Steelers' Mike Tomlin Denies Jaylen Warren's Confession About Week 13 Collapse

Steeler Nation has been searching for answers on the Pittsburgh Steelers' terrible loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13. During the postgame interviews, Jaylen Warren gave out an answer that no one wanted to hear, yet many fans expected. Warren admitted that the team took Arizona lightly throughout the week. While no one is surprised, it's still very upsetting to see one of Mike Tomlin's most negative narratives end up being true. However, Tomlin himself won't admit it. Instead, he directly contradicted what Warren said and claimed that the media may have baited him into saying it. 

Brooke Pryor initially asked Warren about losing some opportunities to run over a weak run defense, to which Warren responded by admitting that the team did not focus much on the game in front of them.

"I didn't know they were the third worst [run defense], but yeah, I guess just taking them lightly, lighter than we should have."

Pittsburgh had no business being in a close game against the now-three win Cardinals, let alone, getting smoked 24-10. It's a worrisome trend under Tomlin that has never corrected itself.

Steelers' Tomlin Denies Narrative Of Overlooking Opponents

On Monday, during Tomlin's weekly press conference, Pryor asked him about Warren's comments without naming names. He attacked the media for potentially forcing the answer out of Warren, then claimed that he never overlooks opponents.

"It's not concerning, they're probably just answering questions that were phrased in a certain way. This is professional football. We don't take anyone lightly, there are no "homecomings." We're all given a finite amount of material, time to prepare, talent, resources. This is the National Football League.

Tomlin has been regularly questioned by fans for overlooking opponents, resulting in "playing down to competition." While Warren seemingly confirmed the fans' beliefs, Tomlin made no hesitation in denying it vehemently. It's become a he-said-she-said thing, where the fans still don't know who to believe and if the issues with taking opponents lightly is true or not. 

Part of Pryor's question to Tomlin was if the "taking opponents lightly" issue would be a problem for their Thursday Night Football matchup against the New England Patriots, who have two wins and just got shut out by the Los Angeles Chargers. If it does turn out to be another game where the Steelers make dumb mistake after dumb mistake, the narrative would only grow stronger. 

What Did Steelers Do To Be Questioned On Preparation?

While losing many key players to injury is obviously problematic, the issues from their Week 13 game went far beyond that. The entire team had issues tackling, and they allowed the Cardinals to run for 150 yards throughout the game, with James Conner running for 105 yards and two touchdowns. The whole team kept making terrible mistakes to give Arizona free yards and scores.

Before his injury, Elandon Roberts missed an easy interception to deliver a big hit, which resulted in a penalty for unnecessary roughness and a first down, which directly led to a field goal. Mason Cole had his worst game in a while by botching two snaps, including one that gave the Cardinals the ball just outside the red zone, leading to a touchdown. Miles Killebrew had an unusually rough day on special teams, getting penalized three times (two of them accepted), including a stupid hit that was called for fair catch interference. 

There were plenty of other terrible mistakes that the Steelers made to gift the Cardinals the win on a silver platter. All of those basic problems led many people to believe that the Steelers played down to their competition and failed to prepare properly. While Tomlin denies it, it is a legitimate question for the fans to ask "at this juncture."

What do you think about Tomlin directly contradicting Warren's assessment of their Week 13 preparation? Do you think taking opponents lightly is a serious issue? Let us know in the comments.

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