CLEVELAND (93.7 The Fan) – “Whew, AFC North football.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin opening his post-game thoughts as his underdog team went into pre-season conference favorite Cleveland, without a kicker for the second half, and pulled out a 15-10 win.
“I’m just really appreciative of the efforts in the locker room there,” Tomlin said. “Everybody just played a selfless game. They put the collective in front of personal agendas and we fought. That’s the only way we get out of those environments, particularly some of the adversity we faced today. Some of that was created by me.”
Tomlin taking blame for a bad call on the fake field goal because it was poorly executed. Chris Boswell would get knocked out of the game with a concussion.
“I appreciate the guys backing my play and fighting for 60 minutes and delivering victory and making it a side note,” Tomlin said.
“Got a lot of heart,” said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “I told the guys that before the game. You can make up for talent, you can make up for things with heart. I thought they showed a lot of heart today.”
“I just told those guys. Don’t ever, ever take a win against these guys in this stadium for granted, ever. It’s always hard fought. It’s always special.”
Steelers were able to limit the NFL’s best rushing attack to 96 yards, Nick Chubb 61 yards, after allowing Seattle 144 yards rushing in their last game.
“Stay in our damn gaps,” said Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward of how they stopped the run. “Stay off blocks. Allow our linebackers to flow, our corners to play physical. It was a collective effort.”
“Coaching job did a great job of putting us in great spots and us as players did a really good job of mentally preparing for the run and not always getting aggressive and biting on play fakes,” said linebacker TJ Watt. “For the most part we played assignment-sound football and a tribute to the whole defense and defensive stafff.”
“There is no secret sauce,” Tomlin said. “You got to come off blocks. You have to hit and wrap and make tackles. You have to get multiple people to the football. We did that today.”
Tomlin took blame for the time they didn’t stop the run, saying he put them in bad situations schematically.
Defense also got the only turnover at a huge moment. Linebacker Joe Schobert stripped Jarvis Landry after a first down catch and Watt recovered.
“Great job by Schobert,” Tomlin said. “Just steeped in fundamentals, he did a great job ball searching. Linebacker versus wide receiver, we fought and fought and came out of there with it. Obviously a big time play.”
“I’ve seen Joe doing that for years, especially when he was playing for Cleveland,” Watt said. “Glad to have him on our side. That’s his play to fall on the football, really isn’t a big play for me.”
Schobert finished with a team-high nine tackles, six solo.
Offensively, the Steelers were able to put some drives together in the second half. A 12-play drive for 78 yards followed by a 13-play drive for 88 yards, both ended up as touchdowns with missed two-point conversions. They were also able to run out the clock with a couple of runs and a big throw to Diontae Johnson for 50-yards
The first touchdown as Najee Harris dove into the end zone from four yards out to make it 10-9.
“It was a power play, Pat (Freiermuth) came around and gave me a good block and helped me be one-on-one with the safety,” Harris said. “From there it was just me finishing out the run.”
“I hate when Najee jumps,” Roethlisberger said. “I tell him all the time to stop jumping, but that was a pretty good play.”
The other touchdown in the fourth quarter in the back of the end zone as Roethlisberger threw a ball that Freiermuth juggled at first, but secured and able to get both feet in on a fourth and goal from the 2.
“He (Roethlisberger) told me before the play what to run,” Freiermuth said. “It was kind of weird leverage how the defenders played it. I knew I had the outside, went to the back pylon. Settled down there and made a play.”
Najee Harris outrushed Chubb by 30 yards, Steelers didn’t turn it over and won the time of possession for a third consecutive victory.
“It’s days like today that give you an indication of maybe what you can be,” Tomlin said.