Steel City Blitz
With age comes wisdom. I believe that’s the old adage anyway. In my case, I’ve learned to take wins by the Pittsburgh Steelers any way I can get them. In Mike Tomlin’s case, I’m not so sure. No matter how you choose to analyze Sunday’s 24-21 win over Minnesota you cannot argue that it’s a win. This early in the season, that’s all we can ask for isn’t it? But Coach T sure does make it difficult.
The Steelers led 24-14 and had the ball on the Vikings’ three yard line. They faced a fourth and goal. 4:14 seconds remained in the game. The options here were…
Kick the field goal and go up by 13 forcing the Vikes to score two TDs.
OR
Go for it and push the lead to 17 and force Minnesota to score three times.
No hiding here, I advocated for going for it. My reasoning was that forcing the Vikings to go 97 yards should the Steelers not get the touchdown was fine with me. What I wasn’t a fan of was the play call. I would have much preferred the ball to be in Aaron Rodgers’ hands there. With Gainwell stuffed, the Vikings took over.
I could not have foreseen an 80 yard gain on a coverage busted wider than the Ohio River. Only the hustle of Payton Wilson caused more time to come off the clock. Unfortunately Minnesota scored and trailed by just three.
After failing to get the onside kick, the Steelers tried to run the clock out and faced a fourth and half-yard at the Minnesota 40. After waiting till the last second, Tomlin let Rodgers make a few barks at the line of scrimmage before taking the five-yard delay of game penalty. OK, fine… I get it. But why in the world did Corliss Waitman drill the ball out the back of the end zone??
If you’re going to punt, then have him kick it high and short of the end zone. At absolute worst you burn some time and pin them inside the 20. The entire sequence was mind-boggling and further proof that Mike Tomlin lives in his fears far more often than he’d like to admit.
I appreciated him going for it on fourth and goal. Who could have possibly seen the Steelers give up such a massive passing play just a few plays later? The entire four-minute sequence seemed like something out of a horribly made sports movie but despite all that the Steelers won.
And at my age, I’ve learned to enjoy the wins no matter how they come. I just need Mike Tomlin to mature with me.
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