From Tomlin's latest PRESSER

[LPMAN]

TOMLIN WAS ASKED

You were 4th in rushing attempts this season but near the bottom in yards per carry. What made that something that you wanted to be such a big part of your identity even when it wasn't always neccesarily working?

TOMLINS ANSWER

"For us it is about playing to a personality that we prescribe to, to engineer victory. To possess the ball. And a component of possessing the ball is not only time but MANAGING RISK. And obviously there is less risk with running the ball than throwing it. And sometimes that's a component of this discussion as well"

SO..........

For a man who says don't live in your fears all i hear is i'm afraid to pass the football. This is why we are mainly in low scoring games trying to steal a win at the end. This is why we only get aggresive & really attack when we get desperate & get way behind.

We are one of the few offenses & maybe only one on a playoff team living like this. And it won't change until Tomlin is gone. TOMLIN IS 100% THE CULPRIT. He just admitted it & isn't hiding it anymore.

So for those blaming Russell or Pickens, or the OL. They are being held hostage by a 1970's gameplan every week. The only time we win by a comfortable margin is when we play a really bad team. Or get lucky with a ton of turnovers. When you run predictably on first down almost every time , you damage your passing game badly. END OF DISCUSSION!

[hackjam]

Interestingly enough, the top 6 teams in rushing attempts are all in the playoffs. Philly, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Washington are #1-6 in that order. Then it's Buffalo #9, Tampa #10, LA Chargers #11, Denver #13, Minnesota #14, LA Rams #16, Kansas City #17, Houston #22.

So 12 of the top 16 teams in rushing attempts are in the playoffs. Some of that is QBs. Hurts, Jackson, Daniels, Allen, and Nix all had 90+ attempts.

But all of those teams are competent in the passing game. And in the games where we threw it effectively, we looked as good as any of them.

So I think it's really that, good teams can run the ball effectively. But they can also throw effectively when needed. And some of that probably comes down to having a good OL. And I guess bad teams probably throw more because they're playing from behind. I'm just sort of thinking out loud at this point. I don't really have a conclusion.

I think the real answer is to be good at both running and throwing, simple as that sounds.

[LPMAN]

Many teams run off of their pass. (Detroit, KC come to mind) It's about being unpredictable. We hope we can run well on first down so we don't have to throw the ball, That's garbage thinking. And it usually puts you in 2nd & longs because the other teams watch film. They see you run almost every first down. Especially to start the game because the score is tied and your scared to death of a turnover.

So when fans ask why is our offense so bad in first quarters it's about predictibility. Other teams know we run on first & 2nd downs, and pass on 3rd & long. That makes it twice as hard to gain yards & move the chains.

[hackjam]

Yeah I mean pretty much everyone in the world knows the Steelers are going to bash Najee up the middle for 2 yards on first down like 80% of the time. That's where the toughness and execution rhetoric falls apart. That stuff flies in the MAC, not the NFL.

[T.Ferguson]

What's frustrating is if Tomlin just let the offense play to win the Steelers could actually win Saturday. For example actually passing it on 1st down, using the MoF, throwing to Harris and Warren out of the backfield. Ravens would not see a lot of this coming. instead he'll probably just stick to his sad bastard offensive strategy of trying to shorten the game and hoping the opposing team falls asleep.

[WindyCitySteel]

Some of us “haters” have been saying this for years and getting ridiculed. He wants to shorten games and win ugly. Now he has finally said it on record.

He must have had panic attacks watching film when we were scoring 30+ in a few games.

[Northern_Blitz]

Yeah I mean pretty much everyone in the world knows the Steelers are going to bash Najee up the middle for 2 yards on first down like 80% of the time. That's where the toughness and execution rhetoric falls apart. That stuff flies in the MAC, not the NFL.

This.

I feel like I did going into the CLE game.

Hoping (against hope) that we'd flip the script and go against type in the playoffs.

But I find the only thing I can realistically hope for is maybe running with Warren on 1st more instead of Najee.

I wonder if it would be different if we had a 2nd WR. Smith did have an offense with good passing once in TEN.

[Eich]

For a man who says don't live in your fears all i hear is i'm afraid to pass the football. This is why we are mainly in low scoring games trying to steal a win at the end. This is why we only get aggresive & really attack when we get desperate & get way behind.

I would say we are VERY desperate right now, coming off a 4 game losing skid and heading to Ratsland.

Tomlin had better get aggressive NOW or a thumping is in store for us Saturday.

[Northern_Blitz]

Some of us “haters” have been saying this for years and getting ridiculed. He wants to shorten games and win ugly. Now he has finally said it on record.

He must have had panic attacks watching film when we were scoring 30+ in a few games.

I think it's because trying to have a shootout when you clearly have the worse QB is a bad idea.

This way also doesn't work all the time.

But trying to limit the number of offensive possessions the opposing offense gets is a good strategy when you're trying to do two low probability things (prevent a good offense from scoring...have a bad offense score).

If you have a large sample (i.e. lots of possessions for both teams), you'd expect to mostly lose those games.

And we go into this game with BAL having one of the best offenses in the league. And our O looks bad going into the playoffs after getting a good number of points for a while there.

[Eich]

I think it's because trying to have a shootout when you clearly have the worse QB is a bad idea.

This way also doesn't work all the time.

But trying to limit the number of offensive possessions the opposing offense gets is a good strategy when you're trying to do two low probability things (prevent a good offense from scoring...have a bad offense score).

If you have a large sample (i.e. lots of possessions for both teams), you'd expect to mostly lose those games.

And we go into this game with BAL having one of the best offenses in the league. And our O looks bad going into the playoffs after getting a good number of points for a while there.

All that makes sense and the strategy could be sound if we didn't have a run game that sucked worse than our pass game. How many games does it take to determine that we can't impose our will on the defensive line?

But it could turn out brilliant (ala 2005 as others have posted) if we come out guns-ablazin' and pass to setup the run against the Rats.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

TOMLIN WAS ASKED

You were 4th in rushing attempts this season but near the bottom in yards per carry. What made that something that you wanted to be such a big part of your identity even when it wasn't always neccesarily working?

TOMLINS ANSWER

"For us it is about playing to a personality that we prescribe to, to engineer victory. To possess the ball. And a component of possessing the ball is not only time but MANAGING RISK. And obviously there is less risk with running the ball than throwing it. And sometimes that's a component of this discussion as well"

My problem isn't so much with the answer as it is with the premise. I'll use a Tomlinism to illustrate.

When you have red paint, you paint the barn red. Tomlin is saying that the paint he has does not match what they are doing. He wants this offense to be a running offense - no problem. The problem isn't in the concept, it is in the fact that this concept does not suit your personnel. Put together an offensive gameplan that suits your players.

[NorthCoast]

Look at the QBs that won their divisions, then you'll understand why the Steelers do what they do. But, yea, they don't pass enough on early downs.
Having said this, the biggest problem with the offense is they do not stack success. Immediately after a pass for a first down? They go back to rushing. Gotta first down rushing? Whew, let's keep it on the ground. This is what the graphic is saying.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2qEeK61][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2qEeK61]Screenshot 2025-01-08 151232[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/191750946@N04/]R W[/url], on Flickr

[LPMAN]

This.

I feel like I did going into the CLE game.

Hoping (against hope) that we'd flip the script and go against type in the playoffs.

But I find the only thing I can realistically hope for is maybe running with Warren on 1st more instead of Najee.

I wonder if it would be different if we had a 2nd WR. Smith did have an offense with good passing once in TEN.

I don't think the 2nd WR matters on our play calling. In fact someone in preseason said why trade for Aiyuk as he won't get enough touches to warrant the money? Pobably dead on 100%.... I think Mike Williams is an OK #2 but Tomlin & Smith would rather have Van Jefferson there even if he's not stretching the field & making catches because he FITS THEIR SYSTEM. Same With Ben Skowronek.

[LPMAN]

I think it's because trying to have a shootout when you clearly have the worse QB is a bad idea.

This way also doesn't work all the time.

But trying to limit the number of offensive possessions the opposing offense gets is a good strategy when you're trying to do two low probability things (prevent a good offense from scoring...have a bad offense score).

If you have a large sample (i.e. lots of possessions for both teams), you'd expect to mostly lose those games.

And we go into this game with BAL having one of the best offenses in the league. And our O looks bad going into the playoffs after getting a good number of points for a while there.

NO ONE is asking for a shootout. What we are asking for is to not be PREDICTABLE. Pass some on 1st down, run some on 3rd & 5....When the opposition is less sure of the play coming, it has a much better chance of success.

When we went all passing 9 plays midway through 3rd quarter in hurry up vs Bengals Russ was 8-9 & we scored a TD. MAYBE, just maybe our QBS look bad because they are put in predictable bad situations?

[Northern_Blitz]

All that makes sense and the strategy could be sound if we didn't have a run game that sucked worse than our pass game. How many games does it take to determine that we can't impose our will on the defensive line?

But it could turn out brilliant (ala 2005 as others have posted) if we come out guns-ablazin' and pass to setup the run against the Rats.

I agree that our run game is bad.

And I'd personally also like to see more passing.

But if we go that way, I expect that the chances of winning would increase. As would the chances of us getting blown out.

I think we have to score though. BAL has a very good offense IMO.