Tim Benz: While tamping down criticism of refs, Mike Tomlin spoke some unfortunate truth about the Steelers
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Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson went all-in on his criticism of the NFL officials who worked his team’s 20-10 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday.
“They were calling some stupid stuff,” Johnson said after Sunday’s game. “They should get fined for making terrible calls and stuff like that. That’s how (ticked) I am. They cost us the game. I don’t care what nobody says. They cost us the game.”
I agree with Johnson’s overall assessment of the officiating. It was trash. But it didn’t cost the Steelers the game. The franchise’s typically inept offense did.
Again.
On Monday, head coach Mike Tomlin took a much more diplomatic approach than his starting wideout did. This is his full opening statement from his press conference.
”It is our desire to win definitively, where potentially controversial calls are less significant. That’s what good teams do. That’s what elite teams do. It’s our desire to be a good and elite team so that we’re not as flimsy and become a component of some debatable calls and things of that nature,” Tomlin said. “I acknowledge there was some of that in the game, but it’s some of that in most games — things that are capable of being reviewed or assessed in that way.
“I like to focus my energies on the things that are within our control, the quality of our execution, and I think when you do that definitively, it makes those discussions less relevant. I think that’s the point that I want to make to our football team moving forward. You’ve just simply got to make those things, those discussions, less significant by the quality of your play by winning and winning definitively. Obviously, we didn’t play well enough for that to transpire.”
In one sense, kudos to Tomlin for refusing to pin the blame for the loss on the officials.
But I hope he genuinely heard the words that were coming out of his own mouth during the entirety of that soliloquy. Because the Steelers are so far from becoming the team Tomlin is describing, it’s hard to even picture that kind of club wearing black and gold anymore.
Since the start of last season, the Steelers have won just two games by more than one score. One of the wins (20-10 over the New Orleans Saints last year) was tied entering the fourth quarter. The other (28-14 over the Cleveland Browns in last year’s season finale) saw a 20-14 margin with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Right now, the Steelers are about as far away from being “elite” and “definitive” in victory as any team could possibly be.
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Interestingly, Tomlin’s rebuke of complaints against Sunday’s officials also became an indictment for all of those who have embraced the concept of “Tomlining” — the phrase that ESPN’s Mike Greenberg recently created to describe Tomlin’s knack of frequently steering his team to close, but ugly, wins.
The overarching belief is that style points don’t matter in the NFL. There are no polls. There are no computer ratings services to manipulate. So just win enough games and leave the rest to math and the tie-breaking rules. All wins count the same, and nothing else matters.
Who cares if you got a little lucky on a generous spot in Los Angeles before the two-minute warning? It goes down as a “W” in the record books. Am I right?
Sure. Until the next week.
And maybe, just maybe, some official next week screws up a pass interference penalty, makes a mystery offsides call on a field goal, or botches some roughing-the-passer calls.
Then that all-important second-quarter field goal doesn’t stay on the board. And you can’t make the typical second-half push that you have in recent games because that 9-3 deficit you are facing with 30 minutes left is too steep to overcome.
But, to Tomlin’s point, “elite” teams — even “good” teams — should be able to conquer one-half of bad officiating at home and a six-point deficit with an entire half of football remaining.
For the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, those are speed bumps. For the Steelers, it’s like scaling Mt. Everest.
Because of “flimsy” game planning, curious play calling, inconsistent execution and overrated roster construction, the Steelers are simply at a level where, even if they are in a position to win, it’s always going to be on a razor’s edge.
Sorry, Diontae, until you start giving yourselves a little cushion, sometimes the refs are just going to nick your face with that razor.
Just like the NFL is likely to nick your game-check after that post-game rant Sunday.
Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter recap Mike Tomlin’s weekly press conference in advance of Thursday’s game against the Tennessee Titans.