Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is not one to beat around the bush. When NBC’s Melissa Stark interviewed him at halftime of Week 5’s Sunday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Tomlin lived up to his reputation.
The start of Sunday night’s game was delayed. While the delay was due to lightning in the area of Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, the lightning was accompanied by strong rains. So, it’s not surprising that Sunday’s game was a little sloppy. And while the Steelers forced a pair of first-half turnovers, they went into the locker room at halftime trailing 6-3.
After noting the “slow start on offense,” Stark’s first question to Tomlin was, “How do you get it going in the second half?”
“You know, we gotta stop kicking our own butt,” Tomlin said. “No disrespect to the Cowboys but one of those drives got stalled by two pre-snap penalties. We had a fumble that killed us in terms of field position in another series. So, if we stop kicking our own butt we can start focusing on theirs.”
“We gotta stop kicking our own butt…If we stop kicking our own butt we can start focusing on theirs.”
Mike Tomlin on how the Steelers can turn things around offensively in the second half. pic.twitter.com/VVxVNJXWjt
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 7, 2024
The Steelers received the kickoff to open the second half and moved down the field on a six-play, 72-yard drive that culminated in their first touchdown of the game — a 16-yard touchdown pass from Justin Fields to Connor Heyward.
So, perhaps Tomlin’s blunt message resonated with his team.
[Photo Credit: NBC]
About Michael Dixon
About Michael:
-- Writer/editor for thecomeback.com and awfulannouncing.com.
-- Bay Area born and raised, currently living in the Indianapolis area.
-- Twitter:
@mfdixon1985 (personal).
@michaeldixonsports (work).
-- Email: mdixon@thecomeback.com
Send tips, corrections, comments and (respectful) disagreements to that email. Do the same with pizza recommendations, taco recommendations and Seinfeld quotes.