When you tune into the Pittsburgh Steelers-Los Angeles Rams matchup on Sunday, don’t expect to see anything vastly different than what you’re used to.
Mike Tomlin admitted that he and his staff didn’t do anything innovative or pioneering when tweaking the game plans based on the team’s pre-bye performance.
“Rest assured that every team in the National Football League delves into self-analysis during bye weeks, and they come through and look critically at every component of what it is that they do — whether it’s strategy or schematics, the division of labor or the development of individual players,” Tomlin explained during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “We didn’t do anything cutting edge or unique in that regard. Just rest assured we did our due diligence.”
Mike Tomlin: "Rest assured that every team in the NFL self-evaluates during the bye week."
— Dale Lolley (@dlolley_pgh) October 17, 2023
Of course, it didn’t “behoove” (said five times throughout the 20-minute presser) Tomlin to delve into details of adjustments made. We’ll just have to wait and see the results of their work.
He isn’t ignoring the vibe surrounding the Steelers about how ineffective they’ve been in nearly every aspect of their game. He’s chosen to react by showing it on the field instead of talking about it to the press.
“We realize that we’ve absorbed some negativity based on performance. We’re men enough to absorb that negativity and stay singularly focused on what’s required to change it, and that is work. We’re not interested in assigning blame or making excuses, we’re just singularly focused on getting better, and we’re going to continue to do that. This Sunday is an opportunity to show progress in that regard.”
What we expect to see different this week is Joey Porter Jr. and Broderick Jones as starters at their respective positions, more tight end involvement and a team that wants to win.
Whether that will actually happen is anybody’s guess.
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