Even though Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Antwon Blake only played a handful of snaps in the second half of Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos, head coach Mike Tomlin has no intentions of benching him. During his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin was asked if he’s considering starting Brandon Boykin in the team’s nickel sub package moving forward.
“No, were going to continue with the rotation that we have and it hadn’t changed,” said Tomlin. “Sometimes the numbers might change in terms of the number of snaps over the course of a game, but I wouldn’t read too much into that. Our rotation is the same that it’s been for the last three or four weeks now.”
Tomlin’s response, while disappointing, isn’t very surprising as he has indeed used the same rotation for several weeks now.
Over the course of the last three games, Blake has started outside and has even seen snaps early in games in the team’s nickel sub package. After two or three series, Blake has been taken off the field and that’s when Boykin was inserted as the slot cornerback with William Gay then shifting to the outside opposite Ross Cockrell.
In Sunday’s win over the Broncos, Blake gave up a late first half touchdown to wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on a screen play as a result of a poor tackle attempt up high. From that point forward, Blake only saw the field for four or five more plays and the Steelers defense went on to shut out the Broncos offense in the second half.
While Tomlin will more than likely be asked about the cornerback rotation every Tuesday moving forward, don’t expect his answer to change.
