The Pittsburgh Steelers have come out of the first two weeks of the season at 2-0 atop the AFC North, but it was far from pretty. Last week against the Atlanta Falcons, the Steelers had 9 accepted penalties against them for 60 yards. They moved in the wrong direction against the Denver Broncos with 10 accepted penalties against them for 78 yards.
One of the main reasons the offense could never get going was because of the penalties. One wiped out a touchdown at the end of the first half to George Pickens. Another wiped out a 51-yard gain to Pickens in the second quarter. So while the penalty yardage doesn’t look that bad, the amount of yards erased by penalties was significant.
Mike Tomlin spoke about the penalties in his postgame press conference in a video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
“I thought the first thing that kind of captured my attention was the penalties,” Tomlin said. “You can’t produce or sustain drives being penalized the way that we were. And so we got some work ahead of us there, among other things. Just from a knee-jerk reaction standpoint. though, that was the most troublesome component of the game.”
The penalties really made the game a lot closer than it needed to be. The Steelers could have had two or three touchdown drives in the first half if not for the penalties, and then it wouldn’t have been a one-possession game in the end. If they have that type of performance against better teams, it will not result in a win.
“I’m not worried about officiating messaging and seeking comfort along those lines,” Tomlin said. “We gotta play cleaner, and it’s as simple as that. And so, we’re not gonna hope for a change. We’re gonna do some things to create a change in terms of how we approach the work and we will.”
One example of an in-game adjustment to help with the penalties was pulling Broderick Jones from the game. Rookie OT Troy Fautanu started, but Jones came in for the third drive. It was a beautiful drive, but Jones committed three penalties, one of which erased a huge gain. That was the end of the game for Jones as he was pulled and did not return.
The Steelers have also had referees come to their practices in the past, including at training camp for a few sessions this year. I would imagine they get some refs at practice as soon as possible to help get the penalty issues under control.
According to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, this is the most-penalized Steelers team through the first two weeks since 2018. And her tweet was before the 10th accepted penalty.
It was in all three phases, too. The offense was probably the worst offender today, but there was a drive in the second half where the defense was penalized on three straight plays. That included Joey Porter Jr. with multiple penalties, which is something he struggled with at times during his rookie season.
It is nice for the Steelers to get wins while working through big issues such as this, but it will eventually catch up to them if they can’t get it under control.
