Wednesday Warning: Mike Tomlin and the need for 'complementary football'
Welcome to the Wednesday Warning - each Wednesday, KDKA-TV Sports' Josh Taylor takes you through what you need to know for that upcoming Sunday's Steelers game.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Steelers' Week 6 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was their most complete, consistent, and physical performance of the season so far.
But the best description for that performance was summed up in five words by defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi.
"We're just playing complementary football," Ogunjobi told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Chris Carter.
It's a concept head coach Mike Tomlin mentions often when talking about his expectations for this team from week to week, and it involves all phases of the game working together to make each other's jobs easier in order to win games. In this team's current situation, transitioning from the same starting quarterback for nearly two decades to splitting time between his two replacements in the season after his retirement, the need for complementary football becomes more important than ever, and the Steelers' recent history reflects that.
Since Week 3 of the 2019 season following Ben Roethlisberger's career-altering elbow injury, the Steelers are 31-21-1 in their last 53 regular season games. In 24 of those victories, the Steelers defense allowed 20 points or fewer, and the team had an even or positive turnover margin. All nine of their wins last season and both wins this season have followed the same criteria.
Sunday's win over Tampa Bay was the first time we saw complementary football from the Steelers in six games this season, and it couldn't have come at a better time. After what Tomlin described as a "disaster in all three phases" during their 38-3 loss against the Buffalo Bills the week before, the Steelers responded with their most complimentary effort on offense, defense, and special teams.
It's the way this team must play moving forward if they have any hope to turn this season around after a 1-4 start.
When the Steelers' defense held quarterback Tom Brady and the Buccaneers' offense to only one yard and a three-and-out in the opening drive of the game, the offense responded with an 11-play, 66-yard drive that resulted in rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett's first career touchdown pass to Najee Harris to give them a 7-0 lead. It was their first touchdown-scoring drive in the first quarter of a game all season and helped set the complementary tone in a game they never trailed.
Following that opening scoring drive, the defense withstood two long drives by Tampa's offense - a 12-play, 60-yard drive, and an 11-play 45-yard drive - holding them to two field goals by Ryan Succop to preserve the lead. The offense rewarded that effort by launching their own 12-play drive that went 44 yards and took 6:54 off the clock - their longest drive of the game - to set up a 55-yard field goal by Chris Boswell and extend the lead to four points. It also marked the first time this season the offense had two drives in the same game where they possessed the ball for longer than six minutes.
In a season where the Steelers' offense has ranked in the bottom third of the league in average drive time, average yards per drive, and average points per drive, they rose to the occasion against Tampa's sixth-ranked defense and led three scoring drives that lasted an average of 10.3 plays, 60 yards and 5:40, giving the defense plenty of time to rest that hadn't been there in previous weeks.
It was the kind of efficiency that exemplifies complementary football, each unit working together to help each other succeed.
The complimentary football continued in the second half when Steven Sims returned the opening kickoff 89 yards to Tampa Bay's 12-yard line. It was a breakthrough special teams play on a unit starving for one, having lost two fumbles in the return game already this season. Sims' return set up another field goal by Boswell to extend the lead yet again.
The fourth quarter was their most complementary of the season, with the offense and defense working hand-in-hand to close out the victory. After the Steelers' offense went three-and-out and punted late in the third, the defense held Tampa to a three-and-out of their own when Chris Wormley and Terrell Edmunds converged to stop running back Leonard Fournette for a 1-yard loss on 3rd and 1 on the Bucs' 26-yard line.
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, playing in place of Pickett after he entered concussion protocol in the third quarter, completed all three of his pass attempts for 65 yards, highlighted by a 45-yard completion to rookie tight end Connor Heyward on 3rd and 6, also catching Tampa in the middle of a defensive substitution with a quick snap. That drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Claypool to extend the lead to eight, making it more difficult for the Buccaneers to stay in the game.
"We've always talked about 'next man up,'" said defensive tackle Cameron Heyward at the post-game podium. "I know it hasn't been easy on Mitch being here so far, but when we needed some big plays, he was up for it."
Brady led the Bucs' offense on a 14-play, 73-yard touchdown drive, capped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Fournette to cut their deficit to two and set up a two-point conversion to potentially tie the game. But linebacker Devin Bush made his biggest play of the season, deflecting Brady's pass to Chris Godwin in the end zone, eventually preserving the game. It was the kind of stop the defense lacked in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium and in Week 4 at home against the New York Jets, but this time, they held their ground.
"We ain't back yet," said Heyward, quelling any inquiries of a return to form on defense. "We've still got work to do."
The Steelers' offense responded in kind with a similar complementary drive that had been lacking.
Like the defense, the offense previously had chances to close out the game with the ball in their hands late in the fourth quarter in the same two previous games. In Cincinnati, with less than two minutes remaining, they gained a grand total of two yards and punted, taking only 16 seconds off the clock and giving the Bengals the ball back to eventually score the game-tying touchdown. Against the Jets, they turned the ball over on an interception thrown by Pickett on the Jets' 36-yard line with less than four minutes remaining. The Jets drove the length of the field for the game-winning score on a late touchdown run by running back Breece Hall.
But this time, in a true complementary fashion, Trubisky and the Steelers held the ball for the final 4:38, converting two 3rd and long passes to Chase Claypool and putting the game away.
"It's just a full team effort," Trubisky told FOX sideline reporter Pam Oliver after the game. "Coach [Tomlin] told us before the game, 'It's going to take everybody.' You never know when your number is going to get called, so I just tried to stay ready [and] support my teammates the best I can.
"When I came in the game they had my back, and we finished it off."
All 45 Steelers players in uniform Sunday took the field and contributed to the win in some way, confirming Trubisky's recollection of Tomlin's assertions.
It was also the most accurate description of what will be necessary to win games from here on out and keep pace in the AFC North division, where, despite a 2-4 record, they only sit one game out of first place.
A week after all hope seemed lost, a potential division title and a postseason berth are once again within grasp for the Steelers, but it will take complementary football to finish the job.
Given recent circumstances, it has proven to be the best football they're capable of playing.
