Steelers’ Ryan Clark upset over Woodley bashing
By Matt Shetler
It’s no secret that Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker LaMarr Woodley was a huge disappointment in 2012.
Woodley spent a portion of the season often injured and when he wasn’t hurt, he was extremely ineffective.
Dec 16, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark (25) on the sidelines during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys won 27-24 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
That prompted an anonymous teammate (very classy to go anonymous might I add) to criticize the linebacker, by telling the Post Gazette’s Ed Bouchette over the weekend:
"“He was awful,” the teammate said of Woodley. “He tells us he works out, but we didn’t see it. He wasn’t in shape. That has to be a reason why he was always hurt.”"
These comments drew the ire of Steelers’ safety Ryan Clark, who has made a few idiotic comments of his own during his tenure in Pittsburgh, but at least when Clark shoots his mouth off, he does it with his name attached.
Clark told “NFL AM” on Monday, that he wished the anonymous teammate would have kept his comments private.
“My biggest problem with that is not LaMarr, or is not someone’s feelings about LaMarr,” Clark said. “My problem is now its public. We were talking about the Ravens earlier, we were talking about the brotherhood, we were talking about the family that they were. We all have arguments with our brothers, sisters, cousins, but that stays in-house. What you talk about then stays there and it doesn’t get out to the public. So that is the problem.”
“That shows that this team that is normally close, you had the Joey Porters, the Alan Faneca’s, just down the line, leader after leader, this team was close-knit. It shows there is a fracture in that. I think that is the most disappointing thing about that coming out.”
The anonymous Steeler probably has a point about Woodley, but that certainly isn’t the way to handle it.
You would expect more from the Steelers locker room, but given the way things have been the past three or four years, this comes as no surprise.