Latest Buzz & Rumblings out of Steelers headquarters today

— There is always going to be a dark cloud around the Steelers decision to pass on Sean Lee in favor of Jason Worilds in the 2010 draft. Everyone knows Mike Tomlin over-ruled others who favored Lee (Steelers had a 1st rd grade on Lee) and Tomlin today said he takes responsibility for the players the team has drafted since he has been here. “I take responsibility for the players we have drafted since I have been here,” Tomlin said. Lee and Lawrence Timmons would have been a great 1-2 combo at middle linebacker, wouldn’t they?

— Mike Tomlin came out in support of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and really what’s he going to say at this point. No one in the organization is going throw LeBeau under the bus. When asked about whether he still believes in LeBeau, Tomlin said, “Because he’s Dick LeBeau. Does that answer your question?”

— The Steelers have a huge problem at safety as Ryan Clark is washed up and finished, and while Troy Polamalu is still a disruptive player in around the line of scrimmage, he’s a liability in coverage and the Steelers know that. Clark is a much bigger problem but Polamalu being a liability in coverage is why we’ve seen him line up as a linebacker a lot this season. Tomlin today came to the defense of Polamalu and Clark, saying both can still be great. “Troy is a versatile guy and he has a unique skill set,” Tomlin said. “We need that skill set to do a variety of things for us. He didn’t play as well as he would have liked or we would have liked in the last football game. He will continue to play safety for us, he will continue to play linebacker. He will continue to play deep, play in the box, continue to cover in zones and man and blitz as well.”

— The opinion of some players is said to be that Todd Haley’s ego is still getting in the way of the Steelers offense being as good as they can be.

While Ben Roethlisberger continues to put a good face on the relationship, there’s rumblings that a few key offensive players have grown extremely frustrated with Haley’s reluctance to go all out with implementing the no huddle as a big part of the offensive game plan. The Steelers scored 31 points out of the no huddle vs New England (Roethlisberger calling a lot of those plays) but the team didn’t go much to it until they trailed. Players want it implemented very early into games but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why it won’t happen.

— Tomlin confirmed that Antonio Brown was benched at the end of Sunday’s game over what Tomlin called a lack of execution on assignments. Brown leads the NFL with 61 receptions.