Steelers fall victim to another 'Tomlin game' after losing in massive upset against the Browns
Thursday night in Cleveland was the latest in a line of what has become known as "Tomlin games." That is, when favored, often on the road and in a spot where it should seem like a sure victory, the Pittsburgh Steelers fall flat on their face. This time it happened against a 2-8 Cleveland Browns […]
Thursday night in Cleveland was the latest in a line of what has become known as "Tomlin games."
That is, when favored, often on the road and in a spot where it should seem like a sure victory, the Pittsburgh Steelers fall flat on their face.
This time it happened against a 2-8 Cleveland Browns team that managed to capture their third win of the year against Pittsburgh.
Mike Tomlin falls to 0-4 vs. Browns in away games on Thursday Night
"Hard fought game. They made more plays over the course of 60 minutes than we did," said Tomlin after the game. "So we have to own our portions of it, particularly early on. I thought it took us too long to warm up to the action. We were penalized pre-snap and just weren't really sharp. We're going to go on. Our guys fought, but it wasn't enough to secure victory. So it's painful, but it's like that in this business. We'll take a look at the tape and learn from it. We have got a big one coming up."
While the Steelers and more specifically QB Russell Wilson showed some fight by clawing their way back into the game to take a 19-18 lead, it was many of the decisions by Coach Tomlin and OC Arthur Smith that had them in that sort of mess to begin with.
There were multiple times that the team attempted fourth and short conversions or two-point plays where the call left you scratching your head, especially with QB Justin Fields available in such situations.
Beyond that, Mike Tomlin completely botched the clock at the end of the first half, letting 40 seconds run off and getting the ball back with less than a minute and only one timeout.
And at the end of the game, he decided to accept a penalty to make it 3rd & 7 opposed to fourth and two, used a timeout to help him make that decision, than watched his defense let up a conversion and eventually the game-winning TD.
In doing so, the Steelers fall to 0-8 all-time in road Thursday Night Football games within the division and 0-5 under HC Mike Tomlin, with four of the losses coming against the Browns.
They aim to right the ship in 10 days against the Cincinnati Bengals.
