Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin’s messaging is clear, but some answers are not
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Most Steelers fans assumed that their team would fall from its unbeaten perch eventually.
However, most didn’t expect to see them tumble down the NFL mountain so quickly. Over the last three weeks, they’ve looked more like a Super Bowl fraud as opposed to a Super Bowl favorite, thanks to losses versus Washington and the Buffalo Bills, plus that ugly win against two-thirds of the Baltimore Ravens roster.
As a result, we are turning to Mike Tomlin for answers. And during his weekly Tuesday press conference, the Steelers coach gave some answers that ranged from credible, to confusing, to curt, to conspicuously absent.
So let’s review a few points of interest as the Steelers look to get back on the winning track versus the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night.
• Unprompted in his opening statements, Tomlin panned his team for not being physical enough in the 26-15 loss to Buffalo.
He wasn’t just talking about play along his offensive line where the Steelers couldn’t get any push. The team averaged a piddly 1.8 yards per rush.
“I thought they were the more physical group. Not only in the box, but in some of the perimeter play,” Tomlin said. “I thought [Buffalo’s Stefon] Diggs at the wide receiver position played a real physical game. I thought their coverage people played aggressively and physically in the return game and in the kicking game.”
Sure. When you can’t run the ball and don’t try to run the ball, it’s tough to be physical. And if practice is any representation of the rush attack on game days, that issue probably bleeds over to the defense as well.
Tomlin was asked, “How do you fix physical?”
“Looking at the tape and analyzing that component of play and making the commitment and then plotting the course of action procedurally from a prep standpoint to make sure we position ourselves so our next week doesn’t look like that,” Tomlin replied.
If that means hitting a little bit more in practice to finally sharpen the run game and simulate game conditions, then awesome! I’m all for it.
• Ben Roethlisberger is getting rid of the ball quickly, on average 2.29 seconds from snap to throw. That’s the fastest rate in the NFL.
That’s great. Roethlisberger has been sacked just once in his last six games as a result.
The flipside to that, though, is teams don’t need to back off and honor the deep ball. According to Next Gen Stats, his average completed air yards of 4.7 is fourth from the bottom among qualified quarterbacks (minimum 105 attempts). The Steelers average 6.3 yards per attempt (28th in the NFL) and 9.2 yards per completion (tied for 28th in the NFL).
So is the offensive line protecting Roethlisberger, or is Roethlisberger protecting the offensive line? Based on the line’s inability to win battles in the run game, that question is worthy of further investigation. So I asked Tomlin.
“I don’t have any concern whatsoever about our offensive line’s ability to protect for Ben,” Tomlin said. “Whether it’s short passing, or intermediate passing, or down the field passing, pass protection has been an asset to us.”
If that’s the belief in the coaches’ room, then they should try some more intermediate to deep shots down the field. Because the constant short, underneath stuff isn’t working as well as it did earlier in the season.
Unless the receivers can’t get open deep. Or the quarterback can’t throw it more than nine yards with zip. And if that’s the case, then there is a real problem.
• I also asked about T.J. Watt’s snap count. He had 64 on defense in Buffalo, fewer than his other bookend, rookie Alex Highsmith (67). However, Watt was still on the field 85% of the time for the defense.
Those numbers are only slightly off from Watt’s usual totals. Unfortunately, he was on the sideline for what looked like extended stretches during pivotal points of drives by the Bills. Specifically, he was off the field for both of Buffalo’s offensive touchdowns.
We Digg it‼️
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— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 14, 2020
We're cookin'!
? #PITvsBUF: https://t.co/x0Ul68YDP8 pic.twitter.com/gngjk4vRox
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 14, 2020
“When we talked about that block of games, we mentioned we were going to have an all-hands-on-deck mentality because of the number of games that we played in a short number of days (three in 12). We thought it was appropriate to play a lot of people, to roll a lot of people at all positions. Outside linebacker T.J. Watt is not excluded from that,” Tomlin said.
Fair. But without Bud Dupree on the other side due to his knee injury, it’s even more noticeable when Watt is out of the game.
• This “Monday Night Football” showdown in Cincinnati should be the ultimate “get right” game for the Steelers.
The Bengals are limping down the home stretch without injured quarterback Joe Burrow. They are 2-10-1, losers of five in a row. Cincinnati totaled an anemic 50 points in those five games.
Game 1 of that stretch was a 36-10 loss at Heinz Field. And Mike Tomlin appears to be subscribing to the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” theory.
Normally, he goes chapter and verse through the opposing depth chart and has at least something mildly positive to say about each position group. But not even Tomlin could muster up that kind of spin for this edition of the Bengals, merely offering some generic warning flairs about the Bengals’ emotional readiness for the showdown.
“We expect to get the very best of Cincinnati. That’s a rivalry-type game. It’s an opportunity for them to have a feel-good (game) in the midst of a trying circumstance of a season for them. It’s a home game. It’s “Monday Night Football.” We understand and expect all of that,” Tomlin said.
My interpretation of that? “We got so much of our own stuff to worry about, the fact that there is even another team on the field is the least of our concerns.”
If that’s what Tomlin is thinking, I can’t argue.