When Mike Tomlin took the podium for his weekly press conference on Monday, he displayed a willingness to make changes to his personnel that he has not shown throughout his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After losing 30-13 on Saturday to the Indianapolis Colts, Tomlin said that changes were going to be made in order to get positive results, stating that his football team can’t keep doing the same things and expect positive change to occur.
Tomlin opened his press conference by stating Mason Rudolph will be the team’s starting quarterback this week if Kenny Pickett is unable to go again as he continues to recover from tightrope surgery on his ankle. After stating that Rudolph was likely to get some action, Tomlin pointed to a couple of veterans who will get a chance to see elevated roles given the injuries his team is dealing with as well as the poor play by others over the last several weeks.
“We’re really looking at being inclusive with some guys… there’s some guys in our program that are capable NFL veterans that haven’t been given an opportunity yet,” Tomlin said via video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “We’re open to that. Myles [Jack], Eric Rowe for example are two guys with defensive playing experience that are in strong consideration given some things that are going on. And so, there’s a lot of discussions to be had that way from a personnel standpoint.”
The Steelers signed both Jack and Rowe to the practice squad nearly a month ago, allowing both to get acclimated into the system and be at the ready should their numbers get called. Jack was just with the team last season playing in 15 games while starting 13 in 2022 after Pittsburgh signed him to a two-year deal prior to the start of the season. He led the team with 104 tackles in 2022 but lacked the splash plays. He also saw his play make a notable decline while dealing with several minor injuries during the year.
His play and lack of impact led to Pittsburgh cutting ties with him after just one year with the team but given how the Steelers’ inside linebacker position has been decimated by injuries this season, they called Jack to see if he’d want to come back after briefly retiring from football altogether after signing with the Philadelphia Eagles prior to the season.
Rowe a second-round pick of the Eagles back in 2015, started his career at cornerback before making the move to safety. He became a big-time contributor for the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins, having played in 100 games with 56 career starts. Rowe has 381 total stops, 41 pass deflections, five interceptions, and six forced fumbles during his time in the league, operating as a safety and big nickel who can match up with tight ends given his size and physical play style.
ILB Mykal Walker has struggled since getting plugged into the starting lineup over a month ago, having a tough time particularly in coverage as opposing tight ends have had big games against Pittsburgh the last three weeks. Rowe could be a potential solution as an ideal matchup for opposing tight ends while Jack is familiar with Pittsburgh’s defensive system, having been the man in the middle of the defense for most of the season last year. Both may be past their prime, but Tomlin recognizes that he can no longer sit idly by if he wants to actually try and get this ship turned around.
“Whatever it is that we have to do to change the trajectory of what’s been going on, we’re open to,” Tomlin said.
Tomlin has been quick to dismiss personnel changes in the past, stating that his team just needs to prepare better and execute better on the field. With three games left in the season and Pittsburgh on a three-game losing streak, he now realizes that the players on the field need to start producing or get swapped out for someone who can. Given Jack and Rowe’s experience in this league, it would be reasonable to expect that both will see some playing time this week against the Bengals with Rowe especially being in-line to see more snaps after S Minkah Fitzpatrick and Keanu Neal were ruled out for this week and S Damontae Kazee had gotten suspended the rest of the season by the league.
