anything), it was just me owning up to what I did on Sunday and letting them know it won’t happen again.”
People make mistakes. Sure, it looked really bad on film but it’s not as if he took his pads off and walked out on his team in the middle of a game like a former Pittsburgh Steeler did while playing for another team.
Diontae Johnson has a very bright future ahead of him with the Pittsburgh Steelers if he minimizes mistakes going forward to help his team. This entire situation is best handled behind closed doors between the players and coaches. It’s time for fans to move on.