Now putting on his analyst hat, and even though he was in attendance to watch his Houston Texans beat up on the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon, J.J. Watt remains confident in Mike Tomlin to get the job done.
Even if he hated the 4th-and-1 call.
Making his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, Watt weighed in on the state of the Steelers after their blowout loss. Despite the defeat that has some questioning Mike Tomlin’s future, Watt says he’ll find a way to turn things around.
“The one thing I’ll say is Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season in his entire career,” Watt told the show. “If there’s one person I trust to give time to figure it out, it’s Mike Tomlin. He’s a pretty damn good coach.”
Despite the ugly loss, the Steelers sit at 2-2. If they find a way to beat the Baltimore Ravens this weekend, they’ll rise to 3-2 and enter their bye week in first place in the division. Last year, the Steelers dug themselves a worse hole, falling to 2-6 at the bye, with the same questions circling Tomlin and the coaching staff. They righted the ship after the bye and finished the year on a 7-2 stretch, nearly making the playoffs.
Watt supported Tomlin’s decision to have a physical and padded Wednesday practice after working in helmets for the last two weeks. What he didn’t support was the team’s decision to throw the ball on 4th and 1, an unsuccessful play that ended with QB Kenny Pickett getting hurt.
“4th and 1, you go in the shotgun…I would go with the [tush push] a thousand times than go out of shotgun and try to throw the ball on 4th and 1. I was in that stadium and you just knew at that moment, ‘This is over.’ This is your 4th and 1 play? This is crazy.”
The play has been hashed and rehashed many times this week by us, other analysts, fans, and former players like QB Ben Roethlisberger. During his Tuesday press conference, Mike Tomlin blamed the decision on in-game injuries to OT Dan Moore Jr. and TE Pat Freiermuth, hindering the ability for the Steelers to use a heavy personnel grouping common in short-yardage situations. But nothing prevented the team from running out of 11 personnel, something it did the entire third quarter with success, and opted against in the game’s most critical moment.
“That was one of the best games Najee played,” Watt went on to say. “He had a very good game…give him the ball. Or sneak it or something. Not only did you drop back to pass. Not only did you take a long time to drop back to pass. You also got your quarterback hurt. It was a culmination of a bunch of crap together. It was not good.”
Pickett suffered a left knee injury, officially ruled a bone bruise, and his status for Week Five is in question. If he can’t play, veteran QB Mitch Trubisky will start.
As Watt said, after the failed conversion, momentum went back to Houston’s side. It’s a comment CB Patrick Peterson also made earlier in the week, noting that as the game’s turning point and wiping out the third quarter progress Pittsburgh had made. The Texans marched downfield for a touchdown after the turnover on downs, going up 23-7 before tacking on a long touchdown late to make it an official blowout.
Pittsburgh will look to get right this weekend against Baltimore. And in true fashion, it would be the most Steelers-like thing possible for them to find a way to beat the Ravens and quell the concerns many have over this team.
