PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It's the piece of the puzzle the Steelers haven't fit. It's the question that often seems rhetorical. Mike Tomlin believes they don't have to change their offensive plan it's about doing what they do, better.
The Steelers have ONE offensive touchdown in the first quarter this year. Steelers have TWO offensive touchdowns in the second quarter and THREE in the third quarter. Numerical symmetry aside, they are looking for more and Tomlin used an example of the last game to where plays are there, but they aren't executing.
It's not an issue with the game plan.
"We had a third down that we had a matchup that we certainly wanted," Tomlin explained. "We had George Pickens on Witherspoon, and we threw the ball out of bounds for example. GP (George Pickens) caught it, but it was out of bounds. Had we connected that and ran in and scored, you and I might not be having this discussion."
"So no, it does not require a change of agenda or anything. Maybe just keep the ball inbounds for example, or maybe on the second play of the game, we missed
a pickup and Kenny (Pickett) got sacked. And I think it was second and two and it produced a third and long. If we handle a routine pickup."
"It doesn't require any changes. We just need to do routine things routinely at the early stages of games. And those are just two examples of why I'm resistant to the discussion."
"I'm not going to comb through it with a fine-tooth comb for you and talk about the reasons why we do what it is that we do, but rest assured we're thorough in our process and our approach and when it's time to change, or if it's time to change we're not resistant to it. But we also got a certain level of commitment to work and an improvement through work as well, individually and collectively."
Tomlin confirmed that they do script plays, as if that would be a legitimate criticism. However, they are not completely married to the script. Tomlin said teams will surprise you with something you didn't expect. It happened against the Rams. He explained they had a script, but it's not always about hitting a big play.
Tomlin further explained that sometimes the script is more about information gathering. They are running a play to see how the opponent matches personnel or how they deal with personnel exchanges. Tomlin's staff is trying to find out who is matching up with who and how they can exploit the good matchups going forward.
Bottom line, they may not be getting points, but it doesn't mean the script has failed. They may using that knowledge gained later in the game because of how they ran something earlier.
The 17th year Steelers head coach seemed defiant in his backing of his offensive game plan. Tomlin is convinced it will improve. It excelled for a quarter on Sunday. Can it do more than that?
