Chapter 1: What are the key highlights from Mike Tomlin's press conference?
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Mike Tomlin is set to address the media before a winner take all. win-or-you-go-home game against the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL scriptwriters are salivating over this game almost as much as our friends Jim Nance and Tony Romo salivated over Miles Garrett potentially getting the sack record against the Steelers.
It seemed like any time that Garrett was rounding the corner against Rodgers, you knew about it. Tony Romo was making a point of it. But I'm very curious what Tomlin has to say about some of those decisions, and I'm sure he'll be pressed about it as the coaches are ready to go. Welcome to AFC North Championship Week, as I like to refer to it.
Before I get started, I'll start with a quick review of our last performance. As I said after the game, certainly a disappointing outcome, but certainly not the first disappointing outcome this collective has had this year. You have your bumps along the way, and there's certainly growth associated with it. And to me, that's what work yesterday was about for us.
An opportunity to take the emotions out, to really assess what transpired in the game and why we were unsuccessful in terms of engineering victory. We did that. We did that as a larger collective. We did that as smaller groups within the collective in an effort to be more detailed and and gain an understanding.
All that's done in an effort to build a more perfect plan this week, to divide the labor up more intentionally in an effort to position ourselves better to make necessary plays. And when you really look at the game, that's what it boils down to. We didn't make enough significant plays, and certainly the Cleveland Browns had a lot to do with it as well.
As I mentioned several times last week, their defensive unit is the number one unit in our division. offense or defense, and they certainly played to that. We didn't have enough success on third down to extend drives and to produce enough points to secure victory, and that's the reality of it.
Some of it obviously had a lot to do with their talents and their schematics, but we own also the responsibility of performing, and we didn't make enough plays. We didn't put our guys in enough positions to make plays, and that's certainly obvious based on the outcome of the game.
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Chapter 2: What were the main points about the last game against the Ravens?
I thought we had one. Two minutes or so before halftime, Herbick had his hands on the ball and our left flat and he certainly had an opportunity to run it back and he caught it. And I think those are the type of plays that really kind of break games like that open and when you get them you have an opportunity to move on and and find your rhythm and do what's required to win.
And when they don't, it's obviously more tough sledding. And it certainly was that for us. In a special teams game, I thought our punt team was really solid, particularly in the second half. I think we had five punts inside the 20 yard line and we kept them on the long field. And keeping them on the long field enabled us to get on and get off defensively.
Particularly in the fourth quarter and give ourselves a chance to drive and win and we certainly had that. I think we had three and outs there in the fourth quarter. Defensively in the punt unit, teed some of that up from a field positioning perspective. I like the way we move the ball in hurry situations on offense in two minute.
We're able to negotiate the ball down the field in a two minute drive and kick a field goal before halftime. And certainly we gave ourselves a chance to win going 60 so yards in the waning moments of the game to have second and goal from the seven and have three shots to do it. And so I appreciate that component of it.
But certainly, we need to look at this with sober eyes, man, as we formulate our plan for this week. And not only in terms of what happened to us in that game, but also the depths of this relationship that we have with Baltimore. We played them a short period of time ago, but beyond that, there's just real intimacy in these divisional matchups. Man, we're working with an edge.
This is chestnut checkers as you strategize in the early portions of the week. Not only forecasting who's available to us potentially, but also who's available or unavailable for them and what that might do to strategy. And so it's a big part of the week for us. Before I get into Baltimore specifically, I'll talk about some injury updates and
give you some updates of where we are from a personnel standpoint darnell washington is out he had surgery on his broken arm this morning and so he won't be available to us thankfully all other guys i'm about to mention have some level of optimism in terms of their availability Calvin Austin missed the last game with a hamstring, definitively has a chance.
Brandon Echols, same thing with his groin. James Pierre, same thing with his calf. Isaac Ciamalu, same thing with his tricep injury. Malik Harrison's got a bone bruise that was sustained in game. It may limit him at the early portions of the week, but optimistic certainly about his inclusion. And although I hadn't seen TJ today, I'm optimistic about his potential inclusion in this game.
We'll work him up throughout the course of the week and let the amount of participation and the quality of participation be our guide in terms of whether or not he's a participant. But certainly I'm more optimistic this week than I have been in previous weeks as I stand here today. Now on to Baltimore. It's obvious that the rubbers meet in the road, not only for us but for others.
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Chapter 3: How does Mike Tomlin assess the team's performance and growth?
Those three often work in tandem as they work to win the line of scrimmage and run a variety of run schemes at you, leads, gap scheme stuff, zone scheme stuff. They do an awesome job of mixing it up, but the reality is that it's a two-back attack when things get really thick. It certainly was a two-back attack in Green Bay last weekend. And they played behind that.
Certainly they have awesome corresponding misdirection and play action passes off of some of that work. It really allows them to get yards and chunks in the passing game with guys like Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews and others. So none of that's new, but certainly their renewed commitment to that style of play is not surprising, but daunting nonetheless as we analyze that video and lean in on PrEP.
From a defensive perspective, it looks like they're minimizing some of their man to man since the last time we played them. We had some big plays in one on one circumstances. It looks like they pivoted a little bit and work to minimize some of that schematically to more zone defenses than they were the last time.
Less isolation one on one moments to produce one on one big plays and flip the field or produce scoring drives and so It looks like they're doing some quintessential Baltimore things when things get thick on both sides of the ball in an effort to better engineer victory. Certainly their special teams group is always a formidable one.
And when we get in these matchups, man, oftentimes significant plays occur in that phase. And so certainly there's a three phase approach to preparation and planning. Really optimistic about the inclusion of some of our guys, as I mentioned earlier, and certainly it's the time for that in the AFC North championship game. And I'm sure Baltimore is of the same mindset.
We played these guys most recently. I'm sure we'll have a wrinkle or two. I'm sure they'll have a wrinkle or two. But I'm sure at the end of the day, wrinkles won't determine the outcome of this game. Quality playmaking, particularly in timely moments will. And so it's important that we formulate a good plan, that we divide the labor up appropriately.
And we put our guys in position to do so, make those plays and prevent those plays on the other side. And I'm sure Baltimore has a similar sentiment as they put forward throughout their week. It is an honor, man, to be in these games, to be in these hotly contested matchups. It seems like Baltimore is always a dance partner.
I certainly am respectful and appreciative of that relationship and some of the historic things we've been able to do when these two teams have come together. This appears to be one of those weekends. It's humbling and an honor to be a component of it. But to be a component of it is just that. You know, our job is to win. And so with that, man, I'll pause and open it up for questions.
Mike, I'm assuming since P.J. practiced last week that he's been clear at least to do that. What is the holdup now? Is it up to him or how he feels uncomfortable about it? Again, he's coming off of a medical circumstance different than the injury circumstance. And so certainly he has a certain level of health. But we want to be, you know, cautious about how we work him back into the fold.
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Chapter 4: What injury updates did Mike Tomlin provide for the upcoming game?
during that press conference, and that was the Mike Tomlin press conference. Not really a flamboyant one like we've had in weeks past, but all down to the business and down to the brass tacks of winning your in, losing you go home, or if you're the Steelers, you stay home. Mike Tomlin says, it's an honor to be in these games. What?
So it's an honor to be in this game, Sunday Night Football, sure, yeah, great, Ravens, whatever, because you couldn't take care of business yourself in Cleveland? I think it would be more of an honor, Mike, if you would have had a hat-in-t-shirt game, as you like to call it, At your rival's venue, pulled out the hat, pulled out the t-shirts, wear them on the podium, we're AFC North champs.
In Cleveland, a place that has been a house of horrors for you, won 6-1 in your last, what, 8 games in Cleveland there. Haven't won there without Ben since Tommy Maddox in the early 2000s. He's never won without Ben in Cleveland. I think it would be more of an honor to have done that and rest all of your players.
Have it be a 1 o'clock game and everybody could just take down their Christmas decorations and hang out with family and enjoy the start of the new year. Where no, it's an honor to be in these games where it's all on the line, winner take all, because you screwed it up to begin with. to make it this type of instance where now you can't rest anybody and now you have to potentially rush T.J.
Watt back where it was good to hear Mike Tomlin say that regarding Watt he is optimistic about his potential inclusion in this game and that this is the most optimistic that Tomlin has been going into any week after what happened to Watt with the punctured lung and then needing the surgery that he had and basically working his way back. It's not a football injury.
It's just really a health thing and a health component where you can't play. You're not going to play with a lung that is that damaged or that is really damaged at all. You want TJ Watt to be as close to 100% as possible. I don't think he plays at 80%, 85%, 90%. He needs to be like 95% to 100% back with that lung injury to prevent further injury from
whether it be to that lung or anything else that might affect him because he's missed a couple of weeks, and that's a very serious injury. So it was good to hear that regarding Watt. Other injuries, Calvin Austin has a chance to come back. Same thing with Brandon Echols with his groin injury, Sam Mollo with his injury.
James Pierre has missed a couple of weeks with a calf, and Malik Harrison had a bone bruise. So it is confirmed Darnell Washington is out for pretty much the season. And he had surgery on his broken arm. I mean, unless they got to the Super Bowl, there's probably no chance that Darnell Washington comes back.
Mike Tomlin said that it really doesn't change much, though, with what they do offensively. I found that kind of fascinating. So you're telling me that not having Darnell, who has been a huge focal point in your offense, blocking in the passing game, it's not going to change much. At least that's what I took it. That's what I took away from what Tomlin said. I think that's kind of a bunch of BS.
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Chapter 5: What strategies will be key against Baltimore's running game?
I just know how he lives his life and how he prepares and how thoughtful he is in terms of what he puts in his body and how he trains. And so I don't imagine that component of it being a major concern. No, I don't really either. I would imagine that TJ Watt is still in as peak physical shape as he can be with everything that's going on with the recovery process, but...
The skinny of it is, if they get Watt back, even if it's just in a capacity of around 50% of the snaps, then it's a significant addition for the Steelers. Because we've seen how Watt has been able to contain Lamar, has been able to contain the Ravens run game to an extent. They ran for 200 on them this year. They ran for 299 on them last year.
But again, I'd rather have TJ Watt out there than not. There's still questions about Nick Herbig in the running game. Highsmith has played very well. If you have Highsmith playing at a high level, across from Watt, limited capacity, plus Herbig back, It just helps you weather the storm of the Ravens running game a little bit more.
Texter, which quarterback do the Steelers have a better chance of beating on Sunday? Lamar Jackson or Snoop Huntley? I think, honestly, Snoop Huntley. And I know he went into Green Bay and basically just, you know, with the running attack and Snoop Huntley playing efficiently, they kicked the behinds of the Packers. It was clear as day.
But I don't think that it's kind of a similar thing that I feel about, like, the Rudolph argument. Mason Rudolph in spurts in a couple of game stretches can make you feel good about the Steelers' offense, can provide a spark. Stu Putley, who's played against the Steelers before and has beaten the Steelers, I think, once before.
I don't think it would beāwell, Lamar just brings a different element. Stu Putley, he's fine. He's a guy. Sure, he made the Pro Bowl that one year. Whoop-de-doo, good for him. Lamar brings, and I know he's been hurt this year and he's been banged up, still the ability to run. He's a better passer. He's a better passer in the pocket. He's a better passer outside the pocket.
And there's more that you have to prepare for and get ready for when facing Lamar. More accurate passer, especially with the deep ball, which isn't great, but better than Stoop Huntley, than if you were playing Huntley. There's more factors to facing Lamar than there is to Huntley.
I think it's clear that if you face Lamar, it's going to be more challenging, even though they've done very well against Lamar in the past. Can't forget about the two games last year where Lamar owned the Steelers a little bit. He fought back some of those demons. But then again this year, the one game they played, Pony took the shot at him, just kind of an average quarterback.
He was overrated, I think is the word that Pony used. Lamar said, say less. Lamar didn't say much in that game. So I do think Lamar, maybe a little bit more motivation and maybe something to prove after what's gone on this year. he would give the Ravens a better chance to win. 412-928-9370. If you'd like to join in on the conversation, Brian Batko will join us at the top of the hour.
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