Tomlin Cites Injuries As Reason For Defense Wilting Against Cowboys

In the Pittsburgh Steelers first home game, they wore down the Los Angeles Chargers’ defense, chewing up the final five minutes to victory. In their second home game, they got a dose of their own medicine. Worn down by injuries to multiple outside linebackers, the Dallas Cowboys marched on 15 an 16 play touchdown drives in the second half, including the game-winning score on a long trek towards the Steelers’ goal line.

Explaining why the Steelers’ normally stout defense faltered, Mike Tomlin said injuries and attrition played roles.

“We allocated seven to coverage, which meant we had to do it with a four-man rush,” Tomlin told Bob Pompeani during his weekly Mike Tomlin Show. “And then the second half of the game as the attrition set in and we lost some of our capable rushers, that got compromised. And that’s probably got more to do with it than anything else.”

Pittsburgh came into the game without Alex Highsmith, sitting out after aggravating a camp groin injury against the Chargers. They lost Nick Herbig late in the third quarter, a massive blow to the team’s rush. Herbig was having success all game, whooping on rookie LT Tyler Guyton before Guyton left with an injury. Even on Herbig’s final play, he pressured and hit QB Dak Prescott. Per our charting, Herbig had five pressures and a half-sack on just 28 pass rush attempts, an incredibly efficient rate.

Backup DeMarvin Leal went down with a neck injury in the fourth quarter, leaving the team with only T.J. Watt and Jeremiah Moon as the Steelers last two healthy true EDGE rushers. Watt was taken away by the Cowboys’ protection while Moon was playing his first game of the season, out the first month due to an ankle injury. They were forced to play every snap of the Cowboys’ 15-play final drive. Even with the benefit of timeouts, it’s clear they were worn down as the Cowboys converted two third downs and the fourth-down game-winner.

Tomlin also cited a need to drop into coverage as one reason why the Steelers didn’t blitz to compensate for their injuries.

“We needed seven to allocate toward coverage and the effort to minimize the likes of CeeDee Lamb and so forth. They were playing him a lot inside and he would have one-on-one matchups with a guy like [Beanie Bishop].”

Bishop was overmatched in the game and had his worst performance of the season. From a production viewpoint, Lamb wasn’t much of a factor on the drive, but his presence impacted how the Steelers felt they could play. And they lacked the juice to get home with their front four, a blueprint that’s worked throughout the season.

With Highsmith, Herbig, and Leal out, the Steelers will have to consider a different strategy Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. With WR Davante Adams out, the Raiders lack the wide receiver threat the Cowboys do. There is TE Brock Bowers but that would never be a Bishop-type of matchup. It should allow Pittsburgh to be more aggressive and blitz more often than they have.

Ideally, this game isn’t close enough for final-drive attrition to even be a factor. But given that four of the Steelers’ five games this season have been decided by one-score, the defense will probably be counted on to win late.