After playing 3 games in 12 days – and losing the last 2 - Mike Tomlin is actually happy about one thing. His Steelers finally have a chance to breathe, at least a little bit
“We’re excited about having a full week and then some,” Tomlin says since they don’t play until Monday night in Cincinnati; an actual planned extra day off for a change.
This also puts Tomlin in a contradictory spot. His players desperately need a little rest but, after watching them get pushed around in Buffalo, he would also like to re-establish physical football.
“Part of fixing it is acknowledging it,” says Tomlin who says they did exactly that Monday when they reviewed the loss in Buffalo, “it’s making a commitment and plotting a course of action to make sure our next tape doesn’t look like that.”
This is especially true for the offensive line which was called out for “being soft” by former NFL lineman Booger McFarland Monday night on ESPN which drew the social media ire of Maurkice Pouncey.
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Tomlin says the offensive linemen have been working on being more physical – when they’ve had the chance which, lately, hasn’t been often.
“We haven’t necessarily seen the fruit of that work yet and some of that can be traced to the short weeks we’ve had,” Tomlin says. “That’s why we’re excited about working this week to continue with that emphasis in an effort to get that product to look the way we need it to look to round out our offensive attack and allow it to be fluid and productive.”
The good news is they have that extra day. The bad news is that the O-line is banged up. LG Matt Feiler is out for at least 3 weeks with a pectoral injury. His back-up, Kevin Dotson, left the Bills game with what turned out to be more of a shoulder problem (which is actually encouraging) and RT Chuks Okorafor is nursing a sore ankle.
Both Dotson and Okorafor may be able to play by Monday but their early week practice time will be limited. When you include the “veteran’s Wednesday off” for Pouncey/DeCastro/Villeneuva - which this week may also include Thursday – they’re not exactly going to have the gang together.
But, lack of physicality or not, Tomlin remains confident in at least one aspect of his O-line.
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“I don’t have any concern whatsoever about our offensive line’s ability to pass protect for Ben,” Tomlin insists. “Whether it’s short passing, intermediate passing or down the field passing, pass protection has been an asset to us.”
If that’s the case, it’s fair to wonder why we haven’t seen more intermediate and downfield passes.
Meanwhile, make good use of that extra day.