Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had his weekly spot on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday and he was asked to self scout his offense through the first three games of the season as the team comes out of their bye week and prepares to take on the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday at Heinz Field.
“We\’re a unit in development there,” said Tomlin. “I like the development and we\’ve done some good things. I like the way that we\’ve played situationally and I think that has allowed us to perform well. I think that we\’ve been really good on third down and that\’s been an asset to us. I think that we\’ve hit at a pretty good clip in the red area. Things that define offenses. I think that we\’ve had a pretty good time of possession, because of some of those things that I talked about.”
“Obviously we need to run the ball better than we\’ve run it to this point,” said Tomlin. Maybe Rashard (Mendenhall) is a potential solution to that, or part of the solution for that. We\’ve done a nice job of protecting Ben (Roethlisberger) over recent weeks and I like the development of that phase of our football and I think that the arrow is pointed up.”
Tomlin was next asked about the Steelers problems running the football so far this season and if it was to be blamed on the offensive line, the running backs or just good defense that the team has faced through the first three games of the season.
“I think that the answers to those questions are always complex ones and not what you\’re looking for, but it is all of the above,” said Tomlin. “I think that people have done a nice job and you got to give credit to your opponent when they perform at a high level, and people have. I think that we can tighten up our play selection and I think that knowing who the back is, who the primary carrier is, will help us in that regard. I think that we can get hats on hats more consistently and I think that we can place the ball where it\’s suppose to go more consistently. I think that we all have a little bit of ownership in the ills of our run game, myself being at the top of the list, and we\’re excited about having an opportunity to address it here this week.”
