Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has always been an aggressive coach, and he usually takes the heat when a risky play doesn't work. That was the case again Sunday after a brutal loss to the New Orleans Saints.
The Steelers were lined up to punt late in the fourth quarter while facing a fourth-and-5 on their own 42-yard line. Pittsburgh ran a fake punt instead of kicking away, with Roosevelt Nix getting the direct snap. Although Nix was close to the first down, he was tackled just short.
The Saints used the short field to score a touchdown to take the lead, and JuJu Smith-Schuster's fumble foiled any hopes the Steelers had of making a comeback. After the game, Tomlin said he was just trying to be aggressive with the play call:
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Tomlin said in his postgame press conference, per ProFootballTalk. “I wanted to ensure that we had an opportunity to win the game. First of all, I liked the play … I thought where the game was and the time of which was left in the game, I thought that if we did not stop them, that we would have the opportunity to have the ball last. We did. Obviously, unsuccessful.”
Now, the Steelers are going to need some help to get into the playoffs. Pittsburgh is going to need to beat the Cincinnati Bengals and also have the Cleveland Browns snare a victory over the Baltimore Ravens. If both those things don't happen, the Steelers will be on the outside looking in for the playoffs.
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