After another bitter pill to swallow following yesterday’s 35-25 loss to the Packers, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin had a message for the locker room. OLB Alex Highsmith spoke to reporters about what he told the player as they face another tough opponent next week. While they are smarting from this latest loss, they must keep their eyes forward.
“Just didn’t get the job done tonight, but we’ve got to stay together. We can’t hang our heads on this. We can’t let these two back-to-back losses fester”, Highsmith shared of what Tomlin told the locker room, via the Steelers’ website. “We’ve got to watch the film, we’ve got to own it, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to flush it. Because we’ve got a good team coming here next week, so we’ve just got to play better. A lot better, and fast”.
That echoes what Tomlin told reporters after the game, insisting the Steelers are “not getting better fast enough”. While teams want to be playing their best football in December and January, they should at least field a competitive defense in October. The Steelers haven’t managed that frequently enough, which is why they’re hovering just above .500. So far, their only saving grace is simply how bad the AFC North has been.
Mike Tomlin is recognized as one of the game’s great orators, and we routinely hear from players about how inspirational he is. But coaches are always ultimately judged by the product on the field. It doesn’t matter how inspired your losing effort is if you still lose, after all. And under those circumstances, it’s easy for many to view those words as empty rhetoric.
Tomlin and the Steelers felt they were building a defense this year that could be something special. They have only shown the faintest flashes of that, however, a hope unfulfilled. While they brought in Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, Derrick Harmon and others, they rarely look better than average.
Heading into the bye week, the Steelers looked like they might have something brewing on defense. The pass rush in particular was cooking, but since then, offenses have countered with quick passing. So far, the vaunted secondary has been entirely unable to live up to the task. If you’re facing a quick pass attack, you need to hold up on the back end. They are very clearly not doing that right now.
For the second week in a row, the Steelers allowed 30-plus points and 450-plus yards. For the third consecutive game, they did not produce a takeaway. And in this one, they didn’t even record a single sack, which is remarkable. In all the wrong ways Tomlin expected their defense to be remarkable.
