In the midst of an extensive review of that heartbreaking loss to the Patriots at his Tuesday press conference, Mike Tomlin offered a glimmer of hope for his team moving forward.
The Steelers are getting back together. And beyond the NFL somehow retroactively giving the Steelers a touchdown on Jesse James' disputed catch/no catch, this could be the best Christmas present available.
While Ryan Shazier isn't coming back this season, the Steelers (11-3) do expect to have cornerback Joe Haden back in the lineup Christmas Day when they travel to Houston (4-10). The same goes for inside linebacker Tyler Matakevich, who is also returning to full health after being relegated to only special teams play against the Patriots because of a shoulder injury that sidelined him the previous week. And right tackle Marcus Gilbert will be back, too, from a four-game suspension for violation of the league's PED policy.
For a team that can still be the top seed in the AFC -- if it wins out and New England loses a game -- or get a first-round bye with two wins, those additions could be big, especially considering Antonio Brown is out this week and likely next with what Tomlin called a "significant contusion" to his calf.
Brown is expected back, at the very least, for the playoffs.
"The amount of which they are capable of working, the quality of that work, that will be our guide as we push forward toward game time," Tomlin said. "We do have an extra day this week. This will aid us and them, I would imagine, in being available. So, we’ll be excited about that."
It's all about options. The Steelers will have two games to work out a possible long-term plan to help them shore up a defense that has obviously missed Shazier the past three weeks.
Haden will go back into the starting lineup this week after missing the past five games with a fractured fibula. The former Pro Bowl cornerback returned to practice last week and split time with rookie Cameron Sutton. But Tomlin eventually decided to give the rookie his first career start and make Haden inactive for the game.
"We just need to go through the work week and first lean on the medical professionals and secondly see how he feels and performs," Tomlin said of Haden. "Really those are the variables."
Getting Haden back, in particular, gives the Steelers options moving forward in their secondary. After getting injured Nov. 12 in a win at Indianapolis, he was initially replaced by veteran Coty Sensabaugh. But Sensabaugh struggled and began splitting time with Sutton.
"You're bringing back a guy who, when he was in there, the other team basically didn't throw the ball to his side," said defensive end Stephon Tuitt Tuesday night.
With Haden in the lineup, the Steelers allowed 180 yards passing per game, while giving up six touchdowns and eight interceptions. Without him in the lineup, that average goes up to more than 250 yards passing per game with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Sutton made his first career start against the Patriots. Though he did give up a touchdown on a short pass to Brandin Cooks, he had three tackles in the game and wasn't picked on.
"I thought I did well," Sutton told DKPittsburghSports.com following the loss. "I didn't feel like they went after me specifically or anything like that."
With Haden back, the Steelers now have a secondary that also includes Artie Burns, nickel corner Mike Hilton and William Gay, who plays in the dime. Sutton might have forced his way into the conversation, as well, with his play after missing half of the season while on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury.
The Steelers played more man-to-man defense against the Patriots and gave quarterback Tom Brady fits for much of the game, though he did find a way to get the ball to tight end Rob Gronkowski down the stretch. Gronkowski finished with nine receptions for 168 yards, largely working against strong safety Sean Davis.
Because of that, Tomlin refused to give the defensive game plan a passing grade.
"I’m not happy with the outcome," Tomlin said. "We played to win. We didn’t win the game. We’re not quantifying levels of success in any way to be quite honest with you. We didn’t do enough to win the game."
Matakevich, the top backup at inside linebacker, could step back in for Shazier this week, something he did after Shazier was injured three weeks ago at Cincinnati. But Matakevich also was injured in that game, suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him the following week against Baltimore. He was a partial participant in practice for the Steelers last week and played on special teams against the Patriots but did not see any time at inside linebacker. That could change against the Texans.
With Matakevich out, the Steelers signed veteran Sean Spence, who had been released earlier in the season by Indianapolis. Spence has started the past two games. He split time with Arthur Moats and L.J. Fort two weeks ago and with Fort on Sunday.
Chris Hubbard started the past four games in place of Gilbert, who has played in just five games this season because of the suspension and a hamstring injury.
"We’ll quickly get him back into the fold, evaluate his level on conditioning, football-readiness, rust, etc. and do what’s appropriate there as we get close to the game time," Tomlin said. "I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the quality work that Chris Hubbard has given us during that time period. Appreciative of that and that provides big-time flexibility for us moving forward."