Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Mike Tomlin sees need for offensive improvement 'in all areas' before facing Browns' tough defense | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

Mike Tomlin sees need for offensive improvement 'in all areas' before facing Browns' tough defense

Tim Benz
8934098_web1_ptr-SteelersBrowns28-120924
Chaz Palla | TribLive
Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth pulls in a third-quarter touchdown pass against the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 8, 2024, at Acrisure Stadium.

It’s not just teams in the AFC North that are struggling to find traction. Frankly, it’s the whole NFL.

• There are no unbeaten teams left in the entire league, and it’s only Week 5.

• The Eagles are 4-1 with the 30th-ranked offense in the NFL. Buffalo is 4-1 with the fifth-worst rush defense in the NFL.

• Tampa Bay and San Francisco are both 4-1. Their combined point differential is only plus-11.

• As soon as the defending AFC Champion Kansas Chiefs appeared to be finding their form, they lost again to Jacksonville on Monday night, falling to 2-3. Their perceived biggest threat in the AFC West, the Los Angeles Chargers, have now lost two in a row.

• Two of the seven 4-1 teams are Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Both teams had win totals set at only over/under 7.5 at BetRivers to start the season. 

So, at 3-1 in an AFC North division where the other three teams are all under .500, there are plenty of reasons to feel good about where the Steelers sit coming out of their bye this weekend as they play at home against the 1-4 Cleveland Browns.

The reality, though, is like everybody else is this discombobulated league the Steelers have a lot to work out.

Particularly on offense.

At his Tuesday press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked where he sees the need for his team to improve on that side of the ball.

“All areas, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin admitted.

“We’ve had some good moments. We’ve had some moments that aren’t good. We’ve got to keep pushing, and we’d better win along the way.”

To amplify Tomlin’s point, the Steelers are 29th in the NFL in total offense at 263.5 yards per game. Passing the ball, they are 27th at 183.5 yards per game. They only average 80 yards per game on the ground, 31st in the league.

At least Tomlin is acknowledging those issues instead of simply pointing at the standings and saying “First place is first place,” or “You are what your record is,” or some other empty coaching cliche.

Now the challenge is doing something about it. And it starts this week against a Cleveland defense that yields just 247.8 yards per game, second-fewest in the NFL.

“They’ve got great players. They’ve got great schematics. They’ve got an experienced coordinator in Jim Schwartz. I think they’re probably one of the top defenses in football,” Tomlin said. “Statistically, it doesn’t matter how you describe it or shape it, they’re good against the run, they’re good against the pass, they’re good in situations, sudden change, tight red zone.”

One area that may help is hunting for more big plays in the passing game. Despite Aaron Rodgers’ Hall of Fame resume, he’s only averaging 4.9 intended air yards per pass attempt.

“Everybody knows that DK Metcalf is a one-on-one challenge down the field. So he doesn’t get many one-on-one opportunities down the field. We experienced that life with George Pickens as well,” Tomlin said. “Any time you have somebody that’s a down-the-field matchup issue, particularly when you’re competing against a coordinator as experienced and savvy as Jim Schwartz, they’re going to minimize those things first and foremost. A lot of big play prevention is identifying those that produce them — and then deploying schematics that make the ball go elsewhere.”


More sports

First Call: Joe Flacco 'welcomed' trade to Bengals; Steelers and Ravens make roster moves
Tim Benz: From 'big picture' to little details, new Penguins coach Dan Muse shows promise in Game 1
Steelers to try luck against another rookie quarterback in Cleveland's Dillon Gabriel


Where that ball is supposed to go for the Steelers right now is a tough question to answer. No. 2 receiver Calvin Austin is injured and is a question mark for Sunday’s game. And the four tight ends — Jonnu Smith, Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward — that were supposed to be such a collective weapon for the Steelers this season have totaled just 162 receiving yards over the first four weeks.

It’s also tough to determine how to crack the Cleveland rush defense. It’s tops in the league at allowing only 75.6 yards per game. The Steelers are coming off their best rushing performance of the season to date, with 131 yards on the ground in Ireland against the Minnesota Vikings.

Employing a lot of snaps for Washington and extra offensive lineman Spencer Anderson certainly helped. But that may not be easy to replicate against the Browns.

“We’d better block them. We’d better run hard, finish off runs, better have a finisher’s attitude in terms of which direction the pile falls,” Tomlin said. “They’re elite in terms of run-stopping. That means we’ve got to be solid. We can’t have unblocked people. Beyond that, we’ve got to play well as a collective. We’ve got to play physical. We’ve got to finish.”

As the Steelers proved last year, despite what we may have been told as kids, “knowing” isn’t really “half the battle. They knew what was going wrong on defense for the last five weeks of the season in 2024, and they couldn’t fix it.

Tomlin seems to have a handle on what’s wrong offensively. He doesn’t appear to be delusional about how this team has cobbled together an above-average start in a painfully mediocre league. He’s not using the 3-1 record as a way to wrap himself in denial.

Improvements need to occur, and they need to occur fast. Otherwise, the Steelers will slip back like Kansas City, Los Angeles and Baltimore or many other perceived preseason contenders for the AFC crown have early in 2025.

Acknowledging these problems is a great first step. Fixing them is something much more important for Tomlin and his staff.


LISTEN: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss Mike Tomlin’s press conference in advance of the Steelers game vs. Cleveland.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz | Tim Benz Columns
Sports and Partner News