Mike Tomlin On Cortez Allen: 'I Would Imagine That Baltimore Will Work To Attack Him'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - Head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged, during his news conference on Tuesday, he still has areas he wants to improve as the Steelers host Baltimore for a key AFC North game Sunday night.
Even with the 17-point win on Sunday, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck threw for 400 yards and Indy had six plays of 27 yards or more. Tomlin said they must reduce the "chuck plays" allowed, some of that by Cortez Allen who was eventually benched.
"I not only reiterated that to Cortez after the game, but I reiterated that to him within the game that I was doing what I felt was necessary for us to win the football game," Tomlin said. "But it has no bearing on what I think he is capable of [in the present] or in the long term. He has to lick his wounds, roll up his sleeves and come back to work this week."
"We'll watch him close and expect him to do it and answer the bell with what comes with putting bad stuff on tape. I would imagine that Baltimore will work to attack him and he better work to defend himself. Such is life in the NFL. Such is life at the cornerback position."
Tomlin said Allen, who had just signed a five-year $26 million deal, has to finish the opportunities he has and he will lean on veteran Ike Taylor to be a leader for Allen as Tomlin said Taylor has been through everything in his career.
Special Teams
A spark is needed in the return game according to Tomlin, as the Steelers currently rank 31st in the NFL in kickoff returns and just a tenth of a yard out of last place. Punt returns are better, but in the bottom half of the league.
"I tell our punt return team all the time that they don't have to block them or block them long, just give A.B. (Antonio Brown) a crease and that's kind of my mentality," Tomlin said. "So whenever we're lacking in the return game I look first at the returner and then those that are blocking for him. That's why we took the course of action that we took last week. (We) didn't get the type of results that we were looking for so we'll look back at it with a larger scope potentially this week."
No More Aggressive
To most of the fans and media, it sure appeared that the Steelers were more aggressive on offense and defense against the Colts, but Tomlin disputes that notion. "The result could appear that we were more aggressive, but I just think that we worked extremely efficiently and the result was different than normal," Tomlin said.
"We possessed the ball, won possession downs, were over 50 percent on 3rd down conversions, we won five of six red zone possessions. The only time we were stopped was when we turned the football over. When you do that, you're going to put up big numbers and maintain possession of the football and maybe have the appearance that you were more aggressive or more wide-open than normal when really we just did what we normally did, we just did it extremely well."
Steelers Have four-pack of Inside Linebackers
Steelers middle linebackers combined for 15 tackles against the Colts as Tomlin said they will continue to rotate at that position.
"The bottom line is through adversity, injury and the draft we have four inside linebackers that are very capable men," Tomlin said. "We're going to continue to use combinations of those three guys along with Lawrence to meet our situational needs. That may change during the course of football games, it may change week to week. We are just acknowledging that Ryan Shazier, Sean Spence and Vince Williams are all capable inside linebackers and we are going to use all of them."
"He's one of the best in the World at what he does"
Receiver Antonio Brown leads the NFL in receptions with 60, 2nd in yards with 852 and fourth in touchdowns with seven. Plus Brown has a streak of 24-straight games with at least five receptions and 50 yards.
"He's one of the best in the world at what he does," Tomlin said. "(Antonio) is physically and mentally on top of his game, and when you have somebody who's playing like that, you step into a stadium and he's a known issue but still he performs. We say similar things about guys like J.J. Watt. We knew what he was capable of when we were getting ready to play the Houston Texans, but it still doesn't stop the storm from coming. Antonio is playing at that type of a level from a wide receiver standpoint, a J.J. Watt discussion kind of a level. I'm glad that he's on our team."
Injuries
Marcus Gilbert has gone through the concussion protocol and will practice tomorrow as Tomlin said he will get his job back as the starting right tackle. Tomlin did praise the work Mike Adams did against the Colts. Sharmarko Thomas is expected back from his hamstring injury as Ross Ventrone is out after suffering a hamstring injury against Indy.
Steve McLendon "has a big-time opportunity this week to come back" according to Tomlin. The starting nose tackle has been out since the Cleveland game earlier this month with a shoulder injury. Ike Taylor continues to work his way back with no timetable given for his return."
You May Also Be Interested In These Latest Stories From The Fan
Like The Fan On Facebook
Follow The Fan On Twitter
