Mike Tomlin wouldn’t have cared what approach Xavier Grimble took. Run over. Go around. Pull out a hidden jetback and fly over the Denver safety into the end zone. At the end of the day, his mission was clear. Score. And Grimble didn’t, instead fumbling the football out of the back of the end zone.
At his usual Tuesday press conference, Tomlin was asked about Grimble’s comments of trying to run over safety Will Parks into the end zone.
“I’m not getting into that,” Tomlin said. “Put the ball in the end zone. Right? I’m a results oriented gy and this is a results oriented business. We can talk all day about the means the job gets done or have an opinion on the means by which the job gets done. My position is get the ball in the end zone.”
Here’s what Grimble said after the game, as Matthew Marczi shared yesterday.
“I saw him coming. I could’ve cut back and scored but I wanted to run right through him. I was probably too aggressive. That’s what happened. Unfortunately.”
Tomlin’s words, reading them but especially if you heard them, were one of a coach clearly peeved at his player. As he should be. Ball security is important anywhere but especially along the goal line – Tomlin mentioned that too – and Grimble’s fumble ended the drive and cost the Steelers six points.
It’s one of those mistakes where as the #3 tight end, your time with the team could end. Grimble is in concussion protocol however, Tomlin wasn’t sure if it was due to that collision or not, so there’s no chance of him being cut right now. This is his second time in concussion protocol over the last month so it’s possible the team just shuts him down for the year. All concussion-related situations are different though so we’ll have to wait and see. Bucky Hodges is the other tight end on the team, sitting on the practice squad all year.
For 2018, Grimble has caught five passes for 70 yards. He’s yet to be able to match what he did his first year on the Steelers’ 53, back in 2016 when he hauled in 11 balls for 118 yards and two scores. Too often, he’s been a guy hyped up but under delivers. Now, he’s running out of chances.
