Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott is looking to exact revenge against his original team, the Baltimore Ravens, when the AFC North rivals clash on Sunday. In the meantime, he's already taken shots at his other former team, telling the "Punch Line Podcast" Wednesday that the 2023 Miami Dolphins were "soft."
"I haven't been able to play against Baltimore the way I wanted to," Elliott said, anticipating Sunday's Ravens-Steelers showdown. "Because last year, I played for a team that was soft as f---. ... There were some guys who were tough, but the majority of the team, there was not mentally tough individuals. So, to be on a team with a full team of mentally tough guys ... this is going to be fun, man."
Elliott started 15 games for the 2023 Dolphins, who started 11-4, only to drop their final three games, including a wild-card playoff matchup with the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. One of those defeats was a 56-19 blowout loss to the Ravens, for whom Elliott previously played four seasons.
Now with Pittsburgh, Elliott told former Ravens teammate Marlon Humphrey, who hosts the "Punch Line" show, that he's enjoying the "winning culture" that Miami lacked. It's a mirror, he argued, of the culture he also experienced in Baltimore, where he started a combined 22 games.
"I think I am supremely only concerned with the 2024 Dolphins for sure," Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said when asked about the comments later Wednesday. "And I think that every team's ability to be mentally tough in an NFL season is definitely tried, and I think ... our team played a tough-fought game the last three weeks, and ended up finding a way to win this past week. ... Cool, you said it on a podcast? Cool podcast."
Elliott isn't the first player to question the Dolphins' fortitude in recent years. Upon signing with Miami this summer, former rival and Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer told reporters he used to do just that.
"Playing against this team over the past few years, you kind of ... get a sense of, OK, if you get on top of this team, they might fold," he said, while acknowledging he hoped to help redefine the club's culture.
