Mike Tomlin Sends A Message Clearly About The Steelers’ Offensive Revolution Against The Bengals
On November 26, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ two dubious streaks came to an end.
In Week 12, the Steelers’ offensive production against the Cincinnati Bengals totaled 421 yards. For the first time since the second week of the 2020 campaign, Pittsburgh’s offensive production exceeded 400 yards.
With the offensive explosion, the Steelers had a 421-222 advantage over the Bengals. It was the first time the Steelers had outgained their opponent in a game in 2023.
However, Mike Tomlin, the head coach of the Steelers, didn’t seem to care all that much.
Tomlin just discussed the outcome when asked about the performance of the team’s offense in Week 12.
“I’m not attempting to act like Eureka and paint with a broad brush,” Tomlin said to reporters. “You know, we’ll keep going; we accomplished what we needed to do today.”
“I’m glad we prevailed. Thus, we shall simply continue to press forward.
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The fact that the Steelers ended a 58-game streak in which they failed to score 400 yards of offense in their opening game following Matt Canada’s firing is kind of poetic.
Even with the high cost of points, the offense appeared more cohesive than it had in the Kenny Pickett era. Better was the passing game. Though it wasn’t perfect, what topics did we discuss heading into this week? making use of the field’s center. With the pass to Pat Freiermuth, who had a fantastic game, they accomplished that right away.
Pickett completed the day 24-of-33 for 278 yards and a passer rating of 97.8. That was as good as he’s ever looked. The only other performance that comes close to this one was his performance in Week 3 against the Raiders, when he threw a really nice ball to Diontae Johnson, which was ruled incomplete after Johnson punched it away. While we’re talking about that, let’s also acknowledge Johnson’s utterly inexcusable lack of effort on the subsequent play, where he stood motionless after the snap and watched the Jaylen Warren fumble roll away. That was the actions of a completely checked-out player, and it won’t surprise me in the slightest.
Let’s get back to the game now that that is resolved.
Along with another deep pass to Johnson down the sideline for 39 yards, Pickett also completed a really nice slot fade pass to George Pickens, which gained 43 yards.
There were still some moments he wished he could get back. George Pickens was wide open while crossing the field in a play. Pickett overthrew him, and he might have taken it to the end zone for a long touchdown. Hitting guys in stride as they cross the field is exactly the kind of thing he needs to improve at. A single game won’t be sufficient to declare him a franchise quarterback overnight, but a
I know I’ve already mentioned his name, but Pat Freiermuth, what a game. The third-year tight end was Pickett’s preferred target with nine grabs for 120 yards. He was not only being sought out frequently, but he was also obtaining the ball in a number of ways. He wasn’t just dumping off passes for three yards; he was also catching passes down the seam, which resulted in significant yardage. Having No. 88 back and playing well is a pleasant sight.
The running game is still extremely lethal. With an average of 5.2 yards per carry, Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 148 yards on 28 carries. With just 49 yards, Warren’s performance was a bit of a letdown, but Harris had an outstanding day. At the five-yard line, his 20-yard run appeared to be finished, but he kept running, and the offensive line continued to press until Harris broke free of the pile and rumbled for a significant gain. This week, expect Kyle Brandt of Good Morning Football to staff No. 22 and have a t-shirt available.
As previously mentioned, it is discouraging to keep seeing the offense produce few points, but this week’s offensive strategy was obviously different. After last week’s appalling performance, Pickett, Eddie Faulkner, Mike Sullivan, and the entire team deserve praise for turning things around.
T.J. Watt had an outstanding defensive performance, forcing a fumble, adding two sacks, and making his way back into the discussion for Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Watt joined Reggie White as the only other player in NFL history to record 90 sacks in his first 100 games played.
Trenton Thompson is still a very good player. He almost had an interception in last week’s big game against the Browns. He made his second start this week and hauled in his first career pick, which set up the touchdown run by Najee Harris. There are still a lot of players to discuss, but we’ll go into more detail about them in Varsity & JV tomorrow.
Over the past two weeks, the defense has only let up 23 points. That is very impressive regardless of the quarterback. With this week’s victory over Canada, the offense broke the 400-yard curse, and every fan in the world was pointing at their TVs and yelling, “SEE, WE TOLD YOU!” The Steelers, now 7-4, will host the Arizona Cardinals at home in Week 13 after returning home.
