Steelers Morning Huddle 11/6/2013
By Kim Myers
Huddle up!
Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
It’s been a couple of days since the Steelers were shellacked by the Patriots so there’s bound to be some perspective on the whole thing right? Cooler heads and all. “Fan” isn’t short for level-headed though. Here’s what’s being said about your Pittsburgh Steelers around the block.
Tomlin Tuesday
Each Tuesday, Mike Tomlin addresses the media to review the previous game, update injury statuses, preview the upcoming game, and answer questions. In this week’s twenty-four minute edition, Tomlin gave us 29 “Obviously’s”. Nicely done. Tomlin began his presser with some surprising comments that stemmed from his film review of the loss against the Patriots. Following the game, Tomlin noted that the lack of effort on the field would result in benching’s. After he reviewed the game tape, however, Tomlin says he didn’t observe any noticeable lack of effort by any of the players.
"“We were beaten soundly in the game and dominated in a lot of facets. I had concerns about the quality of effort after a performance like that. After combing through the tape there were no blatant breaches of that. I think that is your knee-jerk response after a performance like that when you are defeated in that manner, to look first at those things. There weren’t any blatant breaches of effort.” – Mike Tomlin"
Ok so what we thought we saw on Sunday, the Steelers defense allowing themselves to be rolled over by Brady and the Patriots offense was, in Tomlin’s opinion, just an ass whooping. Ok then.
Tomlin went on to update injury statuses. He said that David DeCastro and Markus Wheaton are scheduled to return this week while Ike Taylor and Vince Williams will have to go through the NFL’s concussion test procedure before they can return.
Obviously, Tomlin was questioned about a ton of the things that went on in that horrendous loss. Most notably, the decision to keep Ben Roethlisberger in the game at the end of a blowout. Tomlin defended the decision following the game. Ben Roethlisberger defended the decision during his weekly radio spot on Tuesday and Tomlin defended it again in his presser.
"“We are a group that still believes some good football is ahead of us. We are also a group that needs to improve. That was an opportunity to continue to do that. The healthy guys were going to stay on the field and play with an attempt to move the ball and get better.” – Mike Tomlin"
But, when Tomlin was asked about why WR Antonio Brown wasn’t on the field in those final minutes with the rest of the “healthy” team his answer was of a different tone.
"“That was my decision. We weren’t getting quality execution from an assignment standpoint. It created an interception. As opposed to continuing to absorb negativity from that standpoint potentially with some of the things we were doing in the no-huddle offense I chose to remove him from the game. It was my decision.” – Mike Tomlin"
This was a dumb decision. Keeping Ben in the game at that point was stupid. That’s what you have a backup quarterback for. I don’t care for this machismo “We’re going to fight till the end” crap that both of them are spewing. It was dumb. Ben getting hurt doesn’t give anyone a chance to improve. Benching Brown for missing an assignment but keeping your franchise quarterback on the field for the final minutes of a blowout doesn’t make any sense.
Tomlin also took the opportunity to back DC Dick LeBeau when he was questioned on whether or not LeBeau could still be effective as far as stopping offenses from Oakland to New England.
"“Because he’s Dick LeBeau. Does that answer your question?” – Mike Tomlin"
You can listen to Tomlin’s entire presser right here.
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