By Bryan DeArdo for CBS Sports
Mike Tomlin pinpointed three reasons why his team was upset by the previously one-win Dolphins on Sunday in Miami, 30-15. Pittsburgh’s coach blamed the Steelers’ two interceptions, a horrific run defense, and himself for what led to Pittsburgh’s second consecutive road loss.
“No need to sugarcoat that, we got beat soundly today,” Tomlin said. “We didn’t take care of the football, we didn’t stop the run, and stopping the run is an emphatic point. A 200-yard back, that’s not good. We’ll assess it, we’ll absorb it and assess it like we always do, but just know, there’s disappointment in our performance today.”
First, the terrible run defense. For the first time since 2000, the Steelers allowed a 200-yard rusher, as Jay Ajayi rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Entering the game, the Dolphins were ranked second to last in the NFL in rushing.
Tomlin would not use the team’s injuries on defense as an excuse for their struggles against the run.
“We had enough hats” Tomlin said. “That back ran hard, ran through tackles.”
Then, there were the turnovers. After not throwing an interception in Pittsburgh’s last two games, Ben Roethlisberger threw two picks that led to 10 Dolphins points. A part of the Steelers’ passing issues was the inability to get the ball to Antonio Brown, who finished with just four catches for 39 yards. Tomlin said Big Ben and Brown simply “didn’t find a rhythm,” while Roethlisberger pointed to the slew of defenders keyed in on stopping Brown.
With Brown being double and triple teamed, Pittsburgh never found another reliable receiver sans Le’Veon Bell, who was the team’s leading receiver with just six catches for 55 yards. Sammie Coates — playing through a painful finger injury — didn’t have a catch, while Eli Rogers and Jesse James also failed to make an impact in the passing game.
Tomlin also said that Roethlisberger’s knee injury most than likely hindered his mobility during the second half.
And speaking of Bell, why did he only get 10 carries against a Dolphins defense that was ranked 32nd against the run entering the game? Tomlin wasn’t asked that on Sunday, but he will surely be asked that during his Tuesday press conference.
Tomlin was asked if the Steelers may have been looking ahead to New England, and if the loss to the Dolphins was the result of a classic trap game.
“You can characterize it as such, because we lost,” Tomlin said. “But when I look at it, I don’t look at who we play, or their record, I look at how we perforce. And we didn’t perform well enough to win today. Anybody in the National Football League is gonna beat you when you have a combination of those two things.”
Tomlin also didn’t blame the loss on his team’s conditioning issues, even though several Steelers left parts of Sunday’s game with after suffering cramps and hydration.
“That’s just an element of it. I’m sure people have smilier issues when they come to Pittsburgh the later part of the year,” Tomlin said. “That’s no excuse, we gotta perform better than what we did today.”
With the loss, Pittsburgh is 5-11 in their past 16 game against losing teams in the road. They’re 18-18 in such games during Tomlin’s tenure as the Steelers coach. And while the loss can’t be squarely pinned on him, Pittsburgh’s coach knows that, win or lose, the buck stops with him.
“I accept responsibility for that, as I always do,” he said. “We didn’t play well enough today, we didn’t tackle well enough, that’s football. When you don’t tackle, when you turn the ball over, you’re gonna lose.”
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