Steelers' Mike Tomlin Willing To Admit The Coaches Need To "Adapt And Adjust To Replay Assist"

Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin takes a lot of criticism for many of his in-game coaching decisions. The top complaints are generally about his usage of timeouts and decisions surrounding throwing the challenge flag. In the recent Week 12 loss to the Cleveland Browns, the complaints included a decision to go for it on fourth down, using Justin Fields instead of Russell Wilson on a critical third down pass, and some unusual use of various personnel. In his most recent Tuesday press conference, Tomlin was asked about many of those decisions, and he blamed the short-yardage struggles on himself and his coaching staff. 

The Steelers' inability to move the ball in short-yardage situations and the red zone has been among their biggest struggles this season. Pittsburgh is currently 8-3 and sits atop the AFC North, but their games are getting increasingly more challenging as the season progresses, making this shortcoming even more problematic. They failed to convert on two of the short-yardage fourth downs they attempted in the snowy loss in Week 12. 

Those failures contributed to the Steelers' loss against the Browns. It was especially frustrating considering the Steelers had mounted a comeback but lost the lead late in the fourth quarter. Since they played the Browns on Thursday Night Football, the Steelers have a mini-bye week currently because they do not play the Cincinnati Bengals until Sunday. Tomlin was asked during his press conference what lessons he learned during that mini-bye about their short-yardage struggles. 

"We need to get better is a component of it," acknowledged Tomlin. "But there was some game circumstances. We, as a coaching staff, need to adapt and adjust to replay assist. Sometimes, we make decisions at speed, and a spot of the ball might be different, or a circumstance might be different based on replay assist, and I think that's happened two or three times in the last two or three weeks. That's been a component of performance for us. Some of the things got nothing to do specifically with the schematics that we call or the utilization of people, it's just those moments and administratively and logistically how things go. We looked at all components of it, but obviously, we need to be better than we've been partially of late."

Tomlin said the coaches do not know how much time they will get during replay assist; it varies depending on how long the officials take to make decisions. Tomlin feels that the coaching staff is working on learning to make better decisions and adjustments on the fly. 

The Steelers did convert their third fourth-down attempt near the middle of the second half. Perhaps they were able to get a better look at the replay assist, thus making a better decision about what to call. It is easy to Monday morning quarterback play calls, but the game moves fast, and often, the coaches are left with only a short amount of time to make a decision. 

Steelers' Arthur Smith Also Took Some Heat

Many factors likely went into the Steelers' loss in Cleveland: the weather, the short week, and being physically exhausted from beating the Baltimore Ravens. There was no reason they should have lost. While much blame is being put on Tomlin, Arthur Smith also gets his fair share, and rightfully so. 

Smith was responsible for calling plays in those third—and fourth-down situations, and some of the choices were confusing at best. There are reports that some people within the organization are not too happy about the plays. During that game, the Steelers only converted seven of 16 third-down attempts and were one of three on fourth down. 

What do you think about the way Tomlin handles replay assists? Click to comment below. 

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