12PM - The Mike Tomlin Press Conference and our reaction 12-16-2025; Brian Batko joins and dives into the Mike Tomlin presser Tuesday
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What key insights did Mike Tomlin share about the Steelers' performance?
Here we go. Our friend Bob Pompeiani isn't just a cardboard cutout. He's a real live TV host in his spare time, and he's getting ready to hand the mic over to Mike Tomlin. The Detroit Lions, one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL. They're in a world, and I mean a world, of trouble right now. They are two games, maybe a game and a half, I guess. I can never figure out ties. out of a playoff spot, maybe two and a half. I don't know how to figure this out. Limits? The Packers are 9-4-1. The Lions are 8-6. So at any rate, they're in a world of trouble. With three games left, they need to win this game.
How does Mike Tomlin view the challenges faced by the Detroit Lions?
The Steelers really don't need to win, honestly. You know, it would be great, and it might mean the difference between them winning a playoff game and not, to clinch before that finale against the Ravens, But right now, the Steelers could lose their next two. And even if the Ravens win their next two, it still comes down to the final game. Here's the coach.
As always, I'll start with a quick roundup on our last performance from last night. As I said after the game, you know, I thought we had a clear... path to engineering victory. Certainly they had established a certain personality during their four-game win streak. A major component of that was their run game, as I mentioned. They had averaged about 192 a game over the previous five games. And so certainly we had to minimize that. But it's just more than just stopping the run on specific downs per se. It's a collective approach. And I thought we did a nice job of minimizing that mode of producing victory for them, not only with the way that we played the run, but with the way we ran the ball offensively, the way we possessed the ball offensively.
Us being aggressive on fourth down plays, particularly early on, was a strategic component of minimizing their run. Us getting off on third down offensively, was a major component defensively of us minimizing their run. They weren't able to get a new set of downs very often and established a rhythm that it produced a 192 per game. And certainly we thought if we could do that, we would position ourselves to maybe take the ball away. Had a big takeaway early on from Samuel and certainly had other opportunities that didn't come to fruition throughout. We needed to take care of the football, and we certainly did that. It wasn't easy sledding there, particularly early, but as we found our rhythm and we were able to get some things going and produce some touchdowns.
As the road gets narrow, you've got to score touchdowns. Field goals don't necessarily get you out of stadiums, particularly as you're battling for playoff position and people are in the same mentality doing similar things. And so I thought our ability to score touchdowns in the red area was big, was a major component of it as well. Can't say enough about the many contributions that we got from people who had an opportunity to have expanded roles. As I often say though, there's a fine line between being a pro bowler and a backup in this business. I just see it through that lens. These guys are at the tip top of the food chain in terms of what they do. And usually one man's misfortune is another man's opportunity.
And there were certainly examples worthy of recognition. We talked a lot about it last night. Can't say enough about Dylan and what he was able to do for us at left tackle, for example. Kenny Gainwell did an awesome job like he always does when called upon in an expanded role. Asante getting an opportunity to start and playing a lot of football for us. Guys like Herbick, although he's been called upon a lot in the past and certainly has delivered. Guys like he and Jack Sawyer had opportunities to play expanded roles as well. But it's just, it comes with this time of year. There's an attrition element to our game. That's why we take everyone's readiness very seriously because we have to call on that again moving forward.
Everyone does. And so it's important that you fortify your depths with capable people. We've worked to do that during the course of our journey and to continue to get those guys ready because you know it's coming.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What key insights did Mike Tomlin share about the Steelers' performance?
0:00–0:43
2
How does Mike Tomlin view the challenges faced by the Detroit Lions?
0:43–5:34
3
What strategies did the Steelers implement to minimize the Lions' run game?
5:34–12:05
4
How important is scoring touchdowns in playoff positioning according to Tomlin?
12:05–18:05
5
What does Tomlin say about the readiness of players for upcoming challenges?
18:05–29:31
6
What is Mike Tomlin's opinion on Jack Campbell and his impact?
29:31–47:56
7
How does Tomlin assess the performance of his pass catchers and their development?
47:56–50:06
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Pomp And Joe Show
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