PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Why Mike Tomlin doesn’t need to talk to Broderick Jones this week. The value of Darnell Washington, trying to run on Cleveland and Kaleb Johnson’s improvement. A few topics from the Mike Tomlin news conference Tuesday.
Broderick’s task
Whether you think TJ Watt is the best or it’s Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, he’s an elite player and he lines up against Broderick Jones making his fifth start at left tackle. Garrett has four sacks and eight tackles for loss (leads NFL) through five games. He hasn’t finished with fewer than double-digit sacks since his rookie year. The 29-year-old has 13 career sacks, 14 tackles for loss, 25 quarterback hits and four forced fumbles against the Steelers, more than any team in his career.
So asked about a big rah-rah or reckoning speech for Jones.
“I don't know if it requires conversation,” Tomlin said. “I think Broderick is not a dummy. I think he realizes who he's working with this week, and he's a competitor and a professional. I haven't spent any time thinking about how I'm going to talk to or motivate Broderick this week.”
Run challenges
No team in the league allows fewer yards per carry than the Browns. Team average only three yards per touch and have only two runs of over 20 yards. Baltimore ran it 21 times for only 45 yards, last week the Vikings got only four first downs via the rush.
“We'd better block them,” Tomlin said. “We'd better run hard, finish off runs, better have a finisher's attitude in terms of which direction the power falls. As you mentioned, they're elite in terms of run stopping. So, what does that mean? That means we've got to be solid. We can't have unblocked people. But beyond that, we've got to play well as a collective. We've got to play physical, and we've got to finish. We've got to understand that a successful day might be three or four-yard runs at times, and we've got to take what we can get sometimes from that regard.”
It looks good for Jaylen Warren to return, but that’s not in stone. Last game against the Vikings, Kenneth Gainwell rushed for 99 yards and a pair of scores. Unlike many, Tomlin said he was not surprised by his output. He watched what Gainwell did against them with Philly and said he just didn’t have a chance there because of the things Saquon Barkley does.
Opportunities are coming for Kaleb Johnson, Tomlin said he doesn’t know when or where yet, but ‘he’d better make the best of them’.
“I love the way that he's working during the course of the work week from a practice perspective,” Tomlin said. “As I mentioned, we've got 13 straight games ahead of us. I'm sure he's going to get more opportunities to let his talent show.”
Tomlin noted that Johnson is still young and sometimes that requires work. It also can lead to unpleasant moments, but the Steelers head coach said that’s what they pay him for.
If there is a player to watch this week, 6’7”, 264 pound (listed weight) tight end Darnell Washington. Tomlin said its why you draft him because you can’t play against teams like the Browns with 250-pound tight ends.
“There are weight classes in combat sport for a reason,” Tomlin said. “When the people are 300 pounds, you'd better have somebody out there that looks like that animal. Certainly, as we move into divisional play in the next couple weeks and we're playing two 4-3 teams, certainly you're going to see more of that. It's unfair at times to ask guys like Pat Freiermuth and Connor (Heyward) to block 4-3 ends. That's not realistic if you want to have a real good run game day.”