Steelers at Chiefs: Divisional Playoffs Tomlin Tuesday

The Steelers are fresh off of a dominant win over the Miami Dolphins in the Wild Card round and are ready to take on the Chiefs in the Divisional Playoffs this Sunday.

Before the team takes off for Kansas City coach Tomlin takes his typical spot on Tuesdays to wrap up the previous game, update injury statuses, break down the upcoming game and answer questions.

Tomlin began the presser by addressing the incident with assistant coach Joey Porter. He called the incident where Porter was arrested on Sunday night following the win over Miami at a bar on the South Side disappointing. He noted that the statement put out by the team yesterday reflected his feelings as well.

He went on to add that being in the NFL is a privilege and not a right and he knows that there is a standard of high expectations for players and even higher standards for coaches. He also noted that the incident will not be a distraction for the team.

Wrapping up the Dolphins win

The biggest takeaway from the win over Miami is the offensive dominance, particularly in the running game. When a team is able to exert their will over a team like Pittsburgh did over Miami in one of their offensive drives that consisted completely of run plays.

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Tomlin explains that the run-heavy play was by design and that the team was striving for balance to go along with the explosion plays provided early on by Antonio Brown.

Ben Roethlisberger’s two interceptions weren’t very costly against the Dolphins but they would absolutely be against any other team left in the playoffs in any other instances so protecting the football better will have to be a mindful goal going forward.

The defense gave up some big plays against Miami but overall they got after the quarterback and created turnovers. Tomlin explained that the team can’t afford to allow explosive plays undermine their defensive efforts of getting after the quarterback and creating turnovers.

Injuries

In terms of injuries the entire Steeler Nation is looking at Roethlisberger’s ankle and wondering what’s up with that. Tomlin noted his foot as an aggravation of an old injury that wasn’t serious and wouldn’t limit him in practice this week.

The other injuries include pre-existing conditions for guys like linebacker Anthony Chickillo, safety Robert Golden, and defensive end Ricardo Matthews who are all dealing with ankle issues. Vince Williams has a lingering shoulder injury that hasn’t kept him out.

Tight end Ladarius Green is still in the concussion protocol. Tomlin insisted the team will continue to follow the protocols and let those determine his availability.

Le’Veon Bell has some pumps and bruises concerned with carrying the ball as much as he did on Sunday so Tomlin will grant him a day off on Wednesday to rest. Sean Davis is dealing with a shoulder injury that saw him come out for a few plays so that will be monitored this week.

Running back Fitzgerald Touissant reported on Monday with concussion symptoms so he’s now in the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Breaking down the Kansas City Chiefs

Tomlin referred to the Chiefs as No. 1 in the NFL in terms of turnovers and they are. They lead the league in turnover ratio and have the most interceptions with guys like Marcus Peters and Eric Berry in the secondary.

As much as Andy Reid is clowned on for his time management his record after having a bye week is something even Tomlin has to take note of. He mentioned that Reid is 19-2 after a bye week.

The offensive line will have their hands full with the Kansas City pass rush and trying to block guys like Justin Houston and Dee Ford.

As much as the theme last week for Pittsburgh was to avenge their Week 6 loss to the Dolphins the shoe is now on the other foot and the Chiefs are the team with the proverbial chip on their shoulders looking to avenge a Week 4 43-14 loss to the Steelers.

Questions

First and foremost Tomlin was questioned about his decision to leave Roethlisberger in the game late in the fourth quarter and even call passing plays, one of which led to the re-aggravating of his foot injury that was discussed earlier.

“I got a little over-aggressive there,” Tomlin said. “It goes beyond taking the responsibility. I made the call. So don’t ask Todd (Haley) about it on Thursday. I made the call.” – Mike Tomlin

Tomlin said that he takes full responsibility for having Roethlisberger out there and calling the pass play. He admits that he was overaggressive in the play call by calling a pass play in that instance after admitting that the reason Ben was still out there was to reinforce the run game to close it out.

He felt that the lead was not safe enough to completely take Ben out of the game and on that particular called pass play he went as far as to tell the reporters to not even bother asking offensive coordinator Todd Haley about the play later in the week that he takes full responsibility for calling it.

Criticize Tomlin all you want but then ask what more do you want from him in a case like this. You really think he deserves to be fired for that call then you’re entitled to your opinion. But what that was was him taking responsibility for a bad call that he made on the field. That should be the end of it.

Tomlin was also asked about the division of labor for the linebacker coaching should Joey Porter not travel with the team to Kansas City.

Tomlin stated that he wasn’t confident that Porter wouldn’t be with the team in Kansas City but if he wasn’t, Keith Butler would take over coaching duties for the outside linebackers. Butler was the linebackers coach prior to his promotion to defensive coordinator.

Tomlin is pretty consistent these days with his Obviously use. I counted six today.

You can listen to Tomlin’s entire presser right here.

Next: Steelers winning game plan vs. Kansas City

The team heads on the road this weekend but the goal is still the same. Let’s friggin do this, Steeler Nation.

Bring on the Chiefs! Here we go Steelers! Here we go!

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