Steelers caught short-handed on Gunner Olszewski's muffed punt return

It wasn’t bad enough that Gunner Olszewski muffed a punt that resulted in a critical turnover Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17-14 loss to the New England Patriots.

The Steelers also had only 10 players on the punt return unit on the field at the time of Olszewski’s gaffe.

Coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged the mistake Monday at his weekly news conference. It would appear that Olszewski, who was hit by the ball in the facemask as he tried to catch it, also was responsible for making sure the Steelers had enough players on the field.

“The return guy counts the bodies and fair catches the ball if we’re short 11,” Tomlin said. “We had multiple breakdowns, obviously, on that play.”

The Steelers didn’t have anyone lined up opposite gunner Brenden Schooler, who raced untouched down the field and recovered the ball after Olszewski lost control of it. The Patriots scored a touchdown three plays later to take a 17-6 lead.

Hmmmmm. Steelers decided to put nobody on Brenden Schooler for this third quarter punt.

Wonder how it's going to turn out for them. pic.twitter.com/JFVKJKAZoO

— Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) September 19, 2022

The next two times the Patriots punted, James Pierre lined up across from Schooler.

“There is no procedure (for getting the count correct),” Tomlin said. “There is no launch pad like we have in high school or college. We have a bunch of professionals, and we expect 11 professionals to be on the field. There are consequences when there aren’t. It’s September, and it happened and we have to absorb the responsibility associated with that. There aren’t unique procedures with the head count. We expect those guys to be on the field, and we didn’t have 11 on the field at that time.”