The Mike Tomlin Show: Week 15 vs Miami Dolphins | Pittsburgh Steelers

The Mike Tomlin Show: Week 15 vs Miami Dolphins | Pittsburgh Steelers

It has been said that the Steelers and Ravens don’t meet, they collide. Man, these are two teams that don’t like each other. Very close proximity to each other. You look at that mystique and that history and it just it means a little bit more in this game. All about the finish. Okay, we’re chasing this victory. All about the finish. We’re going to make big plays. Just play. Play and make play. They’re coming out. Come out here with a win. December football. With the division on the line, everyone knew that this was going to be a battle of epic proportions. Take advantage of your opportunities and hand them one play at a time, one game at a time, one rip at a time. You have a rivalry like this. Sometimes somebody will say, “Well, I’ll just throw the records out.” But the records of these two teams can’t throw them out. and they are noteworthy heading into today’s game. With both teams sitting six and six, this game could decide their postseason fates. Here we go. His fastest card and that’s a touchdown. That’s the way to work. Come on. He’s hit and sack. The Steelers win the football game. Let’s go. Come get it. You know what it is. This one is an air report. Here we go. Welcome to the 84 lumber Mike Tomlin Show. Hi everybody and welcome to the 84 Lumber Mike Tomlin Show and Missy Matthews. Aaron Rogers and Lamar Jackson met for the first time last Sunday in Baltimore. And thanks to a season best performance in the air by Rogers, the Steelers are back in the win column and also have a 64% chance to win the AFC North. For more on round one of Pittsburgh and Baltimore, let’s welcome in Bob Pompi who’s standing by with Coach Tomlin. Guys, hey Missy, thanks very much. We’ve entered December football and it started with a discount double check and a win at Coach Mike Tomlin. You even got in that discount double check mode. Yeah, I just like to have fun with Aaron, man. Um, it’s good to have him in that rivalry and him to kind of make his imprint on on the legacy component of it. Um, it was a fun football game. What did he mean to your offense that day? Because he seemed to be as highly competitive and and at age 42, you know, it’s in there, but man, you saw it firsthand in that game. I think I said it throughout the course of the week. Um, you know, you you run to do business with a guy like Aaron for for games like that and for for times like this December ball. Um, he’s a big- time competitor. Um, he’s a been there, done that guy. Um, but beyond that, man, he just relishes the thick competition and you want people um who are wired that way, people that run to it as opposed to from it. Um, he’s certainly one of those guys. Your offense came out with a different strategy. I think you passed the ball 16 of the first 22 plays you made right off the bat with a 52 y. Was that the game plan going into that? Yeah, there’s a there’s a texture to this this rivalry and certainly they’re familiar with us and we’re familiar with them. Um we thought maybe we’d change it up on them and try to quell the environment, get some chunks, flip the field. Um we were able to do that certainly. Um we were going to be schematically aggressive, but it’s beyond being schematically aggressive. Um it’s it requires playmaking and guys like DK and others um made some plays down the grass and I thought it was a difference for us particularly offensively and it showed right off the bat. Um you scored on your first possession of the game and then the first possession of the third quarter that had been a problem point of emphasis for you last week. Well, we just decided we were going to be schematically aggressive um in whatever that entailed situationally. Um and sometimes that’s hiding within a possession down. We threw the ball downfield some on on third and medium. Uh Calvin had a big play in the third quarter on a third down and three-ish where he went down the field and he was he was a whisker away from going 75 on that play. And so um it was more of a mentality um and certainly um the the production was a major component of it. I don’t think many people expected Aaron Rogers touchdown run, but that’s also how this game sort of unfolded. There were things covered in the secondary. I I’m just curious how it works with scrambled drills. um in practice, how much do you spend time doing that, especially with a guy like Rogers who at this point you don’t expect him to, but he kept plays alive and as a result those receivers had to adjust. You know, I think you let it happen organically. Um you know, you snap the ball enough in practice. There are some things for a variety of reasons where things don’t happen on time. Uh you encourage guys to keep working. You solidify scramble rules. Uh in terms of the eligibles, you train your guys to block extended. Um Aaron is a major component of that. Uh he doesn’t give up on plays. Um extended plays without negativity has kind of been a signature of his resume over the course of his career and certainly uh you saw evidence of that um Sunday. DK was a big part of the pass game as you said, but also he ends up going into the gunner roll it looked like on special teams and uh I know normally you don’t want your guys out there in those situations. What happened that ended up in his situation? you know, we we went into the game fending some spots and obviously attrition was a component of it uh with ingame. Um Roman Wilson, for example, had played some Gunner for us in recent weeks and he was inactive. Um you know, guys like James Pierre and and and Brandon Eckles were playing a lot of defense, just about every down defense. And so, it’s that time of year where you ask some guys uh to do some things that that aid us in terms of victory. Um, and sometimes guys ask you, I just think it’s a a mindset that’s reflective of where we are. Um, same could be said for Jaylen Warren as a kick returner. I think it was probably the first time this year in the regular season uh that we’ve seen him in that space. Um, but again, we didn’t have Keith Williams in uniform. Um, in the road is getting narrow. Uh, Jaylen is a guy that wants to be a component of that phase, but we got to exercise some prudent judgment from time to time. But given where we are and how significant that game was, we thought it was prudent to put him back there and and and allow him to do some of those things. And I just think that’s the spirit of how we approach the game. You guys have had history with Lamar Jackson. Uh a lot of good results. How difficult is it to prepare for him and whose responsibility is it, you know, when you’re dealing with a guy like that? You know, it’s very difficult. And it’s difficult for a lot of reasons. first and foremost, you know, a lot of teams don’t have guys on their roster with that skill set uh to represent what he means in stadium. And so certainly we had some guys give us some quality looks last week, but none of them are Lamar Jackson. And so you really don’t feel it until you’re in stadium with him. Thankfully, we’ve been in stadium with them a lot. Um you got to mix things up. Uh it’s combination rush, it’s combination coverage. The bottom line is, man, you better have a fresh collection of rushmen. Um he’s going to run around. and he’s going to extend. Um, I thought our guys played extremely hard. I thought he made it very difficult on us, man. He got out of some things, some things that were just incomplete passes, but if we can somehow get him on the ground, it could change the complexity of the next down. Uh, the number of times he was able to get away from us and elude us and maybe throw an incomplete pass, I think, um, is not talked about enough. He avoided a lot of negativity. Um, thankfully, we’re able to get him in the end. That was a big play. Uh but Alex Highmith, it’ll go into the bucket with the rest of them in terms of significant plays at the end of those games to to secure victory for the Steelers. And it was a victory of 27-22. Coach, when we come back, we’re going to talk about the Miami Dolphins on a Monday night. They’re redot, maybe the hottest team in the NFL. We’ll get into that and more right after we send it back to Missy Matthews. All right, thanks so much, Bob. Miami has won three of the last five games between these two teams, including the last meeting in 2022 at Hard Rock Stadium, but the Steelers lead the all-time series 16- 15. And get ready for a color rush on Monday night. The Steelers will be rocking the fan favorite monochromatic look. And Pittsburgh is 8 and3 when wearing the color rush uniforms. The 84 Lumber Mike Tomlin Show will be right back. Welcome back to the 84 Lumber Mike Tomlin Show. Well, the Steelers are back above 500 and the Dolphins are coming to Pittsburgh on a 4-ame winning streak. All eyes are going to be on this matchup as it concludes week 15 on Monday night. For much more on how Miami turned their season around in the second half, let’s throw it back to Bob and coach. Guys, Missy, thanks very much. Next up for the Steelers, a Monday night game. They’ve been very good at home on Monday nights. Winners of 22 in a row at home. Miami comes to town and coach, they are very hot. They’ve won four in a row. And it’s interesting because at the trade deadline, they appear to be sellers. And all of a sudden, they’ve changed, it seems, the way they they play offense. They’re running the ball more. What’s been the biggest difference with the Dolphins? I think they’ve made some changes on both sides of the ball. Um, offensively certainly they’re playing behind um, Achain in their running game and u, man he’s a explosive perimeter runner. Did a lot of work on him when he came out of Texas A&M. Uh, he’s a two-porter, a track athlete as well. You see that in his play. His perimeter running game is spectacular. They’re doing an awesome job of running off the ball up front and playing behind the running game, minimizing negativity while doing so. And on the defensive side of the ball, I think they reduced some of the things that they’ve done. Um they’re playing MA a lot at nickel. Um they got more depth at safety than they do at corner and so they’ve made some changes in terms of how they’re deploying some of their sub package ball. Um they’re making plays. They’re keeping a lid on it. Um they’re hustling to the ball. They’re playing good collective team defense. I think over the last five weeks, um they’re number one in defensive scoring. They’re number um one or so on third down, number one or two in turnovers. And so they’re getting off the field. Um they’re keeping a point total down. Uh they’re taking the ball away. And you couple that with what’s going on on the other side that they’re playing successfully behind their run. And that’s a recipe for engineering victory. And they’ve done so rather consistently as you mentioned over the last month. Yeah. You mentioned their run game. They had 239 yards against the Jets last week. Hane is certainly a big part of that. Have they committed more to that side of it? Because Tua Tagalo had like 14 interceptions which I think is first in the NFL. He’s not throwing it as much, although he still can be dangerous that way. He certainly can be. Um, but certainly they in in recent months, in recent weeks, they’ve they’ve played almost exclusively behind their run and then the things that complement it. Um, they’re changing the launch point with the boot game and Tula has always done a really nice job there. Um, they’re hitting you with some play pass as well. I’m I’m sure they went through a period of adjustment. um you know when they lost their top flight wide out probably at the end of September probably took them a couple of weeks to kind of find their bearing in terms of you know red redistribution of the ball and and playing personality and certainly when you watch the tape now there’s evidence that they found their home. Yeah, Jaylen Wadd’s still a big part of it as well. Maybe not the numbers suggest that but you always have to be mindful of him. No, Wadd’s downfield certainly. Um he’s a big play capable guy. He’s got really good run after. Um, a lot of the ball goes to him and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Waller. Um, Waller was a late addition for them, uh, that they picked up during the course of the journey. And he’s the type of guy that can be a real asset to him, particularly in the red zone. He’s a big bodied guy. Um, he’s good along the end line and and in the back pylon and things of that nature. Um, it’s been highly productive for him. Jordan Brooks is the leading tackler in the NFL. The one thing they’ve seemed to do better in the last several weeks is tackle. They don’t miss tackles. Chub’s been their best uh, you know, sackman. What does their defense do that has changed, you know, the way they do business? Because early in the season, they were among the leaders in missed tackles on defense. They’ve shut that down completely. I think they’ve done less schematically and as you mentioned, I think that linebacker tandem has really found their footing. Um, they’ve also got Minka closer to the line of scrimmage. um when you play him at nickel as opposed to free safety, um he becomes more impactful in terms of some of those um seemingly benign downs, first and 10, second and medium. They blitz him off the edge. Um he’s been a major component of that and and certainly I think that they’ve kind of evolved in terms of uh their rotation up front. Um they a big firstrounder out of Michigan, man, that’s growing over the course of the journey and and getting really solid in the productivity that he’s providing. And I think that’s a component of it as well. This is the time of year where guys have to play a lot. You’ve gotten contributions from a lot of different players. But it’s interesting that two of your players are among the leaders, if not the leaders in snaps, and that would be Patrick Queen, who was playing obviously injured last week. Uh, and also Jaylen Ramsey. You know, when those guys are out there, even though sometimes you wonder if they should be out there because injury, it tells you a lot about their their willingness to just help a team. Specifically, those two guys, what have they meant to your defense? You know, I I think player availability is a component of evals and and certainly um you value guys that that display that. Um I don’t know that Patrick Queen missed the NFL game prior to us signing him. Um and that was an attractive component of his profile. He was young, he was experienced, and had displayed durability, and he’s continued to display that since he’s been here. And certainly, uh Jaylen Ramsay, man, is a big-time competitor, a lover of football. Um, but those two guys in particular, when you when you when you have those guys and they’re in the middle of things the way that they are regarding their job description, you have a chance to be solid. Patrick is our defensive quarterback and signal caller. Jaylen, uh, for over the last month and a half has been the free safety. And so, um, you got a chance to to be solid around communication when those guys are in there. And when you do that, you have a chance to to not give up big plays and certainly have a chance to make some plays of your own. One other guy I want to mention is YA Black. he seems to get more and more opportunity out there. Why is that the case? You know, sometimes one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. We have absorbed a lot of attrition over the course of this journey. Um Dean Lowry, Louderdermilk, um Derek Harmon at two different instances during the course of the season. And so YA is just a young guy that’s been working over the course of the journey and getting some opportunities because of misfortune relative to others. And and to his credit, he’s taken advantage of it. Coach, thanks very much. When we come back, we’re going to have the keys to the game. Missy, that’s still to come. Back to you. All right, sounds good, Bob. Well, the victory in Baltimore marked Aaron Rogers 160th regular season win as a starting quarterback. And for coach Tomlin, he’s tied 10th all time on the coaches list with 190 regular season victories. Coming up next on our show, Mel Hodgej draws up a new playbook to show why Pittsburgh’s defense needs to bring its agame on Monday night. That’s after giving up more than 200 plus rushing yards in their last two games. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to the 84 Lumber Mike Tomlin Show. Show off your black and gold knowledge with Immaculate Prediction, the Sealers predictive game that gives you a chance to win some great prizes. Here’s one of the week 15 questions. Will Aaron Rodgers have over or under 170.5 total passing yards on Monday night. Just head over to the Steelers mobile app to compete for this week’s first place prize, an autographed Ben Rothllessberger jersey. Good luck. Since week 10, the Dolphins have led the NFL with 192.3 rushing yards per game. It of course will be a point of emphasis for the Steelers defense again this week, but it certainly won’t be easy. For much more on what Miami’s ground game entails, here’s Mel Hodgej with a week 15 playbook. Hi everyone. Welcome into the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for the playbook presented by Microsoft Copilot. All right, when you hear the Miami Dolphins, if you haven’t watched them for a while, you probably think of a lot of motion, crazy plays to the perimeter. They do a little bit of that, but they went on a losing streak, so they went back to playing big boy football and true football. They run the football with great efficiency and that’s what’s helped them in their winning winning winning winning winning streak and that is going to be most pivotal Monday night. So let’s show you about the traditional way they’re running the football now that they weren’t before and they’re winning with it. So first play out of the out of the box is a traditional eye formation. One tight end fullback eye formation quarterback under center. You just don’t see that a lot in the NFL. But more and more teams are doing this and guess what they’re doing? They’re winning. But let’s watch how effective they are. The tight end will go in motion. And as we get him in motion, we’re going to see the combo blocks that everybody executes well. Stop it there. The center and guard have done a great job of scooping together, getting the defensive lineman, stacked backer. Tackle does a great job. Now, the fullback does a great job. And here’s the advantage of having a blocker in the backfield. He can adjust. You kind of got two defenders in there. The back does a great job of setting him up, but 30 takes both of them out. The receiver does get in there, but 30 does a great job of pinning him. Once he pins him, then 28 does what he can do. And their backs are dynamic. You better tackle these guys. They break tackles. They’re fast. You got to bring them down. And you got to work defensively together. Now, they do some wrinkles with motions that are very effective. Okay, they have six offensive linemen here. You know, 64 is an offensive lineman. They play and do a lot of this. Quarterback under center. back is behind the quarterback. I want you to see the effect it has on the motion. But the first thing, here’s the blocking assignments. The right tackle and right guard, they got to block the defensive tackle there in their gap. And they got to work to the stacked defensive back all the way to the outside over here. Then the right guard, I mean left guard and center have to work and block that guy in their gap, defensive tackle to number 44. And this ball is going to the right. So those are not easy blocks. So watch what happens when they send number 30 in motion. Watch what happens to those stacked defenders. They all move over now. Much easier to execute those blocks as they snap the ball. Watch them now. Watch that tackle get off into the second level. When those guys get to the second level and you get guys on the line of scrimmage block, just great things happen. This is the Miami Dolphin offense. The key tonight for the for the Steelers is to neutralize their running game. If they can neutralize their running game, then it gives them a great chance to win this game. You could head to the team’s official YouTube page to catch all of the rest of Merryill’s playbooks. Well, the last time the Steelers and Dolphins met in Pittsburgh was the 2019 season. The Steelers sported those color rush jerseys and picked up the win. So, how can they have a repeat performance on Monday Night Football? Let’s send it over to Bob and Coach to find out in the keys to the game presented by your neighborhood Ford store. Bob. All right, Missy, thanks very much. A lot of keys to this one. Uh, but coach, it seems like every time you play a team, there’s a a former Raven coach on their team and you have Anthony Weaver who’s their defensive coordinator here. He spent a lot of time in Baltimore. Do you take any kind of similarities from, you know, knowing how they used to play and how this team now plays? You know, I think there’s a at this point in the journey in the 2025 season, there’s enough relevant tape in Miami to watch. Certainly, we are aware of his background and and how it shaped them. Um, but, you know, 11, 12, 13 games in, man, we got enough Miami tape to look at and and certainly the way they’ve been trending defensively over the last five weeks um speaks for itself. They play really good football and he’s deserving of a lot of credit there. Uh you’ve guys have gone up rushing yardage the last few weeks. Uh Miami comes in with a really head first rushing game. They’re putting it on the uh field and 239 yards as I mentioned last week. Point of emphasis this weekend. How does that change for you guys? You know, I don’t know that it does. Um certainly man, I hope that we’re able to keep some guys up. Um he got real testy there last week, particularly when Pat Queen went down for the short stretch. Um that he went down. Ken O Bittton went down at the early stages of the game. Thankfully, he was able to return. Um the attrition component of it is a major component of ball this time of year. And so um we’re going to work all week, man, to make sure that, you know, some of our supplementary players and some of our role players, man, get get the required snaps in an effort to be ready to play. Um because there are no excuses this time of year. The standards are standard. Um no question we got a hot group coming in here. Um, but I expect our guys to line up and play football and and fundamentally it comes down to whooping blocks and being where you’re supposed to be and and making tackles and looking forward to that. Looking forward to the game, coach. Thanks very much. It’s going to be December football weather for sure over at Aashur Stadium on Monday night and we look forward to seeing all of you there. That’s going to wrap it up for this edition of the 84 Lumber Mike Tomlin Show for head coach Mike Tomlin and Missy Matthews. I’m Bob Pompiani. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you on Monday.

On this week’s episode of The Mike Tomlin Show, Bob Pompeani and Coach Mike Tomlin talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 15 matchup against the Miami Dolphins and the keys to winning the game.

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