Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said it best after the Week 16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
“We didn’t do what we needed to do to secure victory today, and so I congratulate the Ravens on their performance and the victory,” Tomlin began his postgame press conference, explaining: “Really specifically, we didn’t control the run game. We never did. And when you don’t, man, you got to do some splash plays or win the turnover battle in a significant way and we didn’t do that either.”
“You got to control the run, the line of scrimmage,” Tomlin reiterated later. “The turnover game is always significant in matchups like this. But we failed in both areas and when you do that, you should expect to lose.”
Say what you want about Coach Tomlin, but he rarely minces words. The message is as direct and clear as possible after the punishing performance from Ravens running back Derrick Henry.
It reads something like: That can’t happen, and we’ve got to fix it — immediately.
Derrick Henry & Ravens Outpace Steelers by Over 100 Rushing Yards in Week 16
Henry finished with 162 rushing yards off 24 carries, which averaged out to a staggering 6.8 yards per carry. On the flip side, the entire Steelers rushing attack only combined for 117 rushing yards in what ended up looking like a very lopsided result following a dominant fourth quarter by Baltimore.
And that’s before you factor in the additional rushing yardage tallied by quarterback Lamar Jackson, backup running backs Justice Hill and Rasheen Ali, wide receiver Zay Flowers and one lone yard from tight end Mark Andrews.
All told, the Ravens accumulated 220 yards on the ground versus the Steelers. That’s over 100 more than Pittsburgh, and it’s the reason Tomlin sent such a blunt message after the loss.
The Steelers defense holds itself to a much higher standard than this. They know it, Tomlin knows it, and they only have a few days to get things straightened out with the No. 1 ranked Kansas City Chiefs coming to town on Christmas Day.
Steelers Team Leader Cameron Heyward Echoes Mike Tomlin After Ravens Loss
Steelers defensive lineman and veteran team leader Cameron Heyward also addressed the media after Week 16. And he echoed Tomlin at the podium.
“Disappointed with the outcome today,” Heyward told reporters. “As a defense, we did not stop the run, and when you do that, you can’t really control the game.”
Heyward also highlighted missed tackles and “errors” as part of the reason for their struggles in Baltimore.
“We got to talk about it, coach it up, practice it,” he stated, regarding the missed tackle issue. Although, Heyward also admitted that there’s “not a lot of time” to practice something like that at this point in the season, especially with the Chiefs matchup looming in exactly four days’ time.
“We have to own what we did,” Heyward went on. “That’s the only way you get better through this. And it starts up front. D-line, we didn’t get our job done today.”
As a whole, Heyward also felt that the Steelers did not carry out the gameplan in the way that they planned to ahead of time.
“The recipe we had tonight was not conducive to winning this game,” the veteran concluded later. “I talked about not stopping the run, not playing complementary football, not controlling the sudden change. I thought a couple of times we had longer fields as a defense, and we didn’t get off [the field] in time. It just doesn’t allow our team to play well.”
Pittsburgh will likely try and shake this loss off quickly as they begin prep work for Kansas City starting tomorrow.
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