Mike Tomlin said the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to be tactically aggressive when entering the hostile environment of the Washington Commanders’ Northwest Stadium.
And they were. It just didn’t play to their advantage in most instances of the game.
Pittsburgh won the toss, elected to receive — a strong statement to start the game — but went 3-and-out.
The Steelers chose violence once again midway through the first quarter. Special teams ace Miles Killebrew threw a strike to cornerback James Pierre on what was a perfect fake punt. Unfortunately, Pierre was still on his bye week and failed to make the wide-open catch.
Even more unfortunate was where on the field the Steelers chose to do it: In their own territory. The special teams unit gift-wrapped a touchdown for the Commanders, who scored three plays later to knot the game at seven.
In his post-game press conference, Tomlin took ownership of the blunder. “That is me. I own that. I’ll do it again.”
Thankfully, all’s well that ends well. The Steelers squeak by to extend their win streak to four games and advance to 7-2.
Not only was Pierre’s head stuck in the clouds, but Russell Wilson put on a lousy showing, and the defense was inconsistent. They’d better turn things around in meetings and practice this week because the Baltimore Ravens are on deck.
The Steelers just ran a perfect fake punt.
Unfortunately James Pierre was part of the play…pic.twitter.com/kwmesP1xMW
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 10, 2024