Coach Tomlin Press Conference (Week 3 at New England Patriots) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Coach Tomlin Press Conference (Week 3 at New England Patriots) | Pittsburgh Steelers

[Music] Good afternoon everyone. Welcome into the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. It’s a Tomlin Tuesday. Bob Pompiani soon to be joined by Missy Matthews. Mike Tomlin will be addressing the media here shortly talking about the loss to Seattle at home 3117. some of the parts of that. Also, the injuries involved in it. And then look ahead to the New England Patriots coming up uh this week in Foxboro. They’re coming off a win against Miami Dolphins and Drake May probably his best outing as a quarterback there. Mike Dolman is ready to address the media. So, let’s go upstairs right now. Good afternoon. Uh really chopping at the bit to get going this week to lean in on our next opportunity coming off to that losing performance that we had last week. And you know, we we got started appropriately yesterday. Um we took a hardcore look at the video and acknowledged some areas certainly that that needed to be addressed uh in terms of improvement. Um but win or lose at this juncture of the season, we’re all um combing through the tape in that way. We did similar things week one. Certainly, there’s some things, you know, I often say two is a pattern and we’ve got two games under our belt and so I see some things that certainly uh need our attention and and so I’m excited about getting to work. As far as the game and how it unfolded, um it was less than stellar in a lot of areas, but we certainly had an opportunity to win until the deep po moments of the game and and certainly I thought it was some significant plays uh that really shaped how that game unfolded down the stretch. Um, offensively after that big play to Jaylen, we turned the ball over uh in the tight red. Um, we spent a lot of time working in the tight red as an offensive unit because we realize how significant that space is in terms of determining unit performance and thus the outcome of games. We often times talk about it searching for the four-point swing. We don’t want to settle for field goals as an offense. We certainly want to make our opponent settle for field goals as a defense in that space. But as you as you know um we turned the ball over and I thought that was really significant um in terms of how the game unfolded and on the special teams certainly uh the lack of judgment by a young return man was a significant play in the game as as I mentioned after the game a lot of times man when you’re in close ball games particularly early in the year there’s a there’s a play in that space in that special team space that often uh shapes or turns a game. Um it it helped us in a positive way uh with the play by Kenny Gainwell uh with the Jets and certainly the game the other day uh was a ne negative outcome. I thought uh our defense wore down some particularly as the game went on. Uh we had a desire to improve our run defense and I thought particularly initially we did. Um but there’s a nutrition component to the game and our lines got a little thin uh at various points in the game. I thought we felt the effects of that. I know certainly uh we were somewhat limited with some of the schematics um that we would like to deploy because we had some new people in there and we’re relatively new to this season. And so uh we weren’t as good as I’d like for us to be in terms of our uh midstream adjusting in terms of some of those things. And so I’m excited about getting the collective back to work here uh with a six-day preparation cycle and effort to address some of those things. from a health standpoint. I’ll I’ll give you a quick outline of some of these things. First, the guys um that have been out. Um D. Elliott um is improving. Um but I would characterize his availability as questionable at best this week. Um Derek Harmon, same thing. um his his work is improving, his his health is improving, but he best be described as questionable along with Joey Porter um who continues to work and and I just saw him back there uh a few moments ago. And so um the same three guys that were out a week ago could best be described as questionable. Um but we’ll we’ll watch them throughout the week. um will certainly uh gauge their participation and the quality of participation and particularly the younger the player the more significant that is. Um Harmon obviously would be stepping into his first regular season action and so there’s a higher standard in terms of his availability. I think that’s appropriate in terms of putting him in position to perform and to perform well. Um some in-game things that happened uh to us just giving you an update there. Uh Louder Milk will be out. He has a high ankle sprain. Um that could be described as weeks. Um Alex Highmith um he has a less a lesser significant uh but at the same time he has an ankle sprain as well. Uh he could be characterized as out as well. We had some guys that uh got banged up in game that may limit them um at the early portions of the week but should not eliminate them from participation. Some of those guys include Patrick Queen uh with an oblique and um Slay with a shoulder. And so, as you can see, a lot of those guys um are and have been defensive players, but often times it happens like that in football. Uh it is our ability is is our job and their job to adapt and adjust to to put together the appropriate formula in terms of mixes of people, how we divide the labor up and what we do schematically. And so, really excited about it. That was one of the things that I was referring to when I was talking about the level of excitement in terms of leaning in on this opportunity uh this week. Um as a coach, you got to love those challenges. Um it’s our job to put the ones that are available in position to be successful and so we’re excited about that. Now on to New England. Um there are new staff certainly um but there are a lot of things that are familiar. Uh we’ve competed against Mike over the years and certainly um I see um some characteristics in all three phases of the game that look highly familiar. Um and obviously on offense and I’ll start there first. Uh their play caller is Josh McDaniels as we’ve competed against him against him quite a bit over the years. Offensively um the running backs are talented and deep group. Uh Stevenson’s been around for a number of years now. has been consistently productive in that time. Uh they drafted Henderson out of Ohio State. Uh he’s a very good uh uh top end speed guy and perimeter guy. You see them getting him the ball in spaces and in the screen game. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Gibson um who’s also a very talented member of the backfield as well. That showed in the kick return game last week. but um he he’s been a very good contributor to them and and so they got three really capable backs and uh guys that we need to work to minimize. They got quarterback mobility in the form of Drake May, he does a really good job of extending plays and and making plays with his legs. And so, you know, the weeks where quarterback mobility are a factor that usually has your attention from a rush and coverage perspective, you um you have to be real solid in the rush to eliminate downhill escape lanes, etc. you got to be ready to cover, extend it, uh, as they utilize their legs to extend plays, and that’s certainly been an asset, um, of his game since he’s been in the league. Uh, they use multiple tight ends at times. Henry is a is a security blanket for Drake, if you will. Um, they’ve got an awesome rapport. Um, you see it, you saw it play out over the uh, latter half of last year and certainly through the early stages uh, of this year. They got a deep wide receiver group that spread the ball around to a lot of guys. Um a significant acquisition in the offseason is Diggs and certainly um he’s getting himself up to speed coming off the injury and you see um you see that the uptick in that from week one to week two. And I’d imagine um that’s going to continue. They move him around some. Uh he’s a big possession down target for him. And so there’s a lot of people uh that have our attention on offense. Josh always does a nice job of working to keep you off balance. He’ll get you in big personnel groups and spread you out. Uh but as I mentioned, uh we’ve competed against him a lot over the years. There’s some familiarity there, but I also imagine uh he’s saying similar things on the defensive side of the ball. They really did a nice job of acquiring some top end talent up front and I think it’s been reflected in the production thus far. They got to be one of the top teams in the league in terms of sacking the quarterback. Uh they picked up Williams from from Philadelphia um on the inside. Um and they have Harold Landry on the edge. Uh Mike obviously is familiar with Landry. They drafted him in Tennessee. He’s been highly productive since he’s been in the league and he’s off to a really good start uh for them as well this year. Um they acquired Robert Spelain uh from Vegas. We’re we’re familiar with with Robert certainly him being a former Steeler U but they’re also familiar with Robert. Um, Robert was a Tennessee Titan before he was a Steeler. Um, I think he was on their practice squad at one point. And so, um, he’s evolved and evolved in a big way over the course of his career. I got a lot of respect for him and his talents. Um, he’s every down situational player. He’s a good communicator. He’s a really good quarterback here. Um, and is really kind of the hub of communication and then the center of all of the things that they do. Um, schematically, they play a lot of people in the secondary. Uh they’ll package you. Uh they have big nickel. Um they have pass down situational nickel. Uh they’ll dime they’ll dime you at times. Um they have a um Mapu is a linebacker that plays some in passing circumstances and is is really good in coverage. Um I thought that was a really big play he made last week versus the Dolphins uh in a passing circumstance as an underneath defender uh with a big time interception. Um they turned over some people at the safety position um but they’re not locking talent there. They they play as many as four guys um in various circumstances and so they do a really good job of making you get prepared for package football of dividing their labor up and using a lot of people uh in an effort to secure victory. Special teams has been a splash unit for them. Uh they made a big play last week certainly u but they’ve made big plays throughout. Um the the rookie talented runner had a big kickoff return I think in the first preseason game and and I think that has all of our attentions that that special team space. Um the newness of the of the dynamic kickoff and the adjustments being made. Um I know I’m personally looking at a lot of global tape looking at schematics and and how people are deploying people. um the sizes of people at times um are changing in that space because of the vertical grass has been covered. And so there’s just a lot of interesting things going on in the kickoff and kickoff return game that could have an impact certainly um in the splash plays of the early portions of the season and I think their tape reflects that to this point and so got a lot of irons in the fire but it’s such as life is that time of week and certainly um there needs to be a lot of irons in the fire as we work to get that taste out of our mouth from a negative performance and secure victory this week. I’ll pause and open up for questions. Mike, when you when um you mentioned that the schemes are limited up front, uh is that because of your young guys, YA Black and Logan Lee? And how do you overcome that when you have that situation? You know, I just think in general we continue to work. It’s not only their youth. Um it’s our collective youth in this season that is 2025. You know, injuries are a part of the game. Certainly, you adapt and and and you move on. Uh but it certainly probably comes with more challenges at the early portions of the year. And I think we kind of felt the effects of that. I certainly feel confident that we’re going to, you know, experience the benefit of that. We got some young people gaining some real in-game experiences and we’re being challenged as being challenged as strategists to adapt and bring the game to them. And I think in the big scheme of things, all of those things are positive. Do you continue do you continue with the rotation at that defensive line spot or do you put one person in there? Certainly. Yeah, I think at the early stages of the year, um, particularly with the attrition that we have, we we’re we’re open to playing a lot of people. I think the strength is in numbers, uh, with your defensive bigs at the early portions of the year. Mike, you say the Patriots are, you know, one of the top teams in the league in terms of sacking the quarterback. How do you feel about this offensive line going in there? You know, I feel great about it to be honest with you. Um, you know, I like our group. Um, we’re going to continue to get better. Uh, we have to work in that spirit. Uh certainly we could have been better in some areas last week, but that’s life. Um I like the overall trajectory of the group as a collective and as individuals and I’m excited about getting them back into the next stadium. How do you guys balance uh in terms of coverage? How do you know having guys like Ramsey and Slay even without Porter right now? How do you balance trying to put them schematically in advantageous situations versus calling something and just letting them go out there and make a play? You know, I I I I think what you’re referring to is the communication component of it. And certainly um like last week, for example, the four starters in our secondary were all new to us. And so um it’s probably more um most of my concerns are centered around that our level of cohesion and and and communication given the fact that so many guys are new to us. You guys have have given up the most plays of 15 yards or more in the NFL. What do you attribute that to through two games and how do you fix that as a team? Again, what I’ve kind of been talking about, um, we’ve got to be better. We got to strategize better. We got to play better. Um, we got to divide the labor up a little better. Some of that’s been challenging with some of the attrition, but that’s what we’re paid to do and I’m excited about addressing it this week. Mike, specifically with the middle linebackers, how do you feel like they’ve played it? Are you going to work Hulk more into that mix? Um, I think he played some last week. Um but we certainly going to play viable and capable people. Um PQ got banged up in game. Um Peyton Wilson I think was experiencing some sickness at points in game and so certainly we played some more and I’d imagine we’ll continue to do that as we prepare for this week. Intend to have Caleb Johnson return kickoffs again. I’m sorry. You intend to have Caleb Johnson return kickoffs? Probably not in the short term. Um, I’m certainly going to give him an opportunity to to work his way back um from that era. Uh, I I I believe in his talent. He’s a sharp young man. He’s a hard worker. Um, and so you leave the light on for him. You give him an opportunity to move on from it, but he has to do that. He has to display that uh with his daily work, and he’s got to earn himself back in the position to be a participant. And so, we’ll see where the Rose lead us. I’m open to it certainly. Mike, how do you coach a rookie like that to learn from that mistake, but also be able to move on from it? Just as I described. Um, you gota you got to man up. You got to acknowledge um your shortcomings and then you got to work to move beyond it. And it’s my job as a leader to provide that opportunity. How have you seen him uh his response so far? I know it’s only been a couple days. He hasn’t had an opportunity to physically respond. Forget what you say. Um it’s about how you move forward in terms of your work. um the level of detail and and the consistency of it and so we certainly will be watching that closely as we push into this week. What do you see as being some of the candidates to kind of fill that spot on? I haven’t even begun to address it yet. Viewing the the tape um Seattle converted a lot of third downs like third and nine, third and 12, third and 14 or even if they didn’t convert them, they got to fourth and one situations. Uh and it was all over the middle. How what did you see whether they were attacking you or just breakdowns under I just thought in general we could have been tighter in coverage and and more solid in some in terms of some of our communication and oftent times the tightness of coverage is is is often time a reflection of understanding and and fluid communication and so we got to get better in some of those areas. Mike, how about in terms of stopping the run? Where do you feel like some of the biggest shortcomings have been in that area? You know, I thought that we did a better job in week two certainly than we did in week one. Um I thought it got away from us down the stretch as we wore down. Um I think they maybe had 50 yards or so in the last scoring drive, for example. And so we’re just simply going to get back to work. Mike, did you have any questions about whether the Seattle player remained in bounds before going out on that fumble return or fumble recovery? Did you get any clarification? I didn’t. They ruled it a touchdown on the field and so that provided an opportunity for it to be reviewed. I assumed that they did that and so I moved on. Mike, looking at your own team’s run game, where do you feel like you guys took a step forward with Jaylen Warren last week? I thought Jaylen came to play. Um, I thought he won one-on- ones. Uh, he often times made the first tackler miss. He had a good pad level and downhill finish uh in his play. Um, I thought as a collective, um, we still lack a little cohesion at times that is slowing us down, a miscombation here, a misidentification there. It’s not one particular person. And that’s why I’m just talking more broadly about us just needing to continue to work uh, and solidify all of those things. Uh, so we we don’t leave it quite as much meat on the bone. You mentioned two as a trend for for this year’s team. Are you noticing any trends that have continued from last year in terms of how your opponents are attacking you on defense regardless of what personnel changes you may have made to this year? No, I have not. Like you mentioned that lack of cohesion. What do you think’s behind that? What needs to happen for there to gain more cohesion? Just collective work. Just collective cohesion. Um we all better get better. Not only us, but everybody in the National Football League. I see a lot of that on a lot of our tapes. uh not to seek or to provide comfort. It’s just the reality of why um get better and physical work is so important particularly at the early stages of the season. You said you felt like Aaron was hit too much after week one. I think there was one more hit on in week two. Is that a concerning trend for you? No, less so this week because of the nature of how it happened. Uh week one it was, you know, first and second down play passes and things of that nature. um it was more circumstantial and reasonable circumstances in terms of in-game play possession down football twin minute and so forth in this game and so it’s less alarming than it was in week one. How was uh how was Sawyer do you think this past week? I thought it was a significant improvement in the quality of his play on defense and in teams. Uh but I think that’s a reasonable expectation for a lot of young people. um he had been in the stadium and so um I thought he played with more emotion. I thought he was more vocal. I thought he was more productive probably because of that comfort. And so I’m excited about the extended opportunities that he’s going to continue to get particularly like with with Highmith being out now. Um and often times one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. He’s gotten some opportunity because of uh Herbick’s lack of availability. And now that Herbick is back, he’ll continue to get some more opportunities because of Highmith’s lack of availability. Mike, after the game, Aaron talked about, you know, as far as limiting crossing routes from what you guys were trying to do because the Seahawks were using more backed off like too high zone zone defenses. How do you counter that better moving forward if other teams use that approach against what you guys try to do with? You know, it’s week to week. Um because it’s not only about the structure, it’s about the people. Um, and so, you know, last week’s solutions might be a little bit different than this week’s solutions. Mike, I know you haven’t used him a lot in offense, but when you make a move like that with Caleb Johnson and taking him off kick returns, do you have to be cautious about maybe, you know, mentally how that affecting his other role? Certainly. But, but, you know, I don’t think you get to the National Football League not without having faced some adversity uh as a player and responding responded appropriately. Um he’s a young guy and so um certainly I’m going to watch him closely but um I expect him to rebound. I expect him to roll his sleeves up and go to work um and to wait for his next opportunity. Mike, you guys used less play action this last week than in week one. Was that matchup specific or was there something game plan related? Certainly. Knowing it is only week two. What have you seen from your offense through these first two weeks here? You know, I thought we I thought largely um we’ve been really good in the red area. Um obviously until that that turnover. Um and being good in the red area is a major component of of good offensive football. I think um you you you seek and desire to put points on the board and to score points. We did a lot of it in week one. I thought we supported our defense appropriately so after the big interception by Herbick in the first half and and punched that in. And so I like the overall trajectory of us performing in situational moments. We’ve been good uh before halftime. I think in both games uh in terms of moving and putting points on the board, I like the overall trajectory of situational play. Um I think we’re gaining some traction in terms of consistency in our run game. Uh but we just have to continue to have all those arrows moving upward and onward and obviously the the the agenda is to produce a winning victory. What do you view your offensive identity as and how close are you guys to achieving that? It’s the early stages of the year. We’re just trying to win football games. We’re trying to distribute the ball to capable people um in their areas of strength. I think that’ll be revealed as we all get a larger body of work, not only for us, but for those that we compete against. Um I think a twoame body of work is a small small sample size. I know you talked about the the tush push and as a member of the competition committee, but while it’s still a rule, have you thought at all about using it? Yes. Would you use it with a player other than a quarterback? I’m not going to get into strategy um detail. You guys come to practice, you see what we do. You guys are trying to get me on record. Next, somewhat related the punt the punt from your 48 on fourth and one. Would you be okay with Aaron absorbing that kind of hit in a sneak at this point in his career? Yeah. Yeah. Aaron Aaron is a very very durable and tough and tough-minded guy. Um I don’t worry about him uniquely um per his position. Robert took accountability for his his performance in week one talking to us last week. How did you feel he responded with his week two play? Felt significantly better. With the week under his belt, do you feel like he could use Jabril Peppers a little bit more? And does his specific familiarity with New England play into that this week? You know, I haven’t delved into his specific familiarity with New England, but certainly um being his second week here, um I’m open to expanding the utilization of him, not only as a teamer, uh but as a defender. Anyone else? All right, great. Thanks. Thanks. And uh talking about what happened last week and also looking ahead to the New England Patriots. I guess the first thing that strikes you is that they have a lot of injuries, but unusually all seven are on defense. Yeah, not a good sign and we saw that play out during week two going into the game without some of their starters and then losing guys throughout the game. Um he did say that questionable at best to return for week three would be Deshawn Elliot, Joey Porter Jr. and Derek Harmon. Joey is dealing with a hamstring, the other two a knee injury. Isaiah Laudermilk and Alex Highmith both with ankle sprains. Laddermilk sounds to be worse. He said those guys he can already rule them out. And then some in-game injuries that we did see, especially with Patrick Queen. He’s dealing with an oblique and also Darius Slay with a shoulder. Limited, but expects those guys to play. And with no Alex Icemith in the lineup, that means Nick Herbick is the next guy up. He came up with that big defensive play on the swat by Cam Hayward and the return that set up the only touchdown of the game. But he will go against a guy who was one of their top picks, uh, Will Campbell, a left tackle out of LSU. So, that will be an interesting matchup. Yeah. And I think, you know, they got Nick Herbig back last week at just the right time. Alex Highmith did pop up on the injury report for Friday, but didn’t have a designation. Went into the game, re retweaked something with that ankle that happened on Friday. They tried to tape it up. He tried to go back in. It didn’t work. So, they ended up ruling him out. Uh, so not good there. But also Jack Sawyer, you know, another rookie to talk about. He is someone who got a chance to step up as well and got his first sack in week two. It was a game of big plays both ways. Uh mistakes both ways. That that happens. Um but I thought the most critical one was he talked about Jaylen Warren on that 65 yard run where he just shed uh would be tacklers. I think four I counted missed tackles and then they end up with the interception on a scramble drill. That’s one of those things they work on, but obviously it’s one of those things you have to work on a lot because guys were in the same position and it led to the deflection into the hands of Kendrick. Yeah, that was very unfortunate. And I think especially, you know, the play by Jaylen just really started to change the mood on the sidelines in the stadium where you’re like, “Okay, we can come back from this.” Um, but as you know, everyone said after the game, just unfortunate that Calvin Austin thought maybe he should try to go there. Who knows if Pat would have got it. I mean, he rifled that ball in. Um, but still, it looked like it was headed right to to Pat was on the ground sliding, right? So, you know, could have, should have, would have, but that was definitely a drive that was a huge momentum killer. And that obviously what transpired after. Yeah. And the Caleb Johnson and for those who just missed Mike Tomman’s uh earlier part of the press conference, Caleb Johnson, who he still has great confidence in will not be returning kicks this week. No designation on who will, but I guess a week of practice will determine that as they move forward, it’ll be a big part of it. Special teams, I mean, we we’ve seen in two games now, the Steelers have had all sorts of special teams pros and cons in that game with New England and Miami. Miami had a 74 yard punt return touchdown by Malik Washington only to see the ensuing kickoff take back 90 yards by Antonio Gibson for a touchdown for New England. And the thing about that is Rael was riding his 40 time must be pretty good cuz he was keeping up with him. I saw a still frame a photo from their team photographer of them like side by side and I mean Rabel was he he was going for it. So he was going for it. Yeah. And that’s that was a big part of that game as well. We have plenty to cover in case you missed Mike Tomlin and his uh news conference which just ended. We’ll do it as we continue here on a Tomlin Tuesday. We’re live on KDK Plus and Steeler Digital platforms. [Music] Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the terrible towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. I mean, they’re they’re sticky on the outside. uh good coverage guys and played a lot of two shell and we just couldn’t uh run it effectively enough to kind of get them out of it. On tape there had been a lot of pressure uh a lot of different personnel groups now with Spoon being out uh they played uh you know less different groupings less pressure much less pressure and more too high. What wasn’t working for you guys on third down? I believe you were 515 on the day. I mean, everything I wasn’t uh on target. We weren’t getting open effectively enough and they were getting some good pass rush. There were times in the game you looked like you were pretty spirited out there. Maybe a little bit disappointed with stuff that was happening whether it was with yourself or on, you know, is this starting to get a little frustrating? You’re getting No, it’s week two. Come on now. Come on. Come on. It’s week two. I mean, like it’s it’s good for us. last week probably there’s some people who were feeling feeling pretty good because everybody outside the building is talking about how great we were on offense and 34 points. That’s the league. You can’t ride the highs or ride the lows. You know, you got to you got to refocus every single week and be a professional and it starts with the practice and the preparation. So, we just get a chance to reset. Take a look what we did last week, what worked, what didn’t work from the preparation standpoint. Do better next week. And some sometimes when you in the red zone and you get to a certain point and you end up with a field goal, is it harder to motivate especially some of the younger players when you get over to the sidelines and just tell them to keep on pushing? No, not at all. No. I mean, it’s I look at myself first and if we have a field goal, I probably wasn’t effective enough in a situation. [Music] Our fans are here. Give us something to cheer about to them. The crowd at Acure is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. This defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. You intend to have Caleb Johnson return to probably not in the short term. Um I’m certainly going to give him an opportunity to to work his way back um from that era. Uh I I I believe in his talent. He’s a sharp young man. and he’s a hard worker. Um, and so you leave the light on for him. You give him an opportunity to move on from it, but he has to do that. He has to display that uh with his daily work, and he’s got to earn himself back in the position to be a participant. And so, we’ll see where the roads lead us. I’m open to it certainly. Mike, how do you coach a rookie like that to learn from that mistake, but also be able to move on from it? Just as I described, um, you gota you got to man up. You got to acknowledge um your shortcomings and then you got to work to move beyond it. And it’s my job as a leader to provide that opportunity. How have you seen him uh his response so far? I know it’s only been a couple days. He hadn’t had an opportunity to physically respond. Forget what you say. Um it’s about how you move forward in terms of your work. Um the level of detail and and the consistency of it. And so we certainly will be watching that closely as we push into this week. That’s Mike Tomlin talking about Caleb Johnson and that play that ended up with a quick seven points. It really took the life out of the stadium and I think the team as well because you don’t see that. That’s been a first time in decades that he saw a play like that, but new rules come into play. It’s not like college and I think he had to be thinking it was college, but that just can’t happen. I know the coaching staff goes over this stuff all the time. And on these sorts of plays, I always kind of think it’s the player who just has to be up for it as we watch this play again. Right. I mean, it was a good low kick. Um, but the landing zone is something that they have hammered home, not just I’m sure with Danny Smith in the classroom, but refs actually go to each team’s training camp to go over it not only with the media, but with the players and team as well. Um, and it was a very unfortunate mistake, a rough mistake to learn, especially as a rookie, somebody trying to prove yourself. It was though, there wasn’t a ton of people going after Jeril Peppers, uh, who was just here um, a few days ago prior to that. he at least was going towards the ball, but it it felt like a lot of people maybe were uncertain what was happening. Um, but as coach Tomlin said for Caleb Johnson, he’s a rookie. It sucks. He’s going to have to learn from it, but he’s also going to have to earn his way back into getting a chance to do that. Um, and that’s unfortunate way to start your rookie season. uh you are a draft pick that a lot of people are excited about, the coaching staff is excited about and to have that happen which who knows what would have changed from the game that way, but that point swing was brutal and it came at the end of the game which was unfortunate too. Yeah. The only thing I wondered about that because Hotti from Seattle fell on the ball, but he he was he rolled out of bounds and the ball kind of popped out and they had to determine there was possession. I was wondering about that cuz you know possession I would expect you have to hold on the ball the whole time but it did come out but I guess they didn’t take much time to look at it because all scoring plays are reviewed and they said it was a clean possession. I think at least from what the ref said in stadium um was that somebody had to recover it at that point it didn’t matter who because it landed in the landing zone and he was the only person that was there. So I guess but he also had time he didn’t know this of course cuz Peppers is coming down but he was he could have picked it up stood up and never even pounced on it to make it clean. But regardless, it was a it was a difficult turn of events and as coach Tomlin said that he will leave the light on for Caleb Johnson. As you said, it goes beyond kickoff returns. He may not be doing that in the short term, but he’s still a big part of the run game and he needs to get going as well. Yeah, absolutely. We saw Jaylen Warren really take that step in week two, which was great to see, not just on the ground, but also we talked about, you know, the p the 65 yard pass, uh what he turned that play into, quite frankly. But I do think for Caleb Johnson, you wanted to see more of how they were going to utilize him with Kenny Gainwell, who’s just a totally different type of back than the other two. But it was a good step forward for Jaylen Warren for sure. Um, but obviously the Steelers want that run game to get going a lot more. Then the question is who will be, you know, be for kickoff returns and it could be a number of people that we’ve seen. We saw Kenny Gainwell do it a little bit in the preseason. Calvin Austin can do it there. other guys can do it, but at this point they don’t have anyone that they’re signaling and saying, “Okay, he’s going to be our return guy.” I think this practice will determine who it will be. Yeah. And the Steelers don’t hit the practice fields until tomorrow. As coach said, he hasn’t got to that portion yet. I’m sure Danny Smith has a list uh that he’s ready to present of guys that he wants to see out there doing it. And I’m sure they’re going to have to work on it during practice to get ready for that as Caleb Johnson will not be doing that in the short term. The Steelers Patriots game will be interesting. When we come back, we’ll talk about some of the stuff that goes into it, including how the Steelers offensive line deals with a New England defense that has one of the biggest sack totals after two weeks. Nine sacks they’ve produced so far in their two games. We’ll talk about that and more as we continue right here on a Tomlin Tuesday on the south side of Pittsburgh. [Music] [Music] Our fans are here. Give us something to cheer about today. The crowded is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. His defense is swarming. It is picked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. What do you see going on with the run defense? say number of long runs against you guys. Part of that tackling what’s happened? I don’t know, man. We’re going to have to look at it and break it down. Um, clearly it’s the same issues are rearing their head from last week. And um, in the NFL, you don’t have time to go back after each and every game, make the adjustments. You need to make the adjustments before they happen. And if they happen in game um, before they’re allowed to continue to snowball like they did today and like they did last week. So, back to the drawing board. I’m sure there’s a many a multitude of different reasons why this is happening. Um, but we’re way too talented. We have way too good of schemes um to allow this to continue to happen week after week. Did you come into this game figuring that thinking that you would fix some of those issues in practice? I was definitely confident. I think um each and every week we feel confident going into the game. You never go into the game thinking um negative thoughts. Um but clearly wasn’t enough. First glance, what was allowing them to have so much success on those chunk plays. It really felt like on third down, they picked up a lot of big yardage. Yeah, I mean, uh, we weren’t able to pressure the quarterback as much we’d like. There was a good amount of max protection. Um, we just need to be able to get home and, uh, help the guys in the back end to reduce those big plays even on I mean, even third down along, some of those were runs, too. Um, we need to do a better job of, um, stopping those plays. They’re not allowed to have those fourth and ones and then be able to be much easier to convert. Do you feel teams are maybe now these last two teams are going at you through the middle maybe part to avoid you just to I don’t know. I mean I’ll let you guys speculate all that stuff. I’m just trying to help as much as I possibly can any way that I possibly can. Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the Terrible Towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. [Music] I thought Jaylen came to play. Um, I thought he won one-on- ones. Uh, he often times made the first tackler miss. He had a good pad level and downhill finish uh in his play. Um, I thought as a collective, um, we still lack a little cohesion at times that is slowing us down, a miscombination here, a misidentification there. It’s not one particular person. And that’s why I’m just talking more broadly about us just needing to continue to work uh, and solidify all of those things. Uh, so we we don’t leave it quite as much meat on the bone. Boy, you talk about turning points. That was a big one in this game because it looked like the Steelers were poised to take the lead. it thought maybe he would even get into the end zone because he had 65 yards. He was running making people miss and then they stop him. All right, it’s first and goal, but it didn’t work that way. Uh, and they end up throwing an interception, which was just the result of two guys in the same place. But what a play by Jaylen Warner when he gets going. Uh, he’s one of the better guys in the league in terms of yak yards or if he’s in the pass game or just, you know, shedding tacklers, he does it well. Yeah. And I think even in week one, the Steelers overall as a team had the most yak yards um or some of the most throughout the NFL between him, DK Metaf when you think about it. But I do think I mean that play was all effort. Um you see Pat blocking. Everybody really did a good job on this. I was hoping that for Jaylen’s sake he did get into the end zone after all that work. And I will say the hot um the sun made it very hot down on the sideline. Part of it is turf uh in the bench area. There were a lot of guys who needed, you know, the sun shield, had the fan with the mister, some guys got oxygen. Uh Jaylen was just one of those those Energizer bunnies that kept going and going. Um and it was unfortunate that what was such a bright spot in the second half for the Steelers when it felt like things weren’t going well at all. Uh turned into another bad thing that started to help things crumble unfortunately in favor of the Seahawks. Well, you know, he hasn’t gotten the number of carries that I would have expected being the starter. I think this week may change that because this is a team in New England that does like to go after the quarterback. The one way you stop them, at least hold him back a little bit is a good run game and he he has, you know, he has never been a starter prior to this year on a regular basis. Now he is and I think they need to feed him a little bit more. At least that’s what I would do. And just the pass pro, the blocking that Jaylen Warren can do to help with that run game. It was good to see Darnell Washington involved in this game on that two-point conversion. another guy uh who can chip in and help because as you said, New England coming into week three already with nine sacks. Um so unfortunately you do not want to see more sacks taken on Aaron Rogers this early in the season. I think Harold Landry leads away with three or four and three and a half and they brought in Milton Williams from the Eagles. They gave him a lot of money. They also have Robert Spelain and you heard Mike Tomlin talk about that. He’s made a nice career for himself. I think he got three years 30 plus million dollars to go there and he’s a guy they know very well. Yeah. and he was with Tennessee before he came to Pittsburgh. Obviously, we played against him when he was with the Raiders. Now he’s back with Vrabel in New England and kind of the quarterback of their defense. One of those high energy guys. Anytime somebody says the name Robert Spain, I think of the hit he put on Derrick Henry during that bizarre co year, it was very early in that season. Um, so I think, you know, going against a team that you spent some time with gives you a little bit more juice as well. We also talk about this every time we see a coach who is familiar with the Steelers and vice versa. Mike Verbbo has tendencies as a head coach. Uh I’m sure the Steelers know that when he was with Tennessee, just as he would know what Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff likes to do. How do you think that plays out? Uh and we saw it last week even when Mike McDonald who had spent so many years with the Ravens, he was the head coach of Seattle. The beginnings of that game sound and looked like it was a Ravens Steelers game the way it was going. So these guys know each other. Uh and at that point you have to figure out okay what could we do differently maybe to make a big play right you know Vel and uh his physical mentality I think he inarks that on his entire team but also Josh McDaniels is is there as well somebody the Steelers have faced a number of times. I do think as coach said going into week two that sometimes it ends up just being a wash because you know each other so well. Um so maybe that will help happen again for week three. Hopefully, it’s more in the the Steelers favor. Um because both teams are looking for their second win of the season. No question about that. And the Steelers also get a first time opportunity to look at Drake May, their quarterback. Um you know, he’s a guy who had I thought had his best performance last week in Miami. 19 for 23, high completion percentage, threw two, had one uh running touchdown, so he counted for three. He was a third pick overall. So, you know, he’s a dangerous kind of guy. When you watch him in the pocket, he looks very poised. Again, the Steelers have got to get more pressure on quarterbacks, especially a guy like TJ Water. Anyone on the edge or up the middle, too. You got to do it somehow some way because he’s pretty comfortable right now in the pocket. Yeah, mobile quarterbacks. Uh definitely something that I think we’re going to be talking about every single week, it feels like. Uh but I did see the stat that throwing two touchdowns, running one in for um Drake May, the first Patriots quarterback to do that since 2019, which of course was Tom Brady. Um, so I think they are very excited about what they’re seeing from him in this year too of being with the team. Yeah. Another guy Steelers are familiar with, Hunter Henry, their tight end. They used him quite a bit, too. And in Pittsburgh not too long ago, he had a big day against the Steelers. So, that’s a guy you got to watch, especially safeties or linebackers going to be matched up with him. Yeah. And I think that’s where, you know, you start to think about the injuries and hoping that more guys uh have the door left open and they’re able to actually play and go on Sunday because the amount of injuries, as we highlighted earlier in the show, that keep taking hits to the defensive side of the ball isn’t good in terms of stopping guys like that. Uh Stefon Diggs, new to their team. I’m sure at some point he’s going to heat up. It was kind of like week two. Uh everyone’s like, “Where’s Cooper Cup?” Well, we found out where Cooper Cup was unfortunately. Yeah. Another guy they have Andre Stevenson is a guy who can do it also in both facets. The run and uh the pass. A couple of years ago he really had a good year combined allpurpose 1400 yards and last week he had 88 of his yards on the passing game. So he’s another thing you got to watch out for in their offense. Yeah, they have a rookie running back too. Um and I know that you know again stopping the run is something that I think TJ Watts said it best like this is not fun football. Smashing the run is what we talk about first and foremost every single week. When we’re not able to do that and play the one way we want to play, it’s not fun. Um, and it just seems like Sunday was a very long day for that Steelers defense. Not just because of the heat or the fact that they were losing bodies, but because they were not able to do what they wanted it to do. Yeah, no question about that. Mike Tomlin did say he is encouraged with his offensive line uh going against this New England defense. Although, again, part of that has to be stopping the run. Uh Kenneth Walker had a big game. Before that, it was Bruce Hall and others. They got to shut that down. That’s first and foremost. If they can do that, I think it opens up other parts of their defense. Absolutely. And you really want to see them get after the quarterback in the way that we anticipate them being able to. Uh and I think the bad taste in their mouth from the end of the 2024 season of not being able to stop the run seems to be carrying over a little bit. So hopefully that’s something that can be done and uh over with in week three. Yeah, it has to be because otherwise it’s going to be very difficult to make plays that way when you’re giving up, especially first on big yards like the Jets average quite a bit. So, that’s the challenge this week as the Steelers go to New England. You’ll see that game at 1:00 on KDKA and our pregame coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. We’ll take a break and come back with more of our Mike Tomlin analysis on this Tomlin Tuesday right here from the UPMC Rooney Sports Center. [Music] Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the Terrible Towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. We was just running, man. And you know, guys was getting inside and um you know, when we did switch it up, they’ll get a take down here and there. Um I just feel like we just got to be better. Um zone coverage, man coverage, whatever it is, I just feel like we just got to be better. Um and like I said, when our play, we just got to make it. Is it a scheme thing or is it people not being in the right position? Communication? Can you put your finger on where the breakdowns are? Oh, let me ask what I want. Game plan wise, was there a specific that you thought you guys had in a good spot that you had ironed out that just didn’t manifest today? I can’t I won’t answer that one. I’m sorry. Does it feel like the issues you guys are having, is it a continuation to things that plagued you guys at the end of last season, or is this something different? Something different. Um, I think when you got the stuff that we was getting last season, it was more of um the schematic beaters um that we were getting um and we wasn’t cleaning up our details. I think now it’s just a point of us we got all the details. I think we just got to go out there and execute them. I like it’s really that simple when like that’s why I’m saying like when we got a play to make that play when we were supposed to be somewhere, we got to be there. You among a lot of your teammates, you guys working now, the tent is it seemed like throughout the game. How hard is it to find a rhythm on defense when you don’t really know play to play who’s going to be on there? uh that it shouldn’t matter honestly. I think um at the end of the day, you get a call, you know your job, you know your responsibility. I think everybody um depending on what call is, they have a certain job and you know what that job is. So at that point um whoever the ball comes to, you got to make that play. I think it’s that simple. Um just be where you’re supposed to be at to make that play. How fr how frustrating is it to have backtoback weeks like this for the defense given, you know, all the vets, all the money, everything that’s in this defense? Yeah, it’s upsetting. Um, I don’t even care about all the other stuff. I just I don’t like people just having their way. Um, and you know, we did that again today. Let them have their way. So, it’s definitely aggravating. [Music] Our fans are here. Give them something to cheer about to them. The crowd at Acure is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. This defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. [Music] D. Elliott um is improving. Um but I would characterize his availability as questionable at best. this week. Um Derek Harmon, same thing. Um his his work is improving, his his health is improving, but he best be described as questionable along with Joey Porter um who continues to work and and I just saw him back there uh a few moments ago. And so um the same three guys that were out a week ago could best be described as questionable. Um but we’ll we’ll watch them throughout the week. So, in case you missed it, that was Mike Tomlin earlier talking about the injury bug, which has hit them all on the defensive side of the ball. Seven injuries, all to the defense, although some of those guys could be back. And, you know, they have a by-week coming up soon, too. So, I think that plays into it. When you have uh soft tissue injuries, hamstrings like Jerry Porter has, even though he may be listening as questionable, I think they would air on the side of caution there. Yeah. And he said questionable at best. So, I I don’t know. We’ll have to see as the practice reports start coming out on Wednesday. But I think too, um, you know, when you looked at the schedule when it came out in April, you’re thinking, “Oh, week five, I don’t love that.” But Cam Hayward said after the game on Sunday, you know, maybe that week five buy will be coming at the right time for the Steelers as so many guys are dealing with those injuries. But, you know, you talk about wanting to stop the run. Derek Harmon is somebody that I think we’ve all wanted to see uh in there in the middle of that defense. So hopefully he can get back into the lineup sooner rather than later. They need help there. And Louderdermilk’s out looks like more so than Heismith. His his high ankle sprain may be uh worse than that. So he’s another guy on the defensive line. They got to come up with plays there. You talk about injuries though, Missy. You look around the NFL and all we see are injuries, especially early in the season, which is not unusual. We’ve seen it earlier. But how about these quarterbacks? Joe Burrow, who it seems like every single year has some sort of problem to deal with. uh which a lot of people think may have to do with the fact that they haven’t really upgraded their offensive line in time, but he’s going to be gone for 3 months, which means the Steelers won’t have to play him likely at all this year. Right. Yeah. See, Jake Browning, um yeah, the turftoe needing the surgery saying at least three months. You have Jaden Daniels, JJ McCarthy. Uh the list just unfortunately keeps growing and it feels so early in the season and you want to see a lot of those guys out there um and not see the backups. But it does impact the Steelers and you know those McCarthy may not play, you may see Carson Wentz as this season goes on. You talk about depth, but when it affects quarterbacks, you better have guys who are capable back there. Both Browning and Wentz have been around this league for quite some time. Now, the other interesting factor here is the penalties. Now, we have not seen a lot of penalties in the two Steeler games, which I prefer. I I don’t want flag shows every time there’s a game. And the Steelers have been good about not doing it so far. They’re u they’re coming off a game where they had like I mean combined I think six penalties in two games. New England, on the other hand, may lead the league in penalties. They had 12 in Miami, including pre- snap penalties. Yeah, they lead the league. They’re tied for the lead league with nine pre- snap penalties between those two games. Uh, not a good thing to have and that seems very uncharacteristic of a Mike Varel team to not be as disciplined. Um, but hopefully that is something that the Steelers can take advantage of and hopefully that helps get the defense going. Yeah, and that’s that hurt New England twice in the game last week against Miami, but they dug out of those holes. But those are holes that if you’re Steelers, you want to definitely attack. Third and nine, third and 10. The one thing we saw last week, and also this has to improve, but you got to give credit to Sam Darnold. He had he was trapped a couple of times. The one player came up to me that third and nine and he spins away from Patrick Queen. If that doesn’t work for them, the Steelers might be in a good position there. But when you get down in distance in your favor, however you achieve it, you got to close the deal. Yeah, it felt like there was a lot of third and longs, uh, not third and shorts, and those were when they weren’t able to do what the defense needed to do in terms of stopping Sam Darnold and the rest of that Seahawks offense. Uh, very unfortunate to see because it felt like there were a lot of good plays. It just they weren’t in enough time together or grouped together to make something substantial to get the ball back, to hold them to three, whatever you needed to do on that. I will say, however, Patrick Queen, as coach says, dealing with an oblique injury, um, was in a lot of pain on the sidelines whenever that injury happened. He willed himself to go back out there to help, um, which I thought was very commendable on his part. So hopefully he can get healthy and better as the QB of that Steelers defense to help clean up that communication that coach Tomlin talked about and get the defense back to what we saw. You have to figure Seattle missed a field goal. Um, Jaylen Ramsay had an interception. There were just so many things that went in their favor, but at the end they made too many mistakes to get the win. And I think what’s happened too that we’ve seen on the video here, a lot of crossing patterns deep against the Steelers. So that’s something they have to watch with New England as well, cuz they can do that and that these other teams have had success with it. So as you know, Missy, they watch the film, they figure out things, tendencies, and that’s one thing that has to change for the Steelers going into New England. We’ll take a break and come back with more on this Mike Tomlin Tuesday right after this on KDK Plus and your Steeler digital platforms. Our [Music] [Music] fans are here. Give us something to cheer about today. The crowd at Acure is so loud. Let’s go. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ, this defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. Yeah. Uh, credit to my, you know, my teammates. They’re the ones that made it happen. I was just following their vlogs. Do you feel like last week passing game this week, you and the running game like you guys are on the verge of getting it all going? Mhm. Yeah, 100%. What is your advice to Caleb or what do you kind of say to him after a rough thing like that happens? Uh saying that we say a lot here, travel light. Um you know, don’t let the last play affect the next play. Um whatever happens, you know, your best play is your next play. So I know he going to be good. We all got him and you know, nothing to panic about. Is that easier said than done in your experience? Uh I mean, like I said, if you’re going to take it from anybody, take it from me. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and uh you know, it’s it’s the counter punch. It’s how you come back from things that’s going to matter. Did it seem like he maybe just didn’t understand the role at the time or what did you take up from that him? Mhm. Oh yeah, probably. Like I know if he knew to down it, he would have downed it, but he just, you know, there’s probably just some gray area in there. Not that something all the rule cuz there’s college rules and then they change the NFL kickoff rules and I mean how much in special teams you guys when the rules get changed, do you have a meeting about that or you go over those statements? Yeah, Danny does a great job at informing us whenever something like that does happen. um you know you in the game you in the stadium sometimes you may like forget things like it’s easy to do that. Did you think you were going to score on that long catch and run? I was trying to. Yeah. Much of a momentum flip is that you know you get the big long catch you know catch and run first and goal and then the interception in the end zone. Uh you know it you know it’s football. It happens. Uh yeah get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop this dealers pro shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the terrible towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. [Music] All right, welcome back as we continue here and in case you missed it, tuned in late. Uh the injury list is a lengthy one today, Missy. Unfortunately for week three, all coming on the defensive side. Patrick Queens dealing with an oblique injury and then we have Darius Slay with a shoulder. They were hurt in game. Coach Tomlin expects them to play could be limited as they start practice tomorrow. Guys that he ruled out with ankle sprains, Isaiah Louderdermilk and Alex Highmith. And then questionable at best, we have Derek Harmon and Deshawn Elliot with their knee injuries and Joey Porter Jr. who missed week two with that hamstring. That’s a long one and it affects defense. And so now it’s the next man up mentality here as far as the kicking game. Caleb Johnson made that mistake last week and in the short term probably won’t be returning kicks. The question is who will? Yeah, I don’t think you want to, you know, Jaylen Warren has done it, but if he is your lead back, not someone you want to put there. There’s a number of guys, uh, like Kenny Gainwell, Kelvin Austin who can and have done it. Um, it’s just a matter of who the Steelers will pick as they start practice and figure that out. And we’ll figure that out through the course of the week. Missy, always fun. Thanks for being here as always. That’s going to do it for us. I’m Bob Pompiani from Missy Matthews and the entire talented staff here at the UPMC Rooney Sports Center. We’ll see you again next Tuesday for another Tomlin Tuesday. Have a good day. [Music]

Coach Tomlin addresses the media ahead of our Week 3 game against the New England Patriots.

#PItvsNE 9/21 at 1 PM ET on CBS

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