The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled in their Week 12 loss to the Cleveland Browns, and Mike Tomlin blamed the loss in part to Pittsburgh’s slow start. The Steelers only managed a field goal in the first half, but Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette disagreed that Pittsburgh got off to a slow start, but rather two coaching decisions by Tomlin were to blame for how things started. Fittipaldo believed the Steelers should’ve punted instead of kicking a field goal on their opening drive, and also questioned the decision to go for it on fourth down in their own territory.
“I don’t buy Mike Tomlin’s explanation that they got off to a slow start on Thursday night. I thought that they went up and down the field and I thought that there were two crucial calls that Mike Tomlin made that contributed to that, I don’t want to say slow start, but them not scoring early in that game. The one is attempting a 58-yard field goal, you could have played field position and punted. And the second is going for it on fourth down at your own 46, and you give them the ball at midfield. Again, I thought that changed the trajectory of the game…the Steelers didn’t play their type of, let’s play defense type of football and I thought that got them behind,” Fittipaldo said on The No. 1 Cochran Sports Showdown on Sunday.
While a 58-yard field goal is makeable for K Chris Boswell, the weather conditions made it a bit of a questionable decision. Boswell has been a weapon for the Steelers all season and it’s understandable for the Steelers to attempt one, but they could’ve set the tone had they punted and pinned Cleveland deep and made a play defensively. Of course, there’s a chance the punt doesn’t pin the Browns as deep as the Steelers intended, and we saw P Corliss Waitman struggle on his lone punt of the game, which went just 15 yards and was a key reason Cleveland was able to come back and win in the fourth quarter.
The fourth down decision Fittipaldo referenced came in the second half, with 10:37 remaining in the third quarter. They also went for it on fourth down in Cleveland territory in the first half and didn’t convert, and they once again failed to convert on a run to RB Jaylen Warren. Despite taking over at the Pittsburgh 45, Cleveland didn’t capitalize off Pittsburgh’s inability to convert, and the play call was an effort to jump-start an offense that hadn’t done much of anything all game.
But again, it was a situation where the Steelers conceivably could’ve tried to pin Cleveland deep and allow their defense to make a play. Still, the offense had already started slow, and the fourth down play was a key opportunity to try and get points on their opening drive of the second half.
Tomlin didn’t coach a good game, and while neither of those two decisions worked out, bigger issues contributed to Pittsburgh’s loss. Pittsburgh not punting it back to Cleveland and relying on their defense is a bit of a change from how they’ve won this year, but the defense had some cracks, with T.J. Watt not playing well and the Steelers getting just one sack on the day. There’s no guarantee that the defense would’ve been able to really change the tide of the game had Pittsburgh punted in both of those situations, but they do have to execute better, especially in short-yardage, as we saw with the two failed fourth-down conversions.
The execution feels like a bigger problem than the decision-making, but Pittsburgh did put more faith in their offense with the decisions, which makes sense with a veteran quarterback in Russell Wilson and a run game that has been pretty solid this year. It didn’t work out on Thursday, but it’s not the worst thing to see the Steelers get a little more aggressive as they look to position themselves to make a playoff run in the AFC.
