Mike Tomlin is citing injury and scheme as key reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers ended their Week 2 loss with a whimper defensively. Allowing 17 fourth-quarter points after giving up 14 through the first three quarters, albeit seven of those coming from Kaleb Johnson’s colossal error, Tomlin said a walking wounded defense impacted personnel and scheme as Seattle imposed its will late in the game.
“I thought our defense wore down some, particularly as the game went on,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference via the team’s YouTube channel. “We had a desire to improve our run defense and I thought initially we did. But there’s an attrition component to the game and our lines got a little thin at various points of the game. I thought we felt the effects of that.”
The majority of Seattle’s 117 rushing yards came in the second half. Kenneth Walker III become the second back in as many weeks to run for 100 yards on Pittsburgh, generating a sterling 8 yards per carry. He became the first back since JK Dobbins in 2022 to post such a stat line against the Steelers, though it’s a growing trend over the last decade. From 2000-2015, no running back put up 8 yards per carry on 10 attempts against the Steelers. Since, it’s happened six times.
The backbreaker happened in the game’s final minutes when the Steelers allowed a 19-yard touchdown run on third and goal.
Pittsburgh entered the game with three defensive starters injured, and CB Joey Porter Jr. (hamstring), SS DeShon Elliott (knee), and DL Derrick Harmon (knee) all sat out. In-game, DL Isaiahh Loudermilk, replacing the injured Harmon, suffered an ankle sprain in the first half. Plays later, EDGE Alex Highsmith bowed out due to an ankle sprain. Both will miss the Steelers’ Week 3 game against the New England Patriots.
Pre-game and in-game injuries with new faces jumping in hampered what Pittsburgh could call from the sidelines.
“I know certainly we were somewhat limited with some of the schematics that we would like to deploy because we had some new people in there,” Tomlin said. “And we are relatively new to this season. So we weren’t as good as I’d like for us to be in terms of midstream adjusting in terms of some of those things.”
Injuries have an impact. But they’re also part of the game. And the current road says Pittsburgh’s defense won’t be significantly healthier this Sunday, meaning the Steelers can’t let the same fatigue impact them. Or else Pittsburgh could make the long Week 4 flight to Ireland with a losing record.
