Steelers' Mike Tomlin Not Happy With Defense After Lucky Outing

The Pittsburgh Steelers managed to escape Gillette Stadium with a 21-14 victory over the New England Patriots in Week 3. The score does not do it justice, as the game was absolutely wild. Pittsburgh lost the yardage battle 369-203, but the team's saving grace was New England's inability to protect the football. The Patriots gave away five turnovers, with four of them being fumbles. All in all, it was a very ugly game, and both teams should understand that their play was not acceptable or sustainable. Things have to change quickly. 

During his postgame press conference, Head Coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged his defense's overall poor performance among the sheer number of turnovers in this contest. 

"I thought we could've been better on possession downs," Tomlin said. "Thankfully, we took the ball away to alleviate some of that lack of possession-down success."

Tomlin put it lightly with that comment. The Steelers gave up six third downs on 13 attempts, but four of those stops turned into fourth down successes for the Patriots. In total, that's only three stops on possession downs. The last one was the most important, as New England got stuffed on 4th and short to officially end the game. That may have been key, but it should not have come down to that play in the first place.

The Steelers can't look at this game as an overall defensive success and simply not address the big issues. While racking up five turnovers is great -- especially with two of them coming inside the five-yard line -- that is not sustainable at all. It is highly unlikely that any other team they face will cough up the ball that many times. They have to step up on possession downs, or else they will lose games like that more often. 

If one of those turnovers never happened, this game likely goes into overtime, and who knows how that goes? If two of them never happened, the game most likely ends in a Patriots victory. The Steelers got 14 points off turnovers, and they kept at least 14 off the board on the other side, and likely more. This game could have easily ended 38-7, and either team could have won if one of them played fundamentally sound football.

Tomlin may need to look within to find his answers for stopping opponents on 3rd down, especially in long situations. The Steelers seem to play way too soft in those situations, and it allows for wide-open passes beyond the sticks. That seems to be a scheme issue that the head coach has yet to figure out for years now. They could at least have someone like Payton Wilson stand in the middle at the sticks to act as a spy. 

Steelers' Week 4 Opponent Will Not Make Patriots' Same Mistakes

The Steelers will travel to Ireland to play against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4. Just because they will most likely have a backup quarterback (Carson Wentz) playing does not mean it will be a free win for Pittsburgh. While they do have some issues that they have to work on as well, they are properly coached on all sides of the ball, and they will not hesitate to capitalize on any mistake. 

Head Coach Kevin O'Connell won AP Coach of the Year after the 2024 season, and he earned that award for how well his Vikings played despite all the odds being stacked against them. Defensively, former Steelers' coach Brian Flores keeps showing why it was a mistake to not promote him to defensive coordinator after his lone season as OLBs coach.

In fact, the Vikings just showed the Steelers how to capitalize on turnovers. Against a weakened Cincinnati Bengals squad, Minnesota also forced five turnovers. Instead of barely winning, they bullied their opponent into submission with a 48-10 victory. If the Steelers make a lot of mistakes, the same thing will happen to them in Dublin.

What do you think about Tomlin's assessment of the defense after Week 3? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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