Psst! Coaches are permitted to adjust
Poor tackling not the only culprit in Steelers’ failure to stop rush attacks
While attempting to explain how the Detroit Lions ran for the fourthmost yards in his 15-year tenure with the Steelers, Mike Tomlin acknowledged at his weekly Tuesday news conference that he had come into some information after the game that might shed some light on the failure of the Steelers defense.
Was it that the Lions had secretly taped their practices?
The Steelers were wearing shoes with no cleats?
The Lions had their running backs smear motor oil on their game pants?
No, it was something more than that.
“We now have information,” Tomlin began, sounding like a lead detective working on a cold-case file, “that coach [Dan] Campbell was calling plays.”
Wait ... what?
“And that,” Tomlin said, “created an unsteady environment relative to what we had planned for and anticipated.”
And therein lies the problem that has been afflicting the Steelers for the past month. It’s not just tackling — or lack thereof.
It shouldn’t matter if Bill Walsh were calling the plays for the Lions, let alone their rookie head coach. And it shouldn’t matter if what a team had anticipated turned out to be something different than the scheme they had practiced for all week. That happens all the time in the guessing game that is the NFL.
But what should matter is how a coach adjusts when that does happen. You’re allowed to do that, you know. That’s one of the reasons they have halftime.
In the past three games at Heinz Field, the Steelers have allowed 509 yards rushing, an average of 169.6 yards per outing. In each of those games, the Steelers’ admitted failure to adjust to what was happening was more disturbing than the number of missed tackles.
It began against Seattle when the Steelers, leading 14-0 at halftime, thought the Seahawks would come out throwing in the second half and decided to use their subpackage defenses with extra defensive backs. Instead, the Seahawks kept running the ball and gained 126 of their 144 rushing yards in the second half, erasing the deficit and forcing overtime. All because the Steelers continued to use their nickel and dime defenses that had one fewer defensive lineman and linebacker, even into the fourth quarter.
Against the Chicago Bears, Tomlin admitted his defense didn’t adjust “well enough” to the Bears running game after they rushed for 136 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry. In particular, he said the Steelers failed to adjust to designed runs by quarterback Justin Fields and two wildcat plays that resulted in 27 yards, including a 15yard touchdown run.
“Part of that was my doing,” Tomlin said. “I thought game circumstances would minimize some of that, and so I was, at times, slower or reluctant to adjust, or we were slow or reluctant to adjust from a coaching staff standpoint.”
Which brings us to the Lions and the unsteady environment created by Campbell’s play-calling that allowed the Lions to rush for 229 yards and break off touchdown runs of 42 and 28 yards.
After rushing for 114 yards in the first half, a number large enough to surely merit some halftime attention from the Steelers, the Lions came right back out in the third quarter and ran five times for 85 yards on the opening possession. They culminated the sixplay drive with a 42-yard touchdown run by Godwin Igwebuike that gave them a 16-10 lead.
By the time the Steelers held the Lions to 14 yards on their final 11 carries, it was too late. The game was already in overtime.
Was poor tackling an issue against the Lions? Sure it was. But maybe that’s just a byproduct of having the wrong scheme to combat what they had planned for and anticipated.
The curious part of all this is that the Steelers shut down the league’s No. 2 rushing attack in their 15-10 victory in Cleveland, holding the Browns to 96 yards on 23 carries — 74 yards below their per-game average. But, for the most part, that has been the exception and not the norm.
Tomlin always says he is more concerned what his team does than what those other nameless gray faces (his words) do. That’s all a part of developing a game plan and executing it.
But when what was anticipated is not what is happening, it is time to adjust. After all, you’re allowed.