The Pittsburgh Steelers, coming off an early bye week, will face the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday at Heinz Field. As is the norm, head coach Mike Tomlin gave his weekly press conference to address the media involving the upcoming matchup.
In 18 minutes, Tomlin covered the injury status of some key players (Polamalu, Harrison, Mendenhall), the impact players for the Eagles including a list of reasons why they will be enshrined in Canton, and media questions.
Of the 23 questions asked, not a single one had to do with the Steelers’ defense. You know, the group that was torched by Carson Palmer and the Raiders in Week 3?
Instead, Tomlin talked about the bye week (three times), James Harrison’s knee (three times), the run game, or lack thereof (three times), and Michael Vick (seven times). There was a question regarding the no-huddle offense and its success rate, but that was quickly dismissed by Tomlin with a simple “we’re 1-2.”
Well, here’s a newsflash for you, coach, you’re 1-2 because of your defense. The offense has put up 50 points in the first two road games combined which averages out to a clean 25; 10 ppg higher on the road than last season.
The defense is the problem and, much like the press conference, you failed to address the problem in the offseason, and through two of the first three games of this season.
But it’s not all Tomlin’s fault. After all, he’s just answering the questions being asked. Unfortunately, none of the questions had anything to do with the defense as a whole. There were no comments or questions about how they’ve failed to pressure the quarterbacks and force interceptions. There was no mention of the sub-par play by Lawrence Timmons and Ziggy Hood or how the unit was shredded two weeks ago for 113 yards by a running back who has failed to register more than 34 yards in any other game.
Where were the questions about the defense or defensive adjustments? What about the demeanor of a group who was beaten so badly in Oakland, that their coach decided to go for it on fourth down when the team was 70 yards from the goal line? What are their thoughts on getting Harrison back? Anything?
Nope. Nothing.
Instead, we get questions about Wesley Saunders’s availability this Sunday (by the way, he’s suspended); or how the team is doing with a new special teams coach. Have those been the differences in winning and losing over the last month? Wesley Saunders?
The problem is the defense and, with an explosive offense coming to Pittsburgh on Sunday, it looks like history will repeat itself. Hopefully with Polamalu and Harrison that will change, but it doesn’t look good. Michael Vick threw for 371 yards against the Baltimore Ravens two weeks ago while Lesean McCoy ran for 80 yards. With a struggling run defense, how will the Steelers stop a running back averaging 96 yards per game?
Maybe it will take a 1-3 record to finally address the biggest issue right now: the defense.
Photo courtesy of SB Nation
