Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans.
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin will speak to the press today at Noon Eastern. I would be very surprised if he makes any sort of announcement regarding staff comings and goings. By the time he speaks it will still have been less than 48 from his team’s loss in Kansas City. Therefore, I would be really surprised if those decisions have already been made. The same will likely go for personnel. The Steelers have many decisions to make regarding players on both sides of the ball but to expect them to have been made is not fair to the process. I expect a “macro” approach from Tomlin where he talks about what the team did well and what the team did poorly. He will also discuss medical issues meaning what players are likely to need surgeries etc. There will no doubt be specific questions about players and coaches but Tomlin won’t tip his hand. Instead he will be vague and non-commital and leave us all wanting to know more. Over the next several days and weeks statements made by the team regarding coaches will be made. I wrote about the predictions I have for the off-season here but it will take some time before we know if I was right or not. The only time these pressers are really looked forward to is when they follow a Super Bowl. It’s been over a decade now since we’ve been able to enjoy that but today is hopefully a step back in that direction.
Diontae Johnson Speaks
The wide receiver had some interesting comments regarding the game yesterday. First off, he address his drops.
Steelers WR Diontae Johnson on what he needs to improve:
"Sometimes, you drop the ball. Big deal. Bounce back from it, make another play. That’s what I did. I was able to get in the end zone and still make a couple plays after the two drops that I had."
Full answer ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Ksavk3kS06
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) January 17, 2022
I agree with a couple of things here. He’s right in that he has and often does bounce back. That’s a positive thing going forward and shows that he can handle adversity. Or does it? Does he feel more pressure to catch the ball early on versus later in the game when the outcome is no longer in doubt? We’ve seen that a few times this season from him. I definitely agree that people dwell on the negative and don’t point out the positive enough. I’m an educator in my “real life” and we see this all the time so I get it.
His other comments were more about play-calling…
Asked Diontae Johnson about what went wrong in the first half:
"Certain things weren’t going our way. Certain playcalls, we just weren’t getting that we wanted to get the offense going. We can only do what we’re told to do at the end of the day."
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) January 17, 2022
If you ask any of these guys – JuJu Smith-Schuster also commented on how guys seem to like when Ben Roethlisberger can do things on his own – they’ll tell you the play-calling under Matt Canada routinely stunk early in games. Some will not take Johnson’s comments as harshly as others but I see this as a clear shot at Canada and to a lesser degree Mike Tomlin.
ARII
In the next couple of weeks, Steelers’ President Art Rooney II will give his thoughts on the season. If you go back to what he said after last season I suspect he isn’t going to be happy. He demanded the team return to a better running game and while the addition of Najee Harris was a good one, the running game was a consistent stinker. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the meetings he’s already had with Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin. Colbert by the way usually gives his first thoughts on the past season at the NFL Combine.
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