Being aggressive: Coach Mike Tomlin has never been one to ‘live in his fears’ and that was evident on Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

In the first quarter, the Steelers tried to pull off a fake punt from their own 16-yard line. Miles Killebrew’s pass attempt to James Pierre was incomplete, giving the Commanders the ball deep in their own territory, and they converted it into a touchdown.

Tomlin once again put it all out there, sending his offense back out on the field on fourth-and-one from the Commanders 49-yard line with 1:02 to play and up by one.

The Commanders did just what the Steelers hoped, jumping offsides to secure the 28-27 win and improve the Steelers record to 7-2.

“I’m really appreciative of the efforts of the guys,” said Tomlin. “From a tactical standpoint, I was really aggressive today and it didn’t always serve us well. We took the ball to start the game. We didn’t do anything with it and that probably positioned them to bookend the half the way that they did. They got the last possession of the first half, the first possession of the second half, and I thought those 14 points really changed the texture of the game.

“But you can’t come in hostile environments versus good people and not be aggressive, aggressively pursue victory. We’re not going to live in our fears. That’s just how we get down. Same thing on a fake punt. That is me. I own that. I’ll do it again. But we didn’t execute it. And so, it was a bad idea.

“But our guys fought. They didn’t blink. We got contributions in all three phases. We got contributions from old Steelers, like Cam (Heyward) who has been around forever. We got contributions from new Steelers like Mike Williams and Preston (Smith), and we’re just appreciative of all parties involved.

“It’s a good team win. When you’re coming into an environment like this, and you find a way to get it done, not only is it a well-earned victory, but there’s some real growth associated with it. Knowledge of self, individually and collectively, is a component of this thing as we push through this journey. We learned a little bit about ourselves, hopefully in a positive way today.

“We had a lot of bumps and bruises. Some people were able to go back, here are two that did not, Donte Jackson with a hamstring, did not, Alex Highsmith with an ankle, did not. I think everybody else, in some form or fashion, got back in the game”

Tomlin was asked if they were going to go for it on the fourth down play if the Commanders hadn’t jumped offsides, and his answer was just what one would expect.

“We’ll never know, will we,” laughed Tomlin. “You know I’m a degenerate.”