Steelers First and 10: Mike Tomlin’s Three-Point Plan

By Alan Saunders

·September 29, 2021

The opening statements of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s Tuesday press conference usually contains a few spare words about the preceding game, an injury rundown and then a lengthy breakdown of the upcoming week’s opponent.

On Tuesday, with the Steelers reeling from a 1-2 start and big home loss to division rival Cincinnati, Tomlin did a bit more. He outline what he described as a three-pronged attack for the Steelers to get back into playing winning football.

“There are three prongs or three points of emphasis that I’m focused on,” Tomlin said. “The schematic sort of positioning of the people. We’ve got to continually do a better job as a staff to have an understanding of what our strengths and weaknesses are from a personnel standpoint and play to our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. We haven’t done that well enough, and that’s one of the reasons why we played the way that we played on Sunday.

“But we’ve also got to get the guys better fundamentally, and that’s skills relative to their positions. That just requires tedious work or repetition of routine action. That’s what we’re doing in practice settings.

“And along the way, as players individually and collectively, they’ve got to gain an understanding or knowledge of the game relative to the positions that they play. That’s born in practice based on experience. It’s also born in games based on experience. We’ve got some guys who, individually, need growth in that area, and we all need growth in that area collectively.”

Of course, it would be fair to ask why, if those things are easily rectified, they weren’t taken care of ahead of time. But the coach isn’t going to sit there and say his players aren’t good enough. At least he has a plan.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

? 12:15: Steelers practice, UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

? 2:15: Steelers LT Dan Moore Jr., others speak to the media, UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

STEELERS HEADLINES

? Steeleres protected Karl Joseph, Taco Charlton and Jaylen Samuels. Alan Saunders

? Ben Roethlisberger is 213 yards from passing Dan Marino on NFL all-time list. Cale Berger

? PFF analyst: Steelers trade for LB Devin Bush “impossible to win.” Berger

? Packers QB Aaron Rodgers gushes about Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin on Pat McAfee show. Berger

? Tomlin: Ben Roethlisberger will continue to have Wednesdays off. Saunders

? Tomlin: “I don’t care about Tyler Boyd’s opinion.” Saunders

? The Steelers promoted OLB Derrek Tuszka to the active roster and waived OLB Jamir Jones. Saunders

? Steelers Injury Updates: Green, Highsmith, Johnson, Smith-Schuster, Watt expected to practice Wednesday. Saunders

? In the Film Room with Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase: How Steelers lack of pass rush created opening for third Cincy TD. Nick Farabaugh

? Former Steelers DB Ryan Clark says the team’s window of contention is closed. Saunders

? ESPN’s FPI ranks the Steelers 19th after three weeks. Saunders

? Survey: Browns QB Baker Mayfield is the most hated player in Pennsylvania. Saunders

VIDEO CONTENT FROM PITTSBURGH SPORTS LIVE

STEELERS HISTORY

? 2020 The Tennessee Titans shut down their practice amid a COVID-19 outbreak. Saunders

? 2002 The Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns, 16-13 in overtime at Heinz Field for head coach Bill Cowher’s 100th career regular season victory.

? 1908 Former Steelers safety Chris Hope was born on this day in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Hope, the team’s third-round draft pick out of Florida State in the 2002 NFL Draft, played four seasons in Pittsburgh from 2002-05, the last two of them as the starting free safety. Hope was part of the team’s Super Bowl XL championship run after the 2005 season, and then went on to play seven more NFL seasons, six with the Tennessee Titans. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2008.