PITTSBURGH -- Sheldon Richardson is never the most pleasant person the moments after a loss. The Jets' defensive end wears his heart on his sleeve, plays with constant fire and emotion, and takes each defeat as a personal shot.

When he does talk, though, his words tend to carry weight. And in the aftermath of the Jets' 31-13 defeat to the Steelers, Richardson appeared to drop quite an inside look into the state of the Jets.

The question: Is everyone trying their hardest? His answer:

"I don't know," he said. "That's for you all [the media] to decide."

It's unclear if Richardson's statement was an eye-raising choice of words, or simply the lineman accidentally making a headline when he didn't intend to. During the early portions of his press conference, Richardson channeled his inner Bill Belichick with a series of "We've got to prepare for Arizona" answers to any question asked.

It wasn't until truly pressed that Richardson broke from his routine, saying he didn't want to answer any questions because the media was just trying to get him "to finger point."

"We lost," Richardson said. "We lost as a team. It's that simple. We lost as a team. We didn't get there. We didn't cover. We didn't score. We didn't do a lot of stuff. We lost as a team."

When several reporters tried to explain that their line of questioning was not an attempt to bait Richardson, and that Jet fans wanted to know how this team is going to bounce back, Richardson said: "I'm trying my hardest." He then responded with the "I don't know" when asked if all on the team are doing the same.

If there are a few players on the field giving minimal effort, it would explain some of the struggles the defense has had this year. The Jets have allowed every quarterback they've played to finish with a rating over 100. They've allowed eight plays (most in NFL) of 40-plus yards.

The line -- despite being armed with the likes of Richardson, Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams -- has just five sacks since Week 1. They've forced just four turnovers. They've allowed at least 23 points in every game this year.

While quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's downfall and head coach Todd Bowles' newfound ineptitude have stolen many back pages these last five weeks, the defense is arguably the the biggest reason for the team's struggles.

And, unfortunately for the Jets, there isn't any clear-cut way for how to fix it.

"We're preparing for Arizona," Richardson said. "On to the next one. That's all."

Connor Hughes may be reached at chughes@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connor_J_Hughes. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.