The Pittsburgh Steelers narrowly escaped Week 9 with a 20-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football. Despite securing a win and keeping pace in the tight AFC North race, Head Coach Mike Tomlin expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s performance, particularly their undisciplined play.
Tomlin didn’t hold back in his post-game press conference, highlighting the team’s season-high 10 penalties for 80 yards. “Really excited about the win. [But] obviously, it could have been cleaner,” Tomlin stated. “First and foremost from a penalty perspective, part of being a tough team to beat first is not kicking your own butt, and we’ve kind of been doing that some. We’ve got to own that.”
The Steelers’ penalty struggles were unusual, as they entered the game as one of the least penalized teams in the league. Committing half of those penalties in the first quarter alone, including four on defense, allowed the Titans to sustain drives and made the game unnecessarily difficult. These penalties consistently hampered the Steelers’ efforts and nearly cost them the victory.
Tomlin acknowledged the need for improvement and outlined a plan to address the issue. “We’ll bring some officials into our practice setting in an effort to be cleaner because that was catastrophic really in a lot of instances to our efforts tonight,” Tomlin explained. This proactive approach underscores the urgency of correcting the team’s disciplinary problems.
The Steelers’ current offensive struggles make minimizing penalties even more critical. The defense has often compensated for the offense’s inability to consistently move the ball. However, relying on this strategy while simultaneously committing numerous penalties is unsustainable. Tomlin recognizes that future wins will be harder to come by if the team continues to give away yardage through penalties. The Steelers’ focus moving forward must be on disciplined execution in all phases of the game. Their ability to clean up these issues will likely determine their success in the highly competitive AFC North.
