Lolley: Tomlin's statements not bravado, plus 10 more thoughts

Nov 28, 2017 • 1:31 am

6.6K

Mike Tomlin addressed what he called "the elephant in the room" in a sit-down interview with his former boss, Tony Dungy, during NBC's 'Football Night in America' prior to the Steelers' 31-28 win Sunday over the Packers.

Dungy asked Tomlin about his team's focus this season, specifically regarding the Patriots' Dec. 17 visit to Heinz Field.

Tomlin replied, "I’m going to embrace the elephant in the room. There’s going to be fireworks. But it’s probably going to be Part 1. You know? You’ll burn more fuel trying to pretend like that doesn’t exist than just to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Man, that’s going to be a big game. But probably if we’re both doing what we’re supposed to do, the second one is really going to be big and what happens in the first is going to set up the second one. It’s going to determine the location of the second one. You know?”

Dungy, who hired Tomlin with the Buccaneers in 2001, didn't stop spending his capital there. He also asked Tomlin about his confidence in his team, which improved to 9-2 with the win over the Packers.

“Oh, we can win it all,” Tomlin said. “We should win it all. I think that’s my mentality. I think that’s their mentality. But I’m less concerned about that and more concerned about what are the things that we’re going to do along the way to make that happen.”

And now Steelers Nation is in a tizzy.

Why? Well, I'm not exactly sure. After all, haven't Steelers fans and the media had Patriots on the brain since New England won last season's AFC Championship Game? Heck, haven't Steelers fans had Patriots on the brain since, I don't know, 2001?

As David DeCastro told me recently -- before Tomlin's statement -- they're only human, after all.

"It's human nature to look down the road when you know there's a big game," DeCastro said. "But we'll worry about the Patriots when the time comes."

Not before. They won't overlook anyone else. But to suggest they don't know that game is coming would be disingenuous.

And Dungy knows that as well as anyone, hence his line of questioning. He's been in Tomlin's shoes before. When Dungy coached the Colts, from 2002 through 2011, his teams played the Patriots 12 times, going 5-7. Three of those games occurred in the postseason, with New England winning two at Gillette Stadium and the Colts holding serve at the old RCA Dome in 2007.

Dungy knows exactly how difficult it is to win at New England. And he knew how much those matchups were hyped, not only by the local media, but nationally.

Despite what some might have us believe, the Patriots have not often been the team blocking the Steelers from winning a Super Bowl. Yes, they did in 2001 and again in 2004. But those games are ancient history. Last season saw the only game that currently matters in the series. Yes, they played twice, and New England won both, but one was against Landry Jones at quarterback.

Tomlin isn't ignoring any of that. He's not running away from it. He's embracing it because he has confidence in his team.

Should he feel his team isn't going to win the Super Bowl? Should he feel his team can't beat the Patriots?

The answer to both questions is a resounding no.

As for the possibility those statements could be used as bulletin-board fodder for the Patriots or other opponents, if they need those kind of things as motivation, they probably shouldn't be playing in the NFL. Bulletin board material is for high school or even college. But when you're being paid a lot of money to play a game, you shouldn't need any extra motivation to perform at your best.

And to think they are going to overlook their games in the next two weeks -- against the division rival Bengals and Ravens -- because they're looking ahead to the Patriots is folly. If they lose one or both of those games, it will be because they lost them, not because they got caught looking ahead.

So rip Tomlin all you want for his candor. Call it arrogance or whatever. But he was just showing confidence in his team. It's a good team and he knows it. And he knows Dec. 17 could go a long way toward determining who represents the AFC in the Super Bowl.

• The Steelers weren't looking past the Packers on Sunday night, either.

Green Bay was a desperate team with its season on the line and played like one. Aaron Rodgers is just a few weeks from returning and, with Rodgers, the Packers have a chance to beat anyone.

But to have a chance to sneak into the postseason, the Packers knew they had to win at least two out of three going into Sunday. Now, after falling to 5-6, they have to beat Tampa Bay at home and win at Cleveland to have a shot at making the playoffs in a crowded NFC race.

• But what about Brett Hundley? He had looked terrible the week before at home against Baltimore while subbing for Rodgers.

True. But Hundley also completed 21 of 36 passes for 239 yards in that game. It just so happened he also threw three interceptions and lost a fumble.

Against the Steelers, Hundley was 17 of 26 for 245 yards with three touchdowns. He didn't turn the ball over -- though a Stephon Tuitt strip-sack was negated by a phantom illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty on Artie Burns.

The Steelers did a lot of things similar to what the Ravens had done against Hundley, including dropping seven and even eight players into coverage. They just didn't get the turnovers. And they had two big breakdowns in their secondary that resulted in touchdown passes that any NFL quarterback could have thrown.

• The breakdowns are concerning because they've been happening more often. Of the Steelers' 10 longest pass plays allowed this season, nine have happened in the past four games:

It's a disturbing trend, to be sure, and Burns has been a big part of that. He needs to play better, starting this week. A good start would be knowing whether or not the Steelers are in man or zone defense.

• All of that said, don't be surprised if the Steelers decide to use Burns to shadow A.J. Green.

The plan coming into this season -- before they acquired Joe Haden -- was to have Burns be a guy who followed the opposing team's best receiver all over the field. His recent play might cause some caution in that regard. But he's at his best when he can match up and just go at a guy. And he won't be trying to jump any routes unless he's positive he has help, and he'll have that constantly against a receiver of Green's ilk.

• Cam Heyward is playing at a Pro Bowl level but still might not make it. Not because of how he's played, but because of how he is listed positionally.

Heyward is listed at defensive end, but plays well over half of his snaps as a defensive tackle. Often times Sunday, he was the only defensive lineman the Steelers had on the field in long-yardage situations. The Steelers went with a dime package that left inside linebacker Vince Williams on the field while subbing Stephon Tuitt out for William Gay. Occasionally, that included Heyward rushing the passer from the interior.

Heyward added two more sacks to his year's total to give him nine, which is a lot for an interior lineman. In fact, if Heyward were listed as a defensive tackle, he would be the NFL leader at that position. Detroit's Anthony Zettel and Cincinnati's Geno Atkins both lead the position with 6.5. As it is, Heyward has the seventh-most sacks among defensive ends.

• All apologies to Williams and his career-high seven sacks from his inside linebacker spot, but I'm never taking Tuitt off the field to keep Vince on. Ever.

• If you sat and watched your first NFL game Sunday, you'd think Antonio Brown is probably the best player in the league. You'd probably be right. If there's somebody playing better, it would be very interesting to know who that player might be.

• The Steelers were 3-3 in red zone trips against the Packers, making them 11-25 with Chris Hubbard at right tackle. They are, of course, 10-18 with Marcus Gilbert.

In their past three games, they are 8-15 in the red zone. But one of those trips was setting up a game-winning field goal in Indianapolis, while another was an interception returned into the red zone at the end of the game against the Titans two weeks ago.

It sure does help matters when you're not playing a top-10 defense each week, as the Steelers did throughout the first half of the season. Their next two games -- against Cincinnati and Baltimore -- will be against top-10 defenses again. But the Steelers scored 29 and 26 points against the Bengals and Ravens in the first half when their offense was "struggling."

The Steelers have now scored 91 points in their past three games, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing 10 touchdown passes in his past 10 quarters.

• I'm told the Steelers remain confident Haden can make a return before the game against the Patriots. That would be huge. The Steelers are going to need all of their weapons, both offensively and defensively, to beat New England.

I don't believe, however, that these Patriots are as good as last season's. Not having Julian Edelman on offense or Donta Hightower on defense takes away two of their better playmakers.

The Patriots, by the way, placed tight end Martellus Bennett on injured reserve Monday. So much for that big signing two weeks ago. He might not even be the biggest player they lost in their win Sunday over Miami. Nate Ebner, their leading special teams tackler, landed on IR Monday, as well, after suffering a leg injury while picking up a first down on a fake punt.

• With Roethlisberger playing as well as he currently is -- he's certainly warmed up as the weather has gotten colder -- and the team playing well around him, I would expect the quarterback to be back in 2018 regardless of how this season finishes.

For one, he's been sacked just 15 times and hasn't taken any big hits.

For another, if the Steelers do win the Super Bowl, the bet here is that he'll want to try to win another. And if they don't win this year, he's going to want to come back one more season to try to go out on top.

WHAT'S BREWING

• Matt Gajtka, Matt Sunday and DK have extensive coverage of the Penguins' many doings Monday night, from beating the Flyers in overtime to Matt Murray's injury to the looming trade of Ian Cole.

• A final reminder that both of Taylor Haase's minor-league hockey features, Wilkes-Barre Watch and Wheeling Watch, are taking this week off so she could spend time with family out of state. They'll be back next Monday and Tuesday.

VIDEO

DK and Matt at ice level inside PPG Paints Arena after the Penguins' victory: