Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey has no fear about speaking his mind. When the Steelers cut LeGarrette Blount, Ed Bouchette and other journalists hinted that a number of members of the lockerroom were pleased with the Steelers decision. Maurkice Pouncey went so far as to label it a “Blessing in disguise.”
- Pouncey’s at it again.
In an interview with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Maurkice Pouncey calls out Mike Wallace in no uncertain terms, labeling him a “Coward.” Here are Pouncey’s full comments as reported by Behind the Steel Curtain’s Chris Carter:
First of all in my opinion he’s a coward. I never want a guy on my team like that, man, to walk out on your band of brothers. And obviously our organization felt that way about some guys and they got those guys out of our football team and I think it was the right move for everybody.
Notice that Pouncey refers to “some guys” one of which would presumably be LeGarrette Blount.
While Mike Wallace dazzled Steelers fans with his long touchdown passes – he and Ben Roethlisberger essentially re-wrote the Steelers record book on QB-WR deep hook ups, he drew the ire of fans for that the perceived as lack of effort and lack of focus.
- And those fans had supporters inside the South Side.
As the Watch Tower documented, a number of seasoned journalists reported that the Steelers brain trust was concerned that the drop offs in Wallace’s play were due to attitude. Nationally, Peter King once publicly called out Wallace for lack of effort on plays in which he was not the focal point.
The NFL is little different than any high profile, high publicity industry. Most of what the average observer sees is carefully choreographed. Its often hard to tell what is genuine and what is veneer.
But its pretty safe to say that Mike Wallace isn’t very well liked….
