Mike Tomlin Defends Steelers Defensive Coordinator, Says “He’s Done an Incredible Job,” Reveals Two Young Defenders Set to Become New Starters

Coach Mike Tomlin knows the numbers that have been put up against the Steeles defense the last two games, and he took in those numbers and reflected on them during his Tuesday press conference.

"The first component of fixing it is acknowledging it," he said. "You really don't get an opportunity to fix it until you face those circumstances again, and so we spent some time acknowledging it. We're going to get back to work. We certainly believe that we work in the right spirit. We do the right things environmentally. We're going to get back to work and wait for our opportunity to rectify it."

That acknowledgement had Tomlin pointing to two specific plays against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. They were plays that not only converted third downs, but resulted in a combined 92 yards and 15 points.

"I just didn't think we did a nice job recovering from those," he said of Jordan Love's passes to Tucker Kraft and Christian Watson. "First and foremost, you don't want those plays to happen, but after they happen I didn't think we did a good enough job recovering from that and finding our footing as a collective football group – offense, defense, and special teams – in an effort to make the necessary plays over the course of the last 15 minutes to win the game."

It wasn't a lack of effort after those plays, Tomlin said, but it was more about the mindset.

"Rest assured, some things are going to happen," he said. "There's ebb and flow over the course of 60 minutes, but in that instance, as a collective, we feel like we didn't respond in any appropriate or the desired way. We didn't smile in the face of it; we didn't produce the type of plays that counteract those things and get the balance back in our favor. And so, we're certainly being critical of ourselves, and we're utilizing that as fuel as we prepare for our next opportunity."

That next opportunity comes against the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts, the NFL's number one offense, averaging 385 yards and 34 points per game. The primary concern will be running back Jonathan Taylor, the NFL's leading rusher with 850 yards (97 more than the runner-up).

The Steelers did a solid job responding to Tomlin's call for improved run defense last week as they held the Packers under 100 yards. But Taylor and the Colts will certainly challenge any whiff of satisfaction Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

Not that Tomlin admitted to any satisfaction at this point.

"No, you got it until the next time something comes up," he said. "That's not only defensively, but that's in all three phases of the game. You're continually tooling and retooling what it is that you do, making sure it remains sharp."

The Colts enter the game off a 38-14 win over the Tennessee Titans. Taylor rushed for 153 yards on 12 carries, including a career-long 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that pushed the Colts' lead to 24-7.

Taylor scored 2 touchdowns against the Titans. His next touchdown will tie Edgerrin James for the Colts' record 64 career touchdown runs.

"He's significant," Tomlin said of Taylor. "He's got great stop/start ability. He's got great short area burst, and vision. He's got the long speed to finish plays, as evidenced by the 80-yarder that he had last week. But he's always been explosion-play capable. When you play a guy like that, man, it's really an all-day job. Because of that home run- hitting ability, we've got to do a really good job of setting the edges and certainly being in the appropriate gaps."

At quarterback, the Colts are using Daniel Jones, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 draft who had a 24-44-1 record as a starter for the New York Giants. Included is an 0-2 record against the Steelers, in which he threw a combined 3 interceptions and took 6 sacks.

But Jones is now at the controls of an offense that's scored 30+ points in six of its eight games and 20+ in all eight games, the only NFL team to do so this season.

"Been watching the video over the last 48 hours or so," Tomlin said of the Colts. "It is telling to be quite honest with you, starting first and foremost with their offense. They're high-scoring. They don't punt very often (7 punts this season). The way that they're getting that done is pretty black and white."

How has Jones changed this season?

"He's at the sticks of a really good offense," Tomlin said. "They're running the ball; taking care of it. He's got some eligibles that have been together. He just looks really comfortable in the structured system, and it's going really well for him."