First Call: Cam Heyward dismisses Chase Claypool's idea for music at practice; Rocky Bleier rips recent Steelers efforts

Wednesday’s “First Call” features some less than friendly Steelers reaction to Chase Claypool’s idea of injecting music into practices.

Steelers alumni continue to sound off about the troubles facing their former team. The Ravens are already making history in Pittsburgh and their game against the Steelers is still five days away.

And Notre Dame’s ex-coach really should’ve avoided quoting Mike Tomlin.

Can’t you feel the music?

Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward is not a fan of Chase Claypool’s suggestion to start playing music at team practices.

During his weekly morning show appearance on WDVE Tuesday, Heyward was asked what he thought of Claypool’s idea.

“I hope he was kidding because as soon as he said it, I was about to rip the speaker out,” Heyward said. “That is not what we need right now. It’s X’s and O’s and execution. But I think he was kidding.”

When hosts Randy Baumann and Mike Prisuta said they didn’t think Claypool was kidding, Heyward responded, “Well, then, he is going to be in shock because there isn’t going to be anything played in practice.”

Coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Claypool’s idea on Tuesday as well. He didn’t seem too keen on the suggestion either.

“Claypool plays wideout, and I’ll let him do that. I’ll formulate the practice approach and I think that division of labor is probably appropriate.”

Let’s hope Claypool is a Simon and Garfunkel fan. Because the “Sound of Silence” may be the only thing he hears at practice this week.

Rocky is raging

Ryan Clark isn’t the only ex-Steeler upset about the team’s awful 41-10 loss in Cincinnati Sunday.

Former running back Rocky Bleier was fuming during an Instagram post Monday stating, “The Steelers (stink).”

“It’s not that losing bothers me as much as lack of pride or self-esteem,” Bleier said. “How do you give up 82 points in the last two games? How do you, in the words of Mike Tomlin, get beat up front and both sides of the ball?”

The four-time Super Bowl Champion wasn’t done.

“Big Ben after the game said, ‘It is what it is. It happens sometimes. We need to play better.’ My reaction? No (expletive). So why don’t you play better?” Bleier asked. “I don’t want to hear about injuries. We got beat even when everyone was healthy. I don’t want to hear about anything because actions speak louder than words. And at this stage of the game, those actions spell out loser.”

Like Bleier, I could probably spell out a few more four-letter words that sum up this team right now.

Say that again?

Former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly really has to stop mangling quotes from other coaches.

Remember the firestorm he kicked up when he botched an homage to John McKay’s “execution” line early this year?

On Nov. 22, Kelly was asked whether or not he’d ever leave Notre Dame on his own accord. Kelly said he wouldn’t and tried to invoke Mike Tomlin’s “There isn’t a booster with a big enough blank check” quip when I asked the Steelers coach in October if he’d ever consider leaving the NFL for a college job.

“No,” Kelly said. “I mean, look, I think Mike Tomlin had the best line, right? Unless the fairy godmother comes by with that $250 million check, my wife would want to take a look at that first. I’d have to run it by her.”

Well, that’s not quite what Tomlin said. And at least I believe Tomlin. He didn’t pursue the LSU or USC jobs. Kelly got up and left South Bend to go to Baton Rouge a week later as LSU’s new coach.

What a gem.

Maybe I should’ve asked Tomlin yesterday if he wanted to take the Notre Dame job. What kind of reaction do you think I would’ve gotten then?

This is a first

BetRivers.com lists the Steelers as 4-point underdogs for Sunday’s AFC North showdown against the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.

According to ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley, this is the first time Baltimore has been favored in Pittsburgh for a game that Ben Roethlisberger is supposed to start.

Hensley says Baltimore was favored to win in Pittsburgh four other times. None of them featured Roethlisberger as the starter at quarterback. In 2000, at Three Rivers Stadium, it was Kent Graham. Then at Heinz Field, the Ravens faced Byron Leftwich (2012), Mike Vick (2015) and Mason Rudolph (2019) as pre-game favorites.

Baltimore won the three games at Heinz Field by three points each, the two most recent ones in overtime. They won the game at Three Rivers 16-0.