NEW ORLEANS -- Herm Edwards once famously exclaimed, "You play to win the game!" when asked about a game during which Edwards' Jets were in a typical late-season swoon.
You do play to win the game if you're a player. And if you're a coach, you coach to win it. At least that is the idea.
That's what Mike Tomlin and his staff did Sunday in New Orleans. It didn't work out that way, as the Steelers dropped a 31-28 decision to the Saints. But I didn't have a single issue with a coaching decision or strategic move made in this game. Not one.
They coached to win the game against the team with the best record in the NFL. In their place. In a game in which the Steelers were decided underdogs and the majority of fans and media had chalked up as a loss before the game even kicked off.
That was why, when Tomlin ran a fake punt from his own 42 on fourth-and-5 with just over four minutes remaining, I wasn't surprised. I had seen that fake run at practice during the week. It looked like they had seen something in the Saints' punt coverage team they thought they could exploit.
And they very nearly did. The only problem was that Anthony Chickillo didn't hold his block a half-second longer on Saints linebacker Craig Robertson. If he does, Nix gets the first down. And the Steelers have a good chance of running out the clock up, 28-24.
But it didn't happen.
"I never question what our coaches do," Stephon Tuitt told me. "At that moment, I thought we had the first down sitting on the bench. We didn’t."
Nix obviously thought he had the first down, as well. He got up celebrating along with teammates L.J. Fort and Jordan Dangerfield, thinking they had just made another big special teams play to help seal this win.
But it didn't happen. If it works, Tomlin is a genius. If it doesn't, understandably, he leaves himself open to criticism.
It would have been the same for Sean Payton. If New Orleans loses this game, he would have been forced to answer questions about why he had third-string quarterback/gadget player attempt a deep pass in the first quarter that was intercepted by Sean Davis. Because of the outcome, however, Payton wasn't asked about that decision once in his postgame press conference. He was, on the other hand, asked repeatedly about the Steelers' fake punt.
"You try to do the unexpected. That’s part of this game," Payton said of the play call. "Expect the unexpected, and great job by our special teams tackling him about a half-yard short and giving us the opportunity to drive down and win the game.”
You can argue some decisions Tomlin made earlier this season that put the Steelers in their current predicament, most notably the decision not to put Ben Roethlisberger back in the game in Oakland after he had been cleared by team doctors to return. In that case, Tomlin didn't coach like he was trying to win a game. He coached that one not to lose it.
In this one, however, he coached to win the game. He just came up a half-yard short.
• The Steelers were understandably upset with the pass interference calls in this game, particularly the two called on Joe Haden that were questionable at best. Both came on fourth down plays and were game-changing plays that set up touchdowns for the Saints.
But there was nobody in the Steelers' locker room blaming Craig Wrolstad's crew for costing them this game.
"We can’t leave the game in the refs' hands," Davis said. "We’ve got to bury them when we have the chance to."
That's true. But there was no way the Steelers, or any team, was going to bury this Saints team. It's just too well rounded a squad, perhaps the best team in the league. And a call here or there -- or two, in this case -- on fourth downs most definitely affected the outcome of the game.
• So the Steelers now find themselves needing the Browns to win in Baltimore next Sunday while the Steelers will have to beat the Bengals in Pittsburgh to get into the playoffs.
Don't think it can happen?
Remember that just last season, the Ravens went into their Week 17 game at home against the Bengals needing only to win to get into the playoffs for the first time since 2014. They lost, 31-27, when Tyler Boyd caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton with 44 seconds remaining. Instead, the Bills made the postseason for the first time in two decades.
As hot as the Ravens have been since making Lamar Jackson their starter -- they've won five of six -- the Browns have been equally hot -- 5-2, including wins in five of their past six -- with Baker Mayfield at quarterback, particularly since they jettisoned Hue Jackson and Todd Haley.
And don't think for a minute that Gregg Williams and his staff won't have this young team going for broke with an opportunity to finish above .500 for the season. After all, Williams wants to keep the head coaching job in Cleveland. And there are very few players on that roster who have experienced a winning season. They're trying to build a winner in Cleveland from the ground up. To do that, you need to first experience some success. Part of that would be beating the Ravens Sunday.
• Spare me the old, worn-out mantra of the Steelers not deserving to get into the playoffs. If they get there, they deserve to be there. If they don't, then they didn't.
That's pretty much how this works. The league only takes 12 out of 32 teams to the postseason each year. That's 37.5 percent. So if you make it, it's a pretty big deal. And you deserved to do so.
• People have been clamoring for the Steelers to change to a 4-3 defense for years with the thinking that the 3-4 is outdated and doesn't work as well as it once did.
They ran about a dozen 4-3 plays on Sunday, taking Bud Dupree off the field and replacing him with 6-foot-7 defensive tackle Daniel McCullers. They then stacked their three remaining linebackers and kicked Cam Heyward outside to defensive end.
The reason for that was not to stop the run as much as it was to impede 6-foot-tall quarterback Drew Brees.
"We knew that it’s hard for Drew Brees to see over, so that’s what we were thinking," Tuitt told me. "He made a couple of good throws against that."
The Steelers also drew a big holding penalty on second-and-9 from their own 30 in that look as Heyward was dragged to the ground by Andrus Peat, a guard who had kicked out to tackle when Terron Armstead was injured.
It negated a 17-yard pass to Michael Thomas and three plays later, Fort blocked a 50-yard field goal attempt by Will Lutz.
• There was really one defensive play that lost this game for the Steelers on what was an otherwise good day defensively for the Steelers:
It's third-and-20, and Morgan Burnett, a safety playing inside linebacker in this quarters package, for some reason bites on a shallow crossing route to Thomas. Now, certainly Thomas was a major factor in this game and is Brees' top target. But in that situation, you'd much rather give up the short completion to Thomas and tackle the catch instead of vacating the middle of the field.
If Burnett stays deep in his zone to the middle -- knowing the situation -- there's a good chance Brees checks down to Thomas instead of going downfield to Ted Ginn for a 25-yard gain. And even if Thomas picks up 10 yards, it's still going to be fourth-and-10. Mike Hilton had outside leverage on Ginn and was expecting Burnett to be in the deep middle.
Instead, the Steelers allowed the first-down catch. Two plays later, Brees did go to Thomas -- for the game-winning score.
• I hate to keep harping on the loss of Ryan Shazier, but that's a play where Shazier's athleticism was missed. He was capable of playing the deep zone or closing quickly if the play was made underneath him. Finding a competent replacement for that should be priority No. 1 in the offseason no matter what happens next weekend.
• While some also are questioning why Stevan Ridley was in the game for what turned out to be a critical fumble and turnover in the fourth quarter, realize that Jaylen Samuels, despite weighing 225 pounds, is not a good short-yardage back.
He just doesn't hit holes decisively enough at this point in his career. So the Steelers, without James Conner, have been using Ridley in that role for the past three games. It wasn't something new for this game. Nor was it his first carry in this game. He had three others, including a 6-yard run from the Steelers 3 that began their 15-play, 97-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that was their best of the season.
That fumble rests solely on the shoulders of Ridley, who failed to do his job.
• Antonio Brown might have had his best game as a member of the Steelers in this one. With everything on the line, Brown took this game over midway through the second quarter.
He had one catch for minus-1 yard in the first 20-plus minutes as he was blanketed by Pro Bowl corner Marshon Lattimore with help. After that, it didn't matter what kind of coverage the Saints put on him.
Brown had 13 receptions for 186 yards and two scores after that. He was a one-man wrecking crew. And this was not about stats, as some are quick to say about Brown. Sure, he likes to pile them up. But he wants to do so in the process of winning.
That's why he was understandably upset after this one. And he was supportive of JuJu Smith-Schuster, whose fumble with 41 seconds remaining ended any chances of a comeback.
"He has been great all year. He is the reason we are (productive)," Brown said. "In those situations, you just want to support him. It is kind of unfortunate, but he is a great player. We have all been through it before and it is something to learn from.”
• So if the Steelers do, indeed, miss out on the playoffs, what happens with this team?
Well, there likely will be a change or two on the coaching staff. But it's not going to be Tomlin. You don't fire coaches who have a record of 124-66-1. You just don't.
Ask the Saints. They went 7-9 from 2014 to 2016 before rebounding to go 11-5 last year and then 13-2 this season. With a future Hall of Fame quarterback.
One thing Payton did was to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. And it's probably going to be the same with the Steelers.
It was surprising they didn't shake things up on the defensive side of the coaching staff last season. That probably won't be the case this season.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Saints, New Orleans, Dec. 23, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS