‘I think the conditions saved them today’: Steelers’ reaction to 24-19 upset loss to the Browns

Tomlin’s penalty acceptance

There were a number of coaching decisions that came into the question.

A big one was the first play after the two minute warning, with Pittsburgh still leading 19-18.

On third-and-two, Patrick Queen bum-rushed the pocket and forced Jameis Winston to get rid of the pass quickly. Winston’s pass landed on the back of Pittsburgh’s Cameron Heyward, kind of rolled off and slightly touched the hands of Ethan Pocic, who then sat on the ball in case it was a fumble.

The contact between Pocic’s hands and the football resulted in an illegally touched pass penalty.

If Tomlin declines the penalty, it forces Cleveland to make a potential game-deciding play on fourth-and-2. If he accepts the penalty, it pushes the Browns back to a third-and-6.

In a weird moment of confusion between Tomlin and the game officials, Tomlin declined the penalty, then accepted the penalty.

He explained why after the game.

“I thought it was a grounding initially, and I couldn’t hear the officials. When I realized that it wasn’t ruled a grounding, I got information from them and made the call that we wanted to make,” Tomlin said. “The distance was more important to us. If it wasn’t grounding, we weren’t moving them five yards back. They were potentially kicking into the wind, so we wanted to stop them and make the field goal a longer one.”

That decision wouldn’t age well as Winston found Jerry Jeudy for 15 yards on the next play. A defensive delay of game penalty moved Cleveland up five more yards into first-and-goal, and they took advantage with Nick Chubb scoring a touchdown a couple plays after.

The play Tomlin decided on was a blur, and not just because of the snow particles covering the view.

If not for Winston’s pass hitting Heyward, it could’ve been intentional grounding. Speaking of Heyward, who broke through Cleveland’s offensive line but was slowed down by Joel Bitonio, he felt a holding penalty was missed.

“I thought there was a hold in there, too. I was wrapped around my waist, but there was no call. I don’t know what we were confused about,” Heyward said. “I know Mike (Tomlin) was communicating about it and said we were not taking the penalty. Then we were like, Mike T. wants the penalty, so we were just waiting for them to get it right.”

Through the countless what-ifs, Tomlin held his stance on his decision, feeling the weather could’ve benefited them in the end.

“Again I wanted to back them up to make it a more problematic kick for them based on the conditions with them kicking into the wind,” Tomlin said.

Offense

Pittsburgh’s offense isn’t known for bringing much dynamic play or putting points on the board. Their last two games were wins by a combined three points.

But they usually get the job done with what’s at hand, in certain areas of the game. Entering Week 12, they ranked eighth in rushing yards (136.7) and tied for 10th in red zone scoring attempts (3.6).

Cleveland’s defense did its part in keeping Pittsburgh to two red zone opportunities, and did well early on limiting the Steelers run game, allowing 38 yards in the first half, although the Steelers finished with 120 in the end.

This also wasn’t an offense that was aggressive on fourth-down attempts, averaging 1.1 attempts going into Week 12. Come Thursday night, two of their three fourth-down attempts were unsuccessful.

Quarterback Russell Wilson completed 75% of his passes for 270 yards and one touchdown, but was sacked four times, all coming in the first half for a loss of 22 yards. Myles Garrett had three of those, prompting some respect from Wilson.

Wilson was familiar with the Browns after defeating them in Week 12 of 2023 while with Denver, where he threw for 134 yards and earned two scores, one passing and one rushing. He noticed a different approach from Cleveland this time around.

“I think this time, they anticipated what they were going to do for the most part in terms of the multiplicity of coverages,” Wilson said. “Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is good, he’s a great defensive coordinator. He’s got a lot of different coverages. Very veteran group, and they were one of the top defenses last year.”

Tomlin on the other hand, felt that could’ve been prevented if his squad came out more aggressive from the start.

“Again, that’s what I’m talking about when I say it took us too long to warm up to the action. They brought it and they brought it instantly early on,” Tomlin said. “I thought we settled down and got competitive but as you mentioned it produced some negativity, particularly in the first half.”

The defense also did its part in disrupting the Steelers receivers as well.

Wide receiver George Pickens finished Thursday night with four catches on seven targets for 48 yards, including a 31-yard reception toward the latter part of the first quarter.

He caught all three targets in the first quarter for 41 yards, but was limited thereafter.

But due to the weather, and his own feelings on the officiating, Pickens was blunt on his game thoughts.

“Conditions played a huge, huge part in today’s game. I don’t really think the Cleveland Browns are a good team at all. I think the conditions saved them today,” Pickens said.

Defense

When you think Steelers football, you think of the hard hits their defense continually makes each game.

Entering Week 12, they ranked fourth in fewest rushing yards allowed per game (90.8), and only gave up 85 on the night, though it came with three rushing touchdowns for Cleveland.

However, between limiting the run game and keeping Jameis Winston from recording a passing touchdown, they still lost.

Part of it was the style of play; a mixture of grueling runs and somewhat deep passes. This worked for Cleveland early on, with a touchdown series in the first half for Nick Chubb and a 10-3 lead going into the half.

Heyward, who finished with three tackles, gave his thoughts.

“Defensively I thought we got some three-and-outs early on. Traded back and forth. It became a game of field position and I think a couple times we just didn’t capitalize on it or we didn’t get off the field in time,” Heyward said. “I think you’re at 10-3 at half, get off the field with a fumble, get them the ball. It’s just hit or miss on a bunch of plays today.”

Despite consistent plays in which they made their presence known, including a strip sack Nick Herbig in the fourth period, it’s a matter of playing until the game is over.

“I mean this is the NFL, you never have the game won until there’s zeros on the clock. Like I said, we got to come out and fight. Every second, every play we gotta fight,” Herbig said.

T.J. Watt, who’s a favorite for Defensive Player of the Year and had four tackles on Thursday, agreed with Herbig’s assessment.

“It is very deflating. We need to close out games and we were not able to do that tonight. It sucks that we could not hold on, but a loss is a loss,” Watt said.