Head coach Mike Tomlin criticized the Pittsburgh Steelers offense in his first media appearance since reviewing the game film of their Week 4 matchup versus the Houston Texans.
But he didn’t take issue with offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s decision to call a shotgun pass on fourth-and-1 on the Houston 33-yard line with 1:16 left in the third quarter and the Steelers down by 10. Instead, Tomlin offered an explanation as to why Canada called that play.
“We lost a lot of short-yardage personality because of Dan Moore and Pat Freiermuth. We lost all of our big packages,” Tomlin told reporters on October 3. “Broderick Jones was already on the field, and so we probably had to get out of our intended box, if you will, in that circumstance because of lack of player availability at that point in the game.”
Moore left with a left knee injury during the first half and Freiermuth exited with a hamstring issue in the third quarter.
Still, that explanation probably won’t be good enough for many Steelers fans. It wasn’t good enough for The Score’s Daniel Valente.
“Najee Harris was averaging 6.1 yards per carry from the start of the 3Q up until the 4th & 1 play,” Valente posted on X, formerly Twitter. “This just isn’t a valid excuse. The run game was still working & the Steelers didn’t even make Houston consider it.”
CBS color commentator Adam Archuleta, who played defensive back in the NFL from 2001-07, said during the game’s broadcast that when the Steelers lined up in shotgun formation, the Texans could rule out a run on the fourth-down play.
Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was sacked on the play, and the Steelers turned over the ball on downs. Pickett also suffered a knee injury on the play.
Mike Tomlin’s Lack of Trust in Steelers Rookies
The Steelers may have lost their starting left tackle and tight end, but two high-profile rookies — Broderick Jones and Darnell Washington — replaced them during the second half in Week 4.
Valente also posted that the Steelers could have used both rookies on a fourth-and-short run.
“The Steelers drafted maulers like Broderick Jones & Darnell Washington just to say they couldn’t run the ball in short-yardage situations,” Valente wrote.
The Steelers drafted maulers like Broderick Jones & Darnell Washington just to say they couldn’t run the ball in short-yardage situations.
They drafted a man cover CB like Joey Porter Jr. just to have him sit while their starting CBs get burned weekly.
Make it make sense.
Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora also didn’t care for Tomlin’s explanation that the lack of Moore and Freiermuth influenced the team’s fourth-down play call.
“Mike Tomlin blames the 4th and 1 call pass because Dan Moore and Pat Freiermuth weren’t on the field,” he wrote on X. “I mean, come on.”
Mike Tomlin blames the 4th and 1 call pass because Dan Moore and Pat Freiermuth weren’t on the field.
I mean, come on.
CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala questioned why Tomlin elected to go on fourth down rather than kick a long field goal if he lacked so much faith in Jones and Washington.
Ben Roethlisberger ‘Hated’ Fourth-Down Call
Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t privy to Tomlin’s explanation for the play call when he ripped the fourth-down decision on his “Footbahlin” podcast on October 2. But Roethlisberger said he “hated the play call.”
Roethlisberger offered three alternatives to the shotgun play.
“When they called timeout [before the play], I’m thinking to myself, ‘OK, it’s QB sneak, it’s Naj [Harris] up the middle, because he’s been running pretty hard, or if you really want to get creative with it, sell it like you’re going to run it,” Roethlisberger said. “Because everyone in the building thinks you are going to run it, and go with a real hard play-action and take a shot up over top.
“Those are your options. It has to be those three things.”
When Roethlisberger saw Pickett line up in shotgun and then look for a choice route out of the bunch wide receiver formation to the right, he said, he couldn’t believe it.
Roethlisberger did offer Canada some praise, arguing on the podcast that the Steelers offensive coordinator tried to do different things against Houston. But “Big Ben” found no silver lining on the fourth-down call.
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Steelers’ Mike Tomlin’s Explanation for 4th-&-1 Play ‘Isn’t a Valid Excuse’