Following yet another one-and-done trip to the playoffs for the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin, much of the discussion regarding the Black and Gold and their struggles centers on the potential for the messaging from Tomlin and the coaching staff being stale.
For team captain and franchise icon Cameron Heyward, the messaging from Tomlin isn’t stale at all.
“Yeah, I don’t worry about Mike’s message. I worry about our technique and our execution. That’s what I’m really worried about. I just wish we had played a lot better,” Heyward said after the Steelers’ 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Saturday night, according to video via Steelers.com. “It’s not a message thing, it’s not anything that’s groundbreaking.
“But there was opportunities to be had and we didn’t seize anything today.”
Heyward has a point, and when he speaks about something that occurs behind closed doors, one should listen. It’s not about the messaging from the coaching staff, particularly Tomlin.
Guys believe in Tomlin immensely. They still love and respect him and want to play for him. But once they get onto the field, it’s largely out of Tomlin’s control. It comes down to execution, being assignment-sound, doing your job, making the plays that are there.
For the last month-plus, the Steelers have not done that, and on both sides of the football, too.
One could make the argument that it’s a schematic issue and a game-planning issue. That’s an argument that could have legs. But on Saturday night, Baltimore just manhandled the Steelers in the run game. That’s an execution issue, not an issue with the messaging coming from the head coach in team meetings.
That’s really all it comes down to. In the five-game losing streak to end the season, the Steelers did not execute on either side of the ball at the level they were at during their hot stretch. Late in the season, it cost them, as is well-known at this point.
How that gets fixed remains to be seen. Coaching and talent need addressed from a schematic standpoint and a personnel standpoint. But when Heyward says the message isn’t stale and is still getting through, you trust that it is, period.
