“If you just look at it from a special teams perspective, the field position and scoring was JV,” Tomlin said. “We had a block on our backs on a kickoff return. From a field position perspective, we ran out of bounds without being forced to punt, which gave them fantastic field position. We had a bad snap on an extra point. We botched a punt that went for seven points. That’s not the way to play football and think you’re in. When you consider those things, it’s really amazing that we ended up with the ball in a one-score game.”
Tomlin didn’t just point to the special teams.
“I thought we were on offense and defense playing possession-down football in the JV,” Tomlin said. “Maybe one of seven at one point on offense. Not good enough. A couple of them were sacks.”
“We had them on third-and-long multiple times on defense and lost those downs. We allowed a touchdown on a third-and-long play in the safety rotation. There are some things we need to do better, some things we need to tighten up.”
In the second quarter, the Steelers attempted a fourth-and-goal at the two-yard line, but quarterback Kyle Allen failed to reach receiver Calvin Austin III and lost the ball on down.
It was a play reminiscent of the seven-shot drill the team regularly does during training camp and it gave Tomlin confidence, but this time it didn’t work.
“Some things we need to do better, some things we need to improve,” Tomlin said. “We tried it in the tight red zone on the fourth and second. From a team development standpoint, we spent a lot of time in that area of the field. We felt really comfortable being aggressive under those circumstances. We had a man down. We didn’t finish it.”
“And these are just a few examples of the self-inflicted wounds that marked our evening. We will evaluate it, learn from it, roll up our sleeves and get back to work next week.”
Tomlin’s injury report: “Bumps and bruises related to the game, some of which we are still evaluating. Keeanu Benton was poked in the eye and was unable to return. We will have more information on him and perhaps some of the others when we next get together.”
