Bills @ Steelers Recap - I’m Sorry Coach, But It’s Time
Allow me to start this post off by saying that for the past 19 years, Mike Tomlin has been the Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Obviously, he has never had a losing season (although it certainly looks like we’re headed in that direction) and he has guided us to two Super Bowl appearances and one Super Bowl win. Understand something about me: I am 30 years old. Freshly 30 in October even. This man has actually coached the Steelers for a vast majority of my life. Also, I was born and raised in Southern California to a family that couldn’t care less about the Pittsburgh Steelers or football in general for that matter. I stumbled into this madness by my own accord. I say all that to say that Mike Tomlin was the orchestrator for a majority of what I know as a Steelers fan, though I have fond memories from the Bill Cowher days, too (as a bandwagon kid, of course). I will always speak about Coach Tomlin with respect and admiration, even when I’m about to jump on board with the masses and call for his job like I’m going to do now. Here we go.
The Buffalo Bills came into Pittsburgh and put belt to ass on the Steelers, 26-7 being the final score. They rushed for 249 yards as a team, setting a record for most rushing yards by an opponent in the history of Heinz Field/Acrisure Stadium (built in 2001). You gotta go back to 1975 to find the last time someone ran for that many yards against the Steelers - the Bills also did it against us that year, led by O.J. Simpson of all people. In yesterday’s disaster, the Bills were able to run for 16 first downs, and they absolutely dominated time of possession 41:59 to 18:01.
After a promising first half where we had a 7-3 lead and having created a couple turnovers, the wheels came off the bus in embarrassing fashion. Optically, the sack/fumble recovered for a touchdown to start the second half was just terrible. Aaron Rodgers’ pocket awareness is just gone these days. I think back to when we played the Chargers, and Bud Dupree gave up on his pass rush after like 2 steps, because he knew #8 would step up in the pocket and he knew exactly where he’d be - and he tracked him down and hit him HARD. It was a little different in yesterday’s game with Joey Bosa, but, to me, it highlights how predictable Rodgers is when he’s under fire.
Also, I feel like it’s worth noting that the Steelers won the toss in this game and deferred to the second half. They’ve received the second half kickoff 6 times this season: 4 punts, 1 INT, and yesterday’s sack/fumble/touchdown. Shahtaht Joe Rutter from TribLIVE for that one.
From there, this defense couldn’t stop a parked car. I’m not sure how many times the Bills ran duo to the right and got positive yardage out of it, but I’m sure the number would make me laugh hysterically. They clearly saw something on film, and they just spammed it all night long, right at Yahya Black, T.J. Watt, and Joey Porter Jr. To the coaching staff’s credit, they were adjusting, but the execution was still very poor. I certainly give them credit for trying, but look at the twitter/x post I provided for context (above). With all due respect, that doesn’t look like a professional operation being ran. This is an unserious adjustment for stopping the run.
Like I said at the start, I love Coach Tomlin, but that’s embarrassing, and yet so expected. At this point, I don’t expect this coaching staff to make high-level adjustments, nor do I expect the players to execute the coaching staff’s adjustments. There’s certainly blame to go around on both sides, so one might find themselves asking: if the players aren’t playing well, why are we blaming the coaching staff? My answer is very simple: this is Mike Tomlin’s operation. It’s Mike Tomlin’s scheme, Mike Tomlin’s roster, Mike Tomlin’s position coaches, Mike Tomlin’s coordinators, and kinda Mike Tomlin’s franchise. This is Mike Tomlin’s vision, and I hate to say it, but it’s pisspoor.
I don’t have any positives that I drew from this game, to be honest. I thought we’d be able to run the ball effectively on offense, but we only had 18 rushes as a team, and averaged 3.2 yards per carry with those opportunities. Rodgers missed a series, but he was 10/21 with 117 yards…gross. Outside of the offensive line and the RBs, I don’t really care to have anyone on offense back for the 2026 season, although we just extended DK Metcalf, so he’ll be around I guess.
On defense, we’re a little stuck aren’t we? The amount of money being allocated to that side of the ball is pretty astronomical, and I think these are going to be contracts that we’re kinda stuck with for now…guys like Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, Jalen Ramsey. That’s not to say that I don’t like those guys as individual players, because I do. I just don’t really know how you can see what’s happening on defense and not think that it’s time to blow this thing up.
At 6-6, we still have an opportunity to win the division with two big games against the Ravens coming up. I will be tuned in for every single game up until the very end, and I’ll be rooting as enthusiastically as I have been all year. That’s just who I am. With that being said, I will officially view every loss as draft capital moving forward, and Mike Tomlin needs to be removed as head coach at the end of this season, barring the craziest turnaround of my lifetime. Next up, @ BAL (lol), but I’ll have a film room about some of the more head-scratching things from this Bills game later this week.
Follow me on twitter/x: @jay_newm
