Steelers defensive leader leaks reasoning behind glaring lack of effort in loss against Baltimore

Patrick Queen is the richest free agent signing in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

And while he had a solid year as the green dot and defensive signal caller during his inaugural campaign, he left something to be desired, especially in terms of his effort against his former team on Saturday. 

Well, someone in his camp told Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that Queen had a reason for doing so...

Patrick Queen Reportedly Played With Flu Vs. Ravens, needed IV's

Context from Saturday night: Steelers LB Patrick Queen, who had 10 tackles, six solos, played despite having a really bad bout with the flu, source said. He received 4 IV bags before the game and went out there and played.

Ian Rapoport, NFL Media via X-Twitter

Queen was catching a lot of flak for some of his obvious effort issues against the Ravens and his comments after the game didn't exactly help his image. So clearing up the fact as to why he may have been so winded was probably a smart move on his part. 

"We can say that Mike Tomlin is a really good coach. That was not a well-prepared football team for that game, said ESPN's Dan Orlovsky on Monday. "That tape in the first half is disgusting. It’s as bad as I’ve seen a Steelers tape. The offensive line goes the wrong way on a consistent basis, one guy here, one guy there. They’re very rarely on the same page, the quarterback is limited, the defensive communication is poor. All you have to do is run motion against them and they’ll get out of gaps. So does that fall on coaching? Absolutely it does."