Personnel Blunders: A Highlight Real - Steelers 2025 Coaching Staff Edition
I have ripped Mike Tomlin and his staff all season long about the head-scratching use of their personnel, and that issue really came to a head in my brain when I was watching the game against the Buffalo Bills. I knew I would do some version of this post at some point, I just thought it would be in the offseason. Who knows, maybe they’ll give me enough ammunition in the latter part of the season to spin the block on ‘em. But I was SO pissed off after that Bills game, that this couldn’t wait any longer. These are my least favorite personnel blunders so far this season.
Vs. SEA
The Seahawks game from week two is a tough watch from start to finish, but this play (above) made me want to rip my hair out. The timestamp is 4:56/Q1, it’s 3rd down & 2 from Seattle’s 30, and we’re losing 7-0. At this point in the drive, it’s basically been two nice plays from Jaylen Warren that had put us in field goal range, so, naturally, we took him off the field on 3rd down and put this monstrosity on tape. We kicked a FG on the next play. I’ll never understand how, in a game that you’re losing, you can come out in 13 personnel with an empty backfield, and Scotty Miller as your sole WR. It was the legs of Warren that had us in scoring position in the first place, so it’s asinine, to me, to completely remove the threat of the run with an empty backfield on 3rd and short, and it’s worse than asinine to not have Warren OR Metcalf on the field for that play.
Looking back on this play, I understand now that the coaching staff views Kenneth Gainwell as their third down back, and that has actually worked to our benefit at times this season. Is this a case of a broken clock being right twice a day, or are Coach Tomlin and Coach Arty Smith simply utilizing Gainwell better than Philly ever did? I’ll let yinz be the judge of that, but in those gotta-have-it downs, you can’t convince me that we’re BETTER OFF with Jaylen Warren and DK Metcalf on the sideline. Get fuckin real.
I know we all remember this one. Same game. Similar issue: a player being asked to do something that others are better suited for. Even worse, this happened in the fourth quarter when the Seahawks were winning 17-14 and GIVING US THE BALL BACK. Obviously, at minimum, your kick returner should know the rules, and Kaleb Johnson clearly didn’t know he was supposed to jump on that ball. Shame on Coach Tomlin and Coach Danny Smith for putting that young man in that position in that part of the game, to be honest. At Iowa, Kaleb Johnson returned 15 total kicks: 13 his freshman year, 2 his sophomore year, and 0 his junior year. His skillset doesn’t even jive with kick returns. I’ll never understand why we had him out there doing that, and that 10 point swing very likely cost us that game (this touchdown came after a Seahawks FG). We’ve hardly seen him since that moment, but more on that shortly.
Vs. Cincy (Darius Slay)
I haven’t spoken much about Darius Slay since he left the team, but I can’t not include him in this post. The play I provided (above) comes from week 7 @ Cincinnati. The Steelers are playing “banjo” technique, which basically means that Darius Slay (#23) is supposed to cover the in-breaking route (Noah Fant) and DeShon Elliot is supposed to cover the out-breaking route (Tee Higgins). As yinz can see, Slay gets knocked on his ass and covers nobody, and Flacco hits Fant for the touchdown. I chose this lowlight for your viewing pleasure, but you can fire up the film from any game that Darius Slay started, and you’ll find that the results are pretty much identical.
The good thing about the Darius Slay situation is, as terrible as it was, I never had to question why he was on the field. The coaching staff could see that he was getting cooked, but that’s what happens when you pay a guy $10M guaranteed to do something he’s not capable of doing. Them playing Slay wasn’t them signing up to get torched every week, it was them trying to squeeze every drop out of that $10M that they could. I’m just glad the two sides decided to part ways before it did irreparable damage to our season. DB play has improved significantly since the last time he touched the field. Like many of the Steelers’ past veteran CB additions, Darius Slay was a flop, and seemingly every time he touched the field, it was a blunder - but again, I understand why it was happening.
Vs. Green Bay
I don’t have a specific play that I pulled, but this game, to me, is an exacerbated example of something that has plagued this team throughout this entire season. Tell me if this sounds familiar to yinz: the Steelers had a 9-point lead at halftime against Green Bay after running the ball effectively in the first half. However, they abandoned the run in the second half, and Green Bay won that game comfortably 35-25. Jaylen Warren had 15 touches in this game - only 3 of them in the second half. Despite being one of the most efficient teams running the football throughout most of this season, the Steelers abandon the run with regularity. At the time of this writing, Jaylen Warren is 22nd in the league in rushing yards with 652 despite the Steelers being 9th in run block win rate. The Steelers have the bodies to make him a top-10 rusher in the league, but the coaching staff is perfectly happy letting Kenny G. eat up snaps as a pseudo-wide-receiver. That’s why the Pittsburgh Steelers rank dead last in time of possession this season averaging 26:58 per game as of right now. That is abysmal.
@ Chargers
Remember when I said that we’ve hardly seen Kaleb Johnson since his kick return debacle in week two? Well…back in week 10, early in the game, the Chargers punted the ball to the Steelers, and we began our drive from our own 6-yard-line. Needless to say, we were pretty backed up in that situation. Again, this is the kinda time where I don’t really give a shit about game scripts and getting certain guys going…let’s get our best 11 guys on the field and get a first down so we can exhale. Right? - No. Wrong. Or, at least, that’s what Mike Tomlin would say. To him and Arthur Smith, that time against that defense and that head coach was a great time to put Kaleb Johnson in the game and try to build up his confidence. He rushed the ball 2 times for 3 total yards, and Aaron Rodgers took a safety on 3rd & 7. It’s quite poetic if you really think about it. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, or whatever the kids say these days..
@ Chicago
What was that I said? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes? Look…I know we talk about turning Darnell Washington into an offensive lineman, and he is a tremendous blocking tight end..there’s no doubt about that. BUT, if there’s a single pass rusher on the Bears roster that deserves our coaching staff’s respect, it’s certainly Montez Sweat. So…if you were to ask me if I like seeing Darnell Washington one-on-one blocking Montez Sweat in the play above, my answer would be a swift “absolutely not.” Mason McCormick isn’t even blocking anyone here. Neither is Connor Heyward. So, yeah - of course Montez Sweat got a strip sack out of it. That’s poor use of your personnel, for sure, and it’s ridiculous to ask #80 to do that.
I’m not done, though. Check out the route combination from the receivers. Arthur Smith/Mike Tomlin called this play, mind you. Calvin Austin III on a seam and DK Metcalf on a double move. Ideally, those two would be flip/flopped and running each other's routes. Ya know…setting your players up for success based on their strengths and what not? But it really doesn’t seem like the coaching staff views it that way. I’ve said this before, half jokingly, but like…seriously…I think this coaching staff expects all 53 guys to be able to do all things. Everything I’ve talked about in this post kinda supports that theory.
Vs. Buffalo
For what it’s worth, this play (above) is what sparked my research for this post. This play comes on 4th down & 2 in the 4th quarter against the Bills. The score is 23-7 at this point, so we need a touchdown and a two-point conversion, twice. Fat chance, I know, but the starters were in the game so the coaching staff was certainly still playing to win. Now, we understand that Spencer Anderson is an offensive tackle at the end of the day, right? Because, in this play, he’s lined up as a tight end, which he does all the time and I’m good with that. But, if we’re stacking TEs here, why wouldn’t you switch Jonnu Smith (#81) and Spencer Anderson (#74)? You’re choosing JONNU SMITH to block Greg Rousseau one-on-one over Spencer Anderson? On fourth down? Down by two scores? In what world, ever, and why? Obviously, Greg Rousseau makes light work of #81, and stuffs the run for -2 yards, forcing a turnover on downs. OH, and Kenneth Gainwell was the running back on the play, because, ya know…gotta make sure Jaylen Warren has fresh legs. When I was taking notes on this game, I wrote the word ‘DUMB’ all over the page that has notes on this play. It broke me.
It’s laughable how often these things come up with this coaching staff to be honest, and they’ve given us no reason to believe that it’s about to suddenly change down the stretch. These are not insignificant plays that I’m highlighting. These are game-changers. Back-breakers. That’s why I’m not too celebratory after this Ravens win last week. They still outgained us on the ground 217-34, and this post is littered with examples of the coaching staff’s stubbornness in their ways. The noise surrounding Coach Tomlin is only silent today, because we’re first place in the division. That’s great, and I’m going to keep rooting for wins, but this is not a staff that I have a lot of faith in moving forward, despite the immense amount of respect I have for each of them, individually.
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