After Buffalo Bills punter Sam Martin appeared to tweak his hamstring after the Pittsburgh Steelers blocked a field goal toward the end of the first half, the Bills were going to have to use a backup punter while Martin was looked at. With 48 seconds left in the half, the Steelers sacked Josh Allen, but with all three timeouts, they let the clock run down until finally calling a timeout with two seconds left. The Bills kneeled out the rest of the first-half clock and never had to attempt a punt with a backup, likely kicker Tyler Bass, as Martin returned in the second half. Mike Tomlin’s decision to not to call a timeout was named one of the worst coaching decisions of the week by The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen.
“The decision might not have cost them a game, but every possession matters, and the possibility of getting great field position with the chance of getting points was well worth using those timeouts. These are the decisions that Tomlin has to ace as a head coach who isn’t calling the offense or defense,” Nguyen writes.
For a coach who preaches not living in your fears, it sure seemed like Tomlin was afraid that the Bills could find a way to burn the Steelers’ defense and put points on the board at the end of the half. But Buffalo was facing a 2nd and 17 from its own 32, and Pittsburgh should’ve been aggressive in that spot down 21-7 and needing any help it could to pull off the upset against the Bills. In that spot, Tomlin should’ve burned a timeout and gone through all three if Pittsburgh was able to get a stop and test whomever Buffalo would’ve trotted out as a backup.
Tomlin’s been criticized for being too conservative in end-of-half situations, and this was just another example of that, except it was on a bigger stage than usual. If the Steelers had been able to find a way to add more points at the end of the half after seizing some momentum with the field goal block and ensuing touchdown, they would’ve gone into the half in a much better position even if the game was just 21-10 instead of 21-7.
Instead, the Steelers just let the clock wind down, and despite a comeback attempt, fell short 31-17 and saw their season end after one playoff game for the fourth time in a row. As Nguyen writes, the decision not to call a timeout might not have cost Pittsburgh the game, it was worth the risk of burning some timeouts to try and get more points on the board.
