Did Mike Tomlin let emotions get the best of his coaching decisions?
When I saw the Jacksonville Jaguars go for it on 4th-and-Goal from the one-yard line on the game’s opening possession Sunday, I knew that the Steelers were going to be in for a dogfight.
With the back-and-forth yapping between the teams, the trash talk hit a new high as the Jaguars were out to prove that they felt disrespected. Their aggression showed in every facet of the opening minutes, and with the heightened intensity, I believe Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin got caught up in the emotions.
My mother used to have a saying: “Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses.” The meaning is rooted in believing you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, and can be yourself. Much like the quote of “would you jump off a bridge too?” when defending one’s self by using another as an example, I believe that the Steelers coach went off a cliff in keeping up with Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone during the Divisional Round playoff game.
Getting behind early didn’t help matters, as the Steelers clearly had to go off-script with their game plan. However, a number of baffling decisions could be attributed to a belief of “we can do it too” and that was the downfall of the Steelers on Sunday. After their first possession led to a three-and-out, Pittsburgh was able to force the same of Jacksonville, but their next possession led to a turnover, and the team found themselves behind 14-0 less than ten minutes into the contest. That’s when the Steelers tried to match the Jaguars aggressiveness. Rather than kicking a field goal and taking points from the Jacksonville 21 with a minute left in the first quarter, the Steelers were left empty-handed, going for bust on a 4th-and-1 where a pitch play to Le’Veon Bell lost four yards (instead of converting the first down).
Granted, the Jaguars received the ball at the same spot (the 25-yard line) as they would following a kickoff and touchback. The difference here was the Steelers goose egg on the scoreboard, rather than having three points there. An opportunity to cut into a lead, turned disastrous as the Jaguars went up 21-0 following the turnover on downs.
Doubling down, the Steelers marched 64 yards on the next drive, scoring on a 23-yard pass from Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown. The defense did its job next and the Steelers offense had four minutes remaining in the half to further cut into the Jacksonville 14-point advantage. With all of their timeouts intact, the Steelers still came out pass-happy, which would lead to Ben getting strip-sacked and Jaguars LB Telvin Smith returning the fumbled ball 50 yards to put the opponent up 21 points again, 28-7. Still not taking their foot off of the gas, Pittsburgh found themselves with great field position at their 49 following a 22-yard Cameron Sutton kick return. Seven plays are all it took for the Steelers to get closer, with a 28-14 halftime deficit. However, it wasn’t without risk. On 4th-and-11 from the Jaguars 36, Roethlisberger completed a deep pass to Martavis Bryant for a touchdown.
But what if that didn’t work either? Things could’ve been even worse…
The second half had more of the same play calling and decision making, as the fire was already stoked for the Steelers to keep things rolling like a runaway train. Tomlin has often been quoted as saying “We have Ben” when defending his aggressive nature, such as going for it on fourth down or two-point conversions. I have no doubt that was on his mind as his quarterback played a helluva game, completing 37 of his 58 pass attempts and throwing 5 touchdowns passes.
Yet, that same confidence may have clouded his judgment when the game was still within reach.
The first of those second-half gambles was dialing up another deep pass… on third down… to a running back. Luckily that back, Le’Veon Bell, is often credited with being the second-best receiver on the team and came down with the ball. The score would bring the Steelers within seven points, down 28-21. The defense would do its job and get the Jaguars to punt, but Pittsburgh’s offense sputtered at the Jaguars 39, and this time, the coaches came to their senses to punt on 4th-and-9 rather than go for it.
The next time they arrived at the 39, following another Jaguars punt, they wouldn’t be as conservative. With 4th-and-inches to go in the same spot as the possession before, Roethlisberger was unable to connect with a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster and the Steelers would turn the ball over on downs, giving Jacksonville good field position in doing so. They would take advantage of the situation, working on their own deep passes, one of which burned the Steelers secondary for 45 yards and putting their opponent on the three-yard line.
The Jags would go up 35-21 one play later, which begs the question as before: should the Steelers have done something different?
A field goal attempt from the 39 isn’t likely, especially into the “open end” of Heinz Field, but we’ve seen aggressive calls like that from Mike Tomlin in the regular season where K Chris Boswell matched the longest field goal ever attempted in the stadium. A missed attempt would’ve had the same result, but a conversion would’ve gotten the Steelers closer, with a kickoff afterward hypothetically giving the Jaguars the ball on their 25 at best. That’s an additional 14 yards, minimum, they would have to make up on such a drive.
Or the Steelers could’ve attempted to pin the Jaguars deep in their own territory by punting, and potentially get the ball back with good field position themselves, while the game was still within a 7-point reach.
The Billy Mays “But wait there’s more” is in full effect, as the Steelers gambled again on fourth down the next drive, with Ben and AB completing another deep ball, 43-yard touchdown miracle (with Jaguars CB A.J. Bouye draped all over Brown). The situation was now 35-28 with nine minutes left in the game, and the Steelers defense couldn’t prevent the Jaguars from going up 42-28. What could’ve been prevented, is what happened when the Steelers were able to punch in another touchdown and keep pace, 42-35.
On this drive, the Steelers converted on three third downs. The defense had actually stopped the Jaguars several times throughout the half, and down only seven, it didn’t look some gloomy for a potential comeback with a little under two-and-a-half minutes left in the game, two timeouts, and the two-minute warning upcoming. We’ve seen Ben Roethlisberger score in under 30 seconds in the highest pressure situations.
So naturally, the coaching staff decides to attempt an onside kick. Not even a surprise onside kick, but an obvious attempt, which was botched when Tyler Matakevich illegally touched the ball before it traveled the required ten yards. This once again gave the Jaguars great field position, where they only had to move the football nine yards to get into field goal range. Their kicker, Josh Lambo, would convert on his 45-yard attempt, making it a two-score game with under a minute to go and all but slamming the door shut on the Steelers hopes for a seventh Lombardi trophy.
So Steelers Nation, after following the flow of this game and seeing the ups-and-downs, do you believe that aggressiveness got the better part of Mike Tomlin and his staff’s decision making?
A made field goal on one of those fourth down attempts sets Big Ben up for a game-tying drive at the end. It may even flip the script on Jacksonville’s aggressiveness, with it either backfiring or their coaches deciding to tone down going for broke on deep pass attempts et al.
We all believe the onside kick was a bad idea, but say you even kick the full length of the field: you’re not going for broke on a single play. You’re giving your defense a chance to stop a quarterback who was playing above his own line that particular day but had shown signs of his previous shortcomings throughout (fumbled snap, inaccurate passes, etc.) You never know what could happen, and at the very worst, Jacksonville has to travel the length of the field or get at least one, if not two first downs to close out the game.
I’d believe that the score, the time remaining in the game, and field position all contributed to the intensity of living, and thinking, “in the moment”. Discretion wasn’t the better part of valor on Sunday, and thus, the result is what happens when you go overboard.
