DE Cam Heyward announcement that he is leaving Pittsburgh Steelers now another significant issue for team…..

Cam Heyward can rattle the list off in seconds.

The names of the 10 defensive linemen taken ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers end in the first round of 2011 NFL draft come to mind so quickly it’s as if Heyward is pointing out faces in a family picture.

Marcell Dareus. J.J. Watt. Robert Quinn. Ryan Kerrigan. On and on it goes. Some are well known. Some are not. All of them, however, are remembered by the player who is constantly searching for that little extra motivation. In the end, he knows those little slights might make all the difference.

“Talent isn’t always going to win,” Heyward said. “You’ve got to have heart. You’ve got to be smart. You’ve got to be ready.”

Something the fourth-year veteran is embracing, in both victory and defeat.

As the mentors who took Heyward under their wing — Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke, Casey Hampton chief among them — have vanished to retirement, Heyward has made it a point to become the spokesman for a team still searching for an identity a month into the season. It’s what leaders do.

When the Steelers (2-2) allowed lowly Tampa Bay to rip off 10 fourth-quarter points in a 27-24 victory last Sunday, Heyward dutifully stood at his locker and took responsibility for the mistakes. Some of them — like the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he received for arguing with an official — were his fault. Others, like the other 12 flags the Steelers drew, were not.

While his teammates dressed quietly in stunned silence, Heyward spoke evenly, trying to set a tone for the road ahead starting Sunday at Jacksonville (0-4).