Mike Tomlin says what all Steelers fans know but don’t want to hear regarding changes to the team going forward
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It’s hard to watch what the Pittsburgh Steelers defense has put on film the last two games and not think to yourself, “something has to change.” After allowing nearly 70 points and over 700 passing yards in the last two contests, the secondary in Pittsburgh has become a major issue.
The turnovers are down, and the chunk plays are up. As are mental errors and miscommunication. And some of that comes down to execution. Maybe players just aren’t as good as the Steelers hoped.
But a lot of the problems seemingly come down to scheme and coaching. Things that even this late into the season can be changed to create better performance. But do the Steelers plan on doing that? Not according to Mike Tomlin.
Steelers don’t plan on changing the scheme or coaches on defense
“We certainly need to be better in third down than we’ve been, but it doesn’t necessarily mean dramatic changes in terms of schematics and things of that nature,” said Tomlin during his weekly presser via the Steelers YouTube channel. “We play a lot of the man-free concepts and usually allow us to get two guys at the ball down the grass. We didn’t in those instances, and produced field- flipping touchdown-drive-producing plays that really changed the texture of the ball game.”
I see where Coach Tomlin is coming from. In order to play man coverage, you need to have players tackle. And far too often, whether it was Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, last Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals, or even last year, tackling has been an issue.
But that’s the whole point. If you know your team is struggling to tackle or struggling to make plays from a certain coverage concept, than I don’t know, why not mix it up? And that’s where the coaching situation comes into play. It might be Mike Tomlin’s defense, but it’s Teryl Austin who is calling the plays.
“I’ve known Teryl [Austin] a long time,” said Tomlin when asked about the performance of his defensive coordinator. “He’s very capable. He’s very thorough. I largely been pleased with his work, but certainly he and I are not pleased with where we are right now from a defensive unit perspective, and so we just will keep working.”
No one should expect Tomlin to come out and bury Austin for his play calls or the struggles. But to sit by and say the scheme isn’t an issue and we’re happy with the coaching for the most part feels like a slap in the face to both his players and fans after the last two weeks.
So whether it’s a trade, a coaching move, or shakeup in the scheme, something needs to change in Pittsburgh.
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