In name only, Teryl Austin is the Defensive Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In reality, this is Mike Tomlin’s defense. Refusing to recognize this is as big of a liability as Tomlin claiming otherwise. Last night’s 33-31 loss to Cincinnati was one of the larger indictments of Tomlin’s ‘overpaid’ and ‘over-hyped’ defenses that we’ve seen during his career. In other words, something needs to change.
The most important thing Mike Tomlin can do on this ‘mini-bye’ week is admit that what they are doing isn’t working. Have there been moments in this young season where the defense has played well? Absolutely there have been but if you only take those moments at face value then you’re largely missing bigger issues. This defense has survived on turnovers, not necessarily ‘stopping’ opposing offenses. Look at the New England game as an example. “But they didn’t create any turnovers when they held Cleveland to nine points!” That’s true but they also played a rookie quarterback who threw the ball 52 times and didn’t throw it further than 10 yards downfield on 48 of those. Even guys who can’t cover worth a damn can cover in that situation.
In other words, you have to look deeper in each and everyone of these games.
What Was Most Disappointing About Last Night….
Good defenses work in unison with one another. They work as 11 machine parts to stop the run and then they rely on a pass rush to limit how long the secondary has to cover receivers. In both of those cases last night, nothing was working properly. Defensive linemen were not doing their jobs which meant the linebackers struggled to do theirs. There was zero pass rush as Joe Flacco knew exactly what he was going to face; and he took advantage of it.
With corners playing off and the pass rush a non-factor, Flacco took what the defense gave him. Slants over the middle and deep outs that couldn’t have been more open. This leads to what was so disappointing… Tomlin and Austin never adjusted. The corners rarely changed their depth and they didn’t change their positioning either to prevent the constant flurry of slants. In my mind, this was nothing short of insanity. It was a dereliction of duty to be quite frank.
Why were they so unwilling to adjust? Was it arrogance? Was it hope that the rush was finally going to get home consistently? I honestly don’t know. The offense scored 31 points last night and even turned the ball over twice and took four points off the board on a holding call. If you had told ANY fan of the Black and Gold that the offense would produce 31 points and lose? They’d have said you were as nutty as a fruitcake. But that’s exactly what happened.
Moving Forward
I’m currently nothing more than an old man yelling at a cloud at this point… But these things need to be said. We all know Tomlin won’t accept responsibility and make the changes that are necessary. I know the Steelers tried some different coverages or at least some different looks at times but they never really changed. It was almost like putting lipstick on a pig and hoping someone finds it more attractive.
When last season ended in yet another playoff failure, Mike Tomlin promised changes. Well, we are now seven weeks into 2025 and I’m still wondering what those changes were. The most important one he could have made was to have the willingness to change himself and he’s failed miserably.
