The Steelers find themselves in uncharted waters, 0-4 after the first quarter of the season and looking for a way to turn things around, and do it fast.
"It's definitely tough, but what makes you great is resolving this and fast," said cornerback William Gay. "You don't want to be standing here Week 10 or 11saying, 'yeah we finally did it.' That's something we don't plan on doing and we are not going to do. It's something we can't allow as veterans.
"We have to do it now. We have to get back to work. The bye week came I guess at the right time. It's early, but it came at a time when we can stop the bleeding."
Stopping the bleeding isn't going to happen with just one or two band aids. There are 53 players on the active roster, eight on the practice squad. Every single one of them has to do their part to apply the pressure and correct the mistakes that have been plaguing the team.
"It's little things, but little things all over," said safety Ryan Clark. "It's not one thing you can put your finger on and say this is the reason we are losing and if we fix this we win every game. It's little spots everywhere where things are breaking down and that's what causes you to lose football games. It's mental, technical, and physical. It's everywhere, all of the facets of the game where you need to be sharp and we aren't sharp for 60 minutes. We go through stretches where we are sharp as a team, but more often than not we haven't been. We all need to be sharp."
Sunday's 34-27 loss to the Minnesota Vikings was another example of little things turning into bigger things. A missed tackle here, a blown assignment there, missing a block, not finding a hole and before you know it the fourth straight loss of the season.
"We have to play harder, be more detail oriented and focus more on the little things. That is obviously what is killing us," said Gay. "Everybody has to be executing on the same page. It's like we are one play away from winning, one thing here, one thing there. Everyone has to get on the same page and it has to be quick. There is no time for waiting anymore.
"We just have to get a win. A win will stop it. Now that we are 0-4 a lot of wins have to stop the problem. Not just one win will do it. We have to stack some wins. Just one win is not going to solve it."
The team will have to wait a little while to start stacking those wins. They have their bye this week before playing the New York Jets on Oct. 13 at MetLife Stadium. That gives them plenty of time to work on what is ailing them.
"We have to find a way," said Clark. "It's hard. We want to win. I don't work out all offseason and grind the way I do to come in here and lose. Losing is hard. Nobody wants to lose. Everybody has been digging deep. The sword is sharp, we just have to start cutting stuff."
