Ex-Steelers safety cites 'entire culture' as main difference between Redskins and Steelers

Veterans of the Steelers move onto different teams and are often asked about the differences playing in Pittsburgh vs. their new location. Steelers safety Will Allen was with the Dallas Cowboys until around this point in the season last year, and he noticed a difference in the two teams, once when he was signed with the Cowboys and once after he was released.

Ryan Clark, another ex-Steelers safety recently signed with the Washington Redskins, is even more pointed about the differences and, in classic Clark fashion, he's not holding anything back.

"I think the difference is the entire culture of the community," Clark said, as reported by Times Dispatch reporter Michael Phillips. "People took off work on Monday in Pittsburgh when we lost. So it wasn’t necessarily that the locker room was different about losing - the whole city was. Because they had become entitled. (Winning) was supposed to happen. So when it didn’t, it was such a letdown."

Without much familiarity with the sports market in D.C., it's hard to say Clark's views are accurate, but he does seem to have a firm, if not melodramatic, grasp on the landscape in Pittsburgh.

"I think here, not everybody believes because we haven’t made them believe," Clark added. "Going into Monday night, I’m not sure many Washington Redskins fans thought we were going to win. It was never like that in Pittsburgh. So that’s the difference. It’s not a difference in the men that work in the locker room, it’s a difference in the entire culture, because it’s a difference in the history, the recent history. I think that’s the thing that people miss."

There's praise in his statement, along with an entitlement point that rings true.