The Steelers Mike Tomlin is something of an enigma
As I have stated in our previous discussions, I am a Mike Tomlin supporter. Two things that I cannot support are the inexplicable reason that Tomlin did not call a timeout late in the second quarter with Tennessee ‘on the doorstep’ of our end zone and the reason that Canada is still the offensive coordinator.
Let me address the latter point first. Look, I know it sounds like I have been harsh in my criticism of Canada. Since I do not know Canada personally, I cannot criticize him nor would I criticize him. I can; however, criticize his scheme. The offense was terrible against the Titans and has been underwhelming all season.
Tomlin is the only one who can rectify this situation. I realize nothing will probably happen with three games left in the regular season, but something has to give next season. We cannot continue to rely on our defense to bail us out when the offense is gaining less than two hundred yards, is converting two of eleven third downs, and possesses the ball for less than twenty-one minutes.
Now to the former. Toward the end of the first half, Tomlin called the first of three timeouts with twenty-one seconds left in the half. The Titans kicked a field goal to go up by ten points. After the kickoff, the offense had only twelve seconds to work with.
A fifty-six-yard FG attempt was missed, but if Tomlin had taken the timeouts on defense, we may have had a chance to make it a more manageable attempt. Again, we won the game and that’s all that matters, but when do these gaffes in clock management come back to bite us?