PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A team with back-up and practice squad offensive linemen, a rookie quarterback, run game averaging under three-yards-a-carry just took it to the Steelers on Sunday in a 30-6 loss in Houston.
Relatively calm during his post-game news conference, Tomlin said often they weren’t efficient enough on either side of the ball. He would say ‘it wasn’t a good day at the office’. They didn’t do what they wanted to do, nor stopped what the Texans wants to do.
When pressed at the end about making changes ‘hell yeah, we got to make some changes’, but he didn’t say what they might be with the Ravens coming to Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.
“That was an ugly product we put out there today,” Tomlin said. “We aren’t going to do the same things and hope for a different outcome. What those changes are, we will put together a plan in preparation for this week.”
Down their throat
It started bad as the Steelers won the coin flip and kicked it. It took the Texans 12 plays to march 69 yards and ended in a two-yard touchdown from CJ Stroud to Nico Collins. There was only one third down and it was a third-and-three scramble by Stroud to get the first down.
“We deferred in an effort to get ourselves off to a fast start potentially,” Tomlin said. “I thought they did a nice job of establishing tempo.”
“They ran the ball on us. We got to be better versus the run. We are not going to get what we desire to get offensively until we settle the run down. We didn’t do that today. They were in manageable possession downs. You don’t get them one-dimensional. You don’t get an opportunity for the splash we thrive on.”
This team that struggled most of the year to establish the run, went 38 times on the ground for 139 yards. They allowed the Texans to convert 50% of third downs and rookie QB CJ Stroud who completed 16 of 30 passes for 306 yards. Houston averaged 10.2 yards per pass attempt, over double the Steelers. The run game allowed Stroud to get into a rhythm.
Offensively Tomlin would say they didn’t operate efficiently enough. It took them too long to get the run game going.
Tomlin said they all could do better, quick to not single out one part of the game.
4th & 1 explanation
On the play Pickett was hurt, the Steelers called timeout on a fourth-and-one and went shotgun. The quarterback would get hit and twist his knee, after success that drive running the ball—why a shotgun formation?
“The spot wasn’t where we thought it was,” Tomlin said. “They used the replay to correct the spot. Where the ball ended up and where we thought the ball ended up based on the official on our sideline, was two different things. That’s why we called timeout.”
No explanation about the play, just about the timeout.
Listen to Mike Tomlin’s news conference Tuesday at noon live on 93.7 The Fan.