Tomlin brings hammer down on defense
PITTSBURGH — Maurkice Pouncey’s on his way home to Tampa for Monday night’s game, so he reminisced about the World Champion Buccaneers of his childhood.
“That’s the only team I ever knew growing up,” he said. “I knew every defensive player, and (Mike) Alstott and all the guys on offense. It was a fun time for us.”
Did he know an assistant coach who would one day rain down terror after an 0-1-1 start in the blistering late-month September heat in Pittsburgh?
“Crazy, right? Coach T. Ain’t that weird man?” Pouncey said of former Buc assistant Mike Tomlin.
Pouncey’s smile turned. “It’s kind of crazy now because I hate him.”
Hate?
“I really hate him today,” Pouncey said after Tomlin dropped the hammer on the team — particularly the defense — after a slow-starting Friday practice.
Players said that Tomlin called them up for a serious talk, and then had them perform a rarely used open-field tackling drill.
Tomlin wasn’t in much of a good mood the rest of the way. Heaven help the DB who got beat Friday in that heat.
Others didn’t seem to mind.
“It was phenomenal!” said L.J. Fort. “Hey, everything tightens up when you don’t win. We’ve gotta win.”
Can the defense tighten up?
The Kansas City Chiefs picked the Steelers apart last Sunday. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw more touchdown passes than incompletions, and when the game was on the line, when the Chiefs brought in a fullback to pave their running lanes, they blew the Steelers’ nose tackle off the ball and gained nine yards to virtually clinch the game.
Of course, nothing worked on pass defense. The Steelers didn’t communicate well enough to make their zones work and they weren’t athletic enough to play man. On one particular play, each side of the defense was running something different.
“We have to do a better job of coaching,” were the first words defensive coordinator Keith Butler uttered at his weekly press conference, “and a better job of understanding what we are trying to get done in the defense and make sure we are not trying to do too much defensively.
“As coaches and players, I think that is probably a little bit of what happened to us in the game. They hit a play on us here and there, and then we would try to overcompensate instead of doing our job and count on each other where we should be. We weren’t.”
So, Butler broke it down this way:
I. Coaches’ fault.
A. What are we trying to get done?
B. Are we trying to do too much?
Has Butler simplified the defense? The calls? The communication channels?
“Well, I hope so,” he said. “I hope it’s simple enough so they can run the defense and there wouldn’t be a problem. Not that we had a bunch MEs (mental errors) in the game but we did have some guys running free. You saw the guy go down the middle. That was a lack of communication on the field. We have to do a better job of that, and we as coaches have to do a better job of coaching these guys and making sure they are comfortable in what we’re doing.”
Are the communication issues on the back end?
“Front end and back end,” Butler said before getting to the big play on which the Steelers played two defenses.
“The one you saw (Travis) Kelce going down the middle of the field?” Butler said while nodding to answer his own question.
“We have a quarterback on the team,” he said. “We all have to play what he is playing. Even if he is wrong, we all have to be wrong, and we’ll all be right if we do that.
“I know that doesn’t make sense to y’all, but it makes sense to our guys. If they’re all playing the same defense we are good.”
So, the second major pillar of this plan to play winning defense Monday night at Tampa Bay is this:
II. Players’ fault
A. Do your job.
B. Communicate and accept it, even if you think it’s wrong.
Of course, there are extenuating circumstances that must be accepted. For instance, K.C. coach Andy Reid had lost the previous three games against the Steelers and five out of his last six.
“He changed up some stuff,” Butler said.
Exactly. Reid schemed with a chip on his shoulder and a brand new hotshot quarterback in his arsenal.
The Steelers were also missing their best man-coverer, Joe Haden. He’ll be back Monday night, even if dime linebacker/safety Morgan Burnett can’t.
Burnett (groin) is doubtful. Nat Berhe confirmed he replaced Burnett Friday as the quasi-linebacker in their quarters package (3 safeties/3 CBs).
“In college we played a 3-3-5, so we had like a fifth DB, and that’s what I played,” Berhe said. “I was like 10 yards over the ball. I just ran the alley and hit.”
His nickname “Missile” describes the free safety from San Diego State aptly. But linebacker for the 195-pound Berhe will be a challenge.
“Anything new is a challenge, but it’s why we’re here,” Berhe said. He was talking about himself, but could’ve meant the entire defense.
The Steelers’ defense, of course, has no choice but to accept the gauntlet Tomlin threw down in the late-week heat.
“We needed it,” said safety Jordan Dangerfield. “We’ve got to get this win. It’s a must win.”
“Yeah, today at practice he was tough,” said Pouncey. “But I thought it was great. It was a great moment.”
So you don’t really hate your coach?
“Nah,” Pouncey said. “He’s cool.”
A lot cooler with a win, no doubt.
NOTES: Matt Feiler confirmed that he filled in at right tackle for Marcus Gilbert on Friday, so expect him to start Monday since Gilbert is doubtful. Feiler played some tackle in preseason, and finished last year’s game in Detroit at right tackle. … Right guard David DeCastro is also doubtful and would be replaced by B.J. Finney.