Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin purports to adapt to his circumstances, and perhaps he does. Or at least, perhaps he thinks that is what he is doing. When he had Ben Roethlisberger at the peak of his powers, for example, he played much less conservatively. In his latter years, however, and since then, ball security has been of greater value.
One area—literally—that has been a point of contention is the middle of the field. The Steelers under Mike Tomlin have not targeted that area in the passing game as much as some other teams have. The assumption is that you’re more prone to turnovers in that range, so it’s best to be avoided. And Mark Kaboly of The Athletic doesn’t believe that’s a coincidence.
“Mike Tomlin’s been very transparent with that. When you throw the ball across the middle, a lot of bad things can happen. He’s said that before”, Kaboly claims of the Steelers head coach. “I don’t know if he’s said that publicly, but now it is publicly. He’s said that before. So I mean, that tells you the mindset right there. He wants to stay away from turnovers, and he believes the majority of the turnovers do come from the middle of the field, throwing the ball”.
Truth be told, I do not recall any explicit public remarks made by Tomlin tying the middle of the field to the Steelers’ ball-security philosophy. Certainly, he has not made it a secret that they emphasize protecting possession. He has not been bashful about the fact that it’s a higher priority because of the state of the offense, either.
One element affecting the current iteration of the offense is Russell Wilson and the fact that he is short. Long before Mike Tomlin brought him in to be the Steelers’ quarterback, he has shied away from the middle of the field more than most of his peers.
Last season, for example, Wilson attempted 97 deep or intermediate passes with the Steelers. Of those 97, only 33 were over the middle, roughly one-third. In contrast, Patrick Mahomes threw over the middle on 76 of 180, or 42 percent. Joe Burrow attempted 81 of 200 longer passes over the middle, north of 40 percent. But his numbers aren’t far from a Matthew Stafford, however.
How about Justin Fields? With Mike Tomlin’s Steelers, he only attempted 41 deeper passes, of which 11 were over the middle. That is an even lower percentage than Wilson. And it is reasonable to believe the Steelers were more risk-averse playing with Fields than with Wilson. Even though Fields is the taller quarterback and thus would have less difficulty navigating over the middle.
Over the past half-decade or so, Tomlin has viewed premium ball security as a necessity to the Steelers’ success. And in fairness, when the Steelers have not had that—most notably with Mitch Trubisky—they have been at their worst. But one could also argue that he is holding the reins a little too tightly, and costing them in the process.
