Mike McCarthy says the Steelers' house is not clean

McCarthy didn't open the week with the Colts. He opened it by looking at his own team, and he didn't like what he saw.

Mark Kaboly

@MarkKaboly

"We need to clean our own house because our house isn't clean right now."

Coaches don't usually say that out loud, and they really don't say it 4 games into Year 1. The Steelers spent early-week time on themselves before getting to Indianapolis: missed tackles, third downs, sloppy fundamentals and an offense that went 6 straight possessions for 101 yards and 4 punts against Cleveland. Then Andre Szmyt hit a 56-yard field goal to win it for the Browns, and the week turned into a mirror.

Some of the dirt is out in public already. On the opening drive Thursday, Aaron Rodgers got fed up waiting on play calls and yelled toward the sideline, McCarthy yelled back, and the broadcast mics caught all of it. McCarthy later apologized for his language and blamed crowd noise for the communication mess. That's the coach-and-QB reunion that was supposed to steady this place.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

Rarely does an NFL head coach admit this, especially this early in a season. Kudos for McCarthy for the honesty.

Brooke Pryor@bepryor

Mike McCarthy: "We need to clean our own house. Our house is not clean right now."

Fowler's right that it's rare, and credit is fair. The other way to read it is that the guy in charge thinks the problems are inside the building, not just on the opponent's side. It's 2-2 and nobody's panicking yet, but that read is out there. Patrick Graham also got asked about an emotional exchange of his own that TV cameras picked up.

Mark Kaboly

@MarkKaboly

Steelers DC Patrick Graham on the emotional exchange caught on TV. t.co/0bUVuKcowW

Graham also has bodies to replace. Jamel Dean is dealing with an ankle injury, and the obvious idea is to slide Jalen Ramsey back to corner. Graham shut that down.

Mark Kaboly

@MarkKaboly

Patrick Graham on Jalen Ramsey possibly helping at corner: "I like Jalen where he is at." He would definitely help at CB but he's most valuable doing what he does -- everything.

It's the right call. Ramsey at the star spot is the guy holding this defense together, and pulling him out to cover one hole just opens another one. That means the corners on the roster have to hold up, and the tackling has to get a lot better than it was Thursday.

Next up is Indianapolis on October 11. McCarthy made the cleanup the headline, so that game is the first real check on whether it happened. If they come out sharp and in sync, Monday's speech looks like leadership. If they don't, everybody's going back to that sideline clip.