Mike Tomlin explained why the Pittsburgh Steelers chose to pass the ball on a crucial 4th and 1 in Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans Sunday afternoon, a play call that confused just about everyone watching it. Speaking to reporters during his weekly Tuesday press conference, Tomlin blamed the decision to pass on injuries to OT Dan Moore Jr. and TE Pat Freiermuth.
Here’s the full quote via the team’s YouTube channel.
“To be completely transparent with you, we lost a lot of short-yardage personality because of Dan Moore and Pat Freiermuth,” Tomlin said. “We lost all our big packages. 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.
“But such is life, man. This is the National Football League. There’s not a hundred guys standing on the sideline. There’s an attrition component to play and it’s born out in matchups. It’s born out in decision-making. And that’s one instance where we were in less- than-ideal circumstances because of lack of player availability.”
Moore was injured eight snaps into the game with a right knee injury that will keep him out of the week. Freiermuth was also hurt earlier in the quarter with a hamstring injury.
Essentially, Tomlin is saying the Steelers lacked the ability to go with a heavy-personnel package to successfully run the ball, leading to a five-step drop out of shotgun. The play was unsuccessful, Pickett’s first read being unavailable and the second-year man attempting to scramble. He ran into a sack and was twisted down, injuring his knee on the play and leaving his status for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens in question.
Here’s a look at the play from the aerial All-22 perspective.
It’s a dubious explanation. Freiermuth has offered little as a blocker this season while Moore being off the field hardly changes the equation. Jones is a physical and competent run blocker. It’s true Freiermuth’s injury would’ve made it harder to run out of say, 12 or 23 personnel, but nothing prevented the team from running out of 11 personnel. Pittsburgh found success running the ball in the third quarter with RB Najee Harris running downhill and getting yards after contact. Even if the team intended to pass, there were far better plays to gain a simple yard. We’ll have a full breakdown of the play tomorrow on the site.
After the play failed, the Texans marched downfield and scored to make it a 23-6 game, essentially sealing their victory. Pittsburgh dropped to 2-2 on the season, making its Week Five game against the Baltimore Ravens a critical contest. Even more than usual Steelers-Ravens games.
