After suffering a humiliating loss on the road last Sunday against the Houston Texans, head coach Mike Tomlin mentioned in his postgame press conference that changes were coming regarding the preparation given the results that Pittsburgh put on the field.
Kicking of his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Tomlin mentioned a need to be more physical against the run and that his team will be in pads for practice starting tomorrow as he looks to instill that aggressive demeanor back into a defense that has been run on effectively in three of their last four games.
“There were several things that were very disappointing about the game,” Tomlin said to the media Tuesday via video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “I think chief among them was the fact that Houston…we thought were more physical than us and played harder than us, and that’s something that’s gotta change immediately. I felt that in-stadium. I expressed that after the game, and so, we gotta look at what we’re doing in an effort to make sure that that doesn’t reoccur. And specifically in terms of the structure of preparation, it makes us look at our practice attire the last couple of weeks due to a variety of circumstances, short weeks via Monday Night Football, short weeks because of travel adjustments, etc.”
Tomlin didn’t sugarcoat the fact that his team got stomped by Houston last Sunday, looking like the less physical team on the football field that day as the Texans took it to Pittsburgh on both sides of the football. However, Tomlin pointed to Pittsburgh’s recent schedule and lack of practicing in pads as a potential reason why Houston had an upper hand in the game. The Steelers have had their schedule woes the last few weeks, playing in two primetime games that meant short weeks of preparation as well as their recent plane issues, resulting in lost preparation time. According to Tomlin, practicing in pads is crucial to establishing that competitive demeanor and the physicality you need on the football field and that Pittsburgh lacked against the Texans this past Sunday.
“The physicality component is something worth mentioning because we cannot compromise that,” Tomlin said. “We probably took a step back because of the lack of physicality. If you look at the run game, specifically, there wasn’t a breakout run from a defensive perspective that maybe there was in Cleveland or San Fran, but they had a successful run game nonetheless because the pile fell forward. And that’s what I’m talking about the impact a day in pads and what it could provide us, and we better take full advantage of it in preparation this week.”
Putting his team back in pads during practice may not be the ground-breaking change that Steelers fans have been waiting to hear. It is a step in the right direction for a team that has been getting smashed up front on both sides of the football. The defense ranks 29th in the league against the run while Pittsburgh’s rushing offense also ranks 29th. The defense has surrendered nearly 600 rushing yards through four games, including multiple explosive runs. The rushing attack hasn’t been where it needs to be for this offense to stay on schedule and sustain drives to get into scoring position and put points on the board.
Houston was effective on the ground against Pittsburgh’s rush defense as the Texans were the more physical team up front. They created holes for RB Dameon Pierce, which he capitalized on as a physical, downhill runner himself, breaking tackles like a mad man as he racked up yards after contact. Pittsburgh can’t afford to give runners extra yards like that and needs to get the bite back in terms of being a physical, aggressive defense that brings the fight to the opposition, being the hammer rather than the nail in those situations.
Offensively, we saw flashes of Pittsburgh being a more physical team in the trenches in the second half. Rookies Darnell Washington and Broderick Jones had moments where they cleared running lanes for RBs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris, Harris looking particularly impressive against the Texans. Pittsburgh would be wise to keep that trend going offensively, instilling that physical, bully-ball demeanor we thought the Steelers were going to implement this season on both sides of the football with a slugfest coming up this week as the Baltimore Ravens come to town for a classic AFC North showdown.
