Tim Benz: We crush Steelers' coaches when things go wrong, let's credit them for some recent success
When you’re rooting for (or covering) the Pittsburgh Steelers, the easiest thing in the world to do is to bash Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff when they make a bad decision, mismanage the clock or lose a game.
Over the past seven years, there have been plenty of chances to do that.
But if we are going to be critical of the coaches when things go poorly, we should praise them when things go well. And at 5-2, the Steelers’ coaching staff has been on a good run of late.
Here is a look at some evidence of how the Steelers’ coaches have influenced early season success.
• At 4-2, the decision to bench Justin Fields and replace him with Russell Wilson wasn’t an easy one to make for Tomlin. Many in Pittsburgh — and nationally — disagreed with it at the time. But Tomlin did it anyway, and he got it right.
For one week, anyway.
“That’s why I’m well compensated,” Tomlin said of the difficult decision to make the switch.
The Steelers won, and the passing game improved as Wilson threw for 260 yards and posted a passer rating of 109. That was higher than any rating the team got out of Fields in his first six starts.
Let’s be real. If the Steelers had lost, or Wilson had played poorly, Tomlin would’ve been skewered all week long for that move. But it worked out — at least against the New York Jets — and he should get credit for making the call.
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• The Steelers are plus-68 when it comes to second-half point differential. That says a lot about adjustments at halftime.
“As you settle into a game, you come out of the first half, you kind of have an idea of how teams are attacking you — what they’re doing,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Thursday. “That’s really the one time you can kind of get everybody in a not-so-charged environment, and relate, ‘Here is what is going on. Here is what we think is happening. Here is what we want to do.’ That gives us an opportunity to go out and fix the things that weren’t going so well in the first half.”
Specifically on defense, Austin’s group is allowing just five points per game in the second half. Arthur Smith’s offense put up a total of 44 points after halftime the past two weeks.
• Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers gave credit to the Steelers for adjusting to the addition of Davante Adams without any tape of him in a Jets uniform.
“I think they had a good plan. They played a lot of two-shell. There were a lot of vision zones,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee show last week. “There weren’t a lot of outside freebies. Other than the first play when they played two inverts to that side, and I just missed the throw.”
"The Steelers had a good plan & there weren't a lot of outside freebies..
There was a few opportunities that we had but Davante Adams hadn't played in a couple weeks..
You're gonna see his role expand as we move forward" ~ @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/lizOVX13cK
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 22, 2024
Adams had only three catches on nine targets for 30 yards.
• Part of the reason the Steelers were so ticked off about what was proved to be an incorrect call on Minkah Fitzpatrick’s extra-point block is that the coaching staff diagnosed a weakness in the Jets’ kick protection. Fitzpatrick exploited it, got a block and the officials took it away.
Having Fitzpatrick split that gap on the kick-block was 100% a result of scouting from coordinator Danny Smith, film study and putting a player such as Fitzpatrick in a position to make a splash play.
Even though the officials took that block away, Dean Lowry got a field goal attempt later in the game anyway.
.@Steelers special teams stepping up and getting ???? pic.twitter.com/oBK3dvlnij
— NFL (@NFL) October 21, 2024
“They definitely place an emphasis on special teams here in Pittsburgh,” Lowry said Wednesday. “Danny Smith does a great job of getting the guys ready. Finding energy out there on the field and following the game plan.”
The Steelers have blocked a kick three weeks in a row for the first time since 1991.
• Beyond just the kick blocks, the Steelers’ special teams have been particularly sound this year. Pro Football Focus had the team ranked as the fifth-best special teams unit in the NFL after seven weeks. Chris Boswell has made 33 of 34 place kicks so far.
Punter Corliss Waitman has proven to be an excellent pickup in the wake of Cameron Johnston’s season-ending injury. The Steelers entered the week in the top 10 when it comes to net punting, punts inside the 20 and fair catches induced.
Furthermore, opposing teams have an average drive start of the 26.2-yard line. Through seven games, only the Saints’ defense began drives with better starting field position.
“Field position is huge,” said Steelers special teamer Tyler Matakevich. “One of our goals is to have a better starting field position than the other team every week.”
The Steelers are also the top team in the NFL when it comes to points gained via special teams plus turnovers.
Whenever the special teams are bad for a team, we always say that’s indicative of bad coaching.
If they are good, that must mean the coaching has been good.
Right?
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.
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