Mike Tomlin’s Steelers started rookie Troy Fautanu over Broderick Jones at right tackle on Sunday but rotated Jones in. At least the Steelers planned to throughout the game, but Jones only lasted most of one drive. After three penalties, Tomlin had to yank him from the game, letting the rookie finish the game.
Tomlin explained his rationale for a rotation along the offensive line, particularly in the case of Fautanu, their first-round pick. While he dressed last week, he had not played a snap and missed most of the preseason due to a knee injury.
“I rolled him because I had concerns about his level of conditioning”, Tomlin said of Fautanu via the team’s website, “rolled” meaning “rotated”. “He’s a young guy, new to me. He’s new to the NFL. I didn’t know how fatigue would affect his play in terms of detail. So, we tried to ward off some of that. I had every intention of using Broderick, but when Broderick started getting highly penalized in play, I backed off it and I held my breath and played Troy”.
Tomlin also talked more generally about being “highly concerned environmentally” about playing in Denver, which has a high altitude. There are legitimate concerns about athletic behaviors in such an environment, and Tomlin is acutely aware of that because of his history with Ryan Clark. But Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ray Fittipaldo wasn’t buying what Tomlin was saying about Fautanu and Jones.
“Tomlin said at his presser today he was concerned about Fautanu’s conditioning in the Denver altitude. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me”, he wrote in his latest chat session. “I think it was done to keep Jones engaged and to make it seem like it wasn’t a clear benching. But that’s basically what it was. All around a bad decision. The Steelers are lucky that it did not come back to haunt them”.
Personally, I disagree that Tomlin’s answer was “BS”, but I also agree that he didn’t give a complete answer. The reality is Troy Fautanu missed a big chunk of the offseason, and some of the most critical chunks. Roman Wilson, a fellow rookie, missed even more than that, and he is still struggling to see the field. And unlike a wide receiver, an offensive lineman normally plays 100 percent of the snaps.
Now, Tomlin understood that he already had a starting right tackle in Broderick Jones as a base to work from. He could use Jones as a safety net in the event that Fautanu struggled or if he waned physically over the course of the game. At least that was his thinking, or one aspect of his plan.
But I also agree very much with Fittipaldo when he suggests that Mike Tomlin wanted to keep Broderick Jones engaged. After all, they still view him as a long-term starter and want him on the other side of Fautanu. That doesn’t mean the rotation had nothing to do with the unknowns of Fautanu’s conditioning or general readiness. So perhaps you can call Tomlin’s explanation partially BS by way of omission.
