PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) – Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin started with the word "disappointing." There are other words you could use like "frustrating" or "potentially devastating" to describe the Steelers blowing a 23-7 lead at home in a 33-30 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that dropped their record to 7-4-1.
Tomlin addressed the penalties called and not called, saying he was given no explanation on the apparent non-call on a false start that led to a San Diego touchdown.
"We didn't establish rhythm in the beginning second half," Tomlin said. "We had a couple of drives killed by penalties, holding penalties. It's catastrophic.
"I'm gonna keep my mouth shut," Tomlin added about the penalties. "I'm going to do that, because I sent enough of my money to New York."
Bottom line for the Steelers, they are now just a half-game up on the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North and what once was a conversation about playoff seeding is now a conversation about just making the postseason.
"You gotta win those, we didn't," Tomlin said. "There are consequences, we'll absorb it. We'll be back."
Members of the Steelers defense said they were just beaten by a veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers who knew what was coming.
"They knew what we were in," linebacker Jon Bostic. "They figured it out. I mean, he's a smart quarterback. We got him in the first half with a couple of things, they made some adjustments. Some of those adjustments really helped them out in the second half."
Rivers said the Steelers didn't adjust back in the last 30 minutes and the Chargers played a lot better as the game wore on.
"I think the big thing was it wasn't that we were getting 25-yard chunks, it was seven-, eight-, nine-yard gains," Rivers said. "There were big third downs or those completions that kept the chains moving."
Rivers threw for 299 yards and a couple of touchdowns, one to Keenan Allen, who was targeted 19 times and caught 14 for 148 yards.
"They started identifying the matchups," linebacker Bud Dupree said. "They put him in the slot and every time they saw a backer on top of him [Keenan Allen>, like myself or Fort or Vinny [Williams>. Guys who they know he could get good matchups on, they were throwing the ball to them and targeting him right away."
It wasn't the only issue that bothered the Steelers defenders. The first touchdown happened on what appeared to be a false-start penalty that wasn't called.
"I feel like they had five, six false starts every play," Dupree said. "T.J. [Watt's> tackle was jumping a lot, even in the inside. You can go back and look at the film, guys were moving at different times across the whole O-line. But we really can't blame the referees because we still had control of the game."
The Steelers play at Oakland on Sunday before games with the first-place New England Patriots followed by the first-place New Orleans Saints.
