Arthur Maulet had a hard time containing his emotions after the 38-3 pounding the Steelers suffered at the hands of the Bills.
Lots of players were upset. But, Maulet was very vocal about some of the smiling and laughing he witnessed on the sideline during Sunday's bloodbath. In fact, it took both Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cam Heyward stepping in to silence the sixth-year cornerback while the media had access to the locker room.
"I was heated," Maulet said Thursday, the first time he's addressed the incident. "We lost by 30. You're not supposed to be happy about that. I reminded guys to find your why, find why you love this game and use that for your motivation."
When asked how many players were laughing, Maulet immediately refused to throw any of them under the proverbial bus.
"Look, I’m not here to point fingers," Maulet said. "We keep that in house. It’s something I had to acknowledge."
What the outburst ultimately comes down to is Maulet using a moment to try and uplift a secondary that was just thrashed by Josh Allen. It doesn't matter how good Allen is, that the Bills are the class of the AFC or that the Steelers are down to practice squad members in the secondary.
Maulet was using his own fire and disdain for losing to try and reignite the same desire in his fellow defensive backs.
“It was a little motivation,” Maulet said. “We all were down. I was just reminding guys we gotta love what we do. Obviously, days like this suck when we lose by 30, but we can always bounce back and be better.”
Most important, there were no lingering effects from Maulet's remarks.
"It's behind us," Maulet said with a smile. "It was one of five minutes talking to the guys."
