They call for the firing of coaches after one game and seemingly draw conclusions on the fly which are simply not viable. That’s why www.steelersfootballauthentics.com , as a writer covering the Steelers, I’ve tried to not overreact to one bad game. Instead, I react to trends and what I see after the game. Careful examination of the games as a whole reveals so much more than off-the-wall, reaction-based comments.Simply put, during the past few years, you could call me a Mike Tomlin apologist. I’ve been defending him on these very boards for the past two seasons, and even at the beginning of this season. Tomlin has a lot of desirable traits for an NFL head coach. The man won a Super Bowl and, no matter your opinion on whether he won it with Bill Cowher’s players, Tomlin was undoubtedly a great coach during the early portion of his tenure with the Steelers.Sign up for FanPulse, our weekly Steelers survey.However, as Tomlin began to breed his own culture, and make the team strictly his own, certain trends increasingly surfaced. The team would show up undisciplined in numerous games, they would play down to lesser competition, miscommunication would be glaring, and the locker room would resemble a drama-infested campground. All of this was fine as long as the Steelers won, and win they did until they reached the playoffs Pittsburgh Steelers T-Shirt , when those very characteristics would come back to haunt them. Now, after beginning the season with high expectations, the Steelers have faltered to a 1-2-1 record. I have to point out just how similar the start of this season is to that illustrious 2013 season, in which the Steelers started out 0-4 and stormed back to an 8-8 record — narrowly missing out on the postseason. It’s entirely possible the Steelers storm back and make the playoffs this season. If Ben Roethlisberger is “on,” this team can beat anyone. The issue is a perfect storm composed of Roethlisberger’s inconsistency, ineptitude in drafting, and developing, defensive talent, miscommunications, schematic shortcomings on both sides of the ball, and undisciplined penalties. At some point, this all comes back to Tomlin. He’s been the constant in all of these pervasive issues for far too long. I want to make something clear, Mike Tomlin is not a bad coach. He’s a decent coach who’s a fantastic leader of men. He gets his team to play for him when their backs are against the wall — just look at last week against the Buccaneers. In fact, I’m predicting the Steelers to win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5 simply because they’ll show up in emphatic fashion to crawl their way out of another hole. There’s no doubt that Tomlin can lead a locker room and be a good players coach.Yet, I have to ask how much tread remains on those tires? Tomlin looks increasingly like he might be done here in Pittsburgh. The tread on his tires is wearing thin and that happens to the best of them. He is absolutely in the top-half of coaches in the NFL, and he’ll find work quickly if the Steelers decide to let him go. But there comes a time and place when a fresh face is needed around a team. This even happened to the great Chuck Noll. Let’s not forget how Noll missed the playoffs six out of seven times at the end of his tenure, after which the Steelers had instant success with the hiring of Bill Cowher. You have to question now if it isn’t time to start looking around. The season is off to a dismal start but if things turn around Pittsburgh Steelers Hats , my tune might change dramatically. But Tomlin and his staff have to rebound. The problems aren’t limited to the ones I mentioned, but they point specifically to Tomlin. He has little-to-no clock management capabilities, poor in-game adjustments and questionable usage of challenges. Nevertheless, Tomlin is facing his greatest challenge in the coming weeks with his team. The AFC is weak, and he has a chance to get them back on track with two critical wins heading into the bye week. The second-half schedule is a tough one, but Mike Tomlin teams have accomplished some improbable things in the past down the stretch. The journey to redemption from the slow start must start to hit the ground running in Week 5. With that said, we cannot strictly blame Tomlin — we must blame his squadron of coaches as well. Keith Butler deserved to be fired after last season, but he certainly won’t be brought back if this defense continues to perform as it has. Joey Porter apparently cannot develop a pass rusher at all, and he too deserves to be fired. Randy Fichtner has come out with a rather disappointing start, but we obviously have to give him more time.Thus, the question must be asked — is Tomlin the issue? Or is it the coaches he’s surrounded himself with? Tom Bradley, Karl Dunbar, and Darryl Drake must show to be at least competent hires. So, am I on the fire-Tomlin train yet? Absolutely not, but it’s time for that seat to start getting hot. Tough times may not last forever, but Tomlin has to show his team is considerably improved during the next two weeks.Steelers Nation is watching Mr. Tomlin — prove us all wrong and show us you’re still the man for the job.Week 1 of 2018 set a new NFL record for penalties in a week The NFL managed to set a record for the number of accepted penalties during Week 1 of the season. To make matters worse, the record was already set before the Monday night games kicked off. When the Sunday games concluded Pittsburgh Steelers Womens Hoodie , there were already 226 accepted penalties in Week 1. Add another 29 on Monday night, and the grand total of 255 accepted penalties set a new standard for penalties during Week 1 in the NFL. The previous record over the last 10 years was 222 in 2014.Just to clarify, accepted penalties are deemed as any penalty that’s enforced. Offsetting or declined penalties are not included in this total. Not only was there a new total for the first time in at least a decade, every Week-1 game had double-digit penalties — a first as well. There were almost 16 penalties on average per game for the week.To put the number of penalties that fans had to endure this past week in more perspective, there has only been one week in the last 10 years where more penalties were enforced. In Week 2 of 2015, an outlandish 298 penalties were accepted/enforced league-wide (357 were called). Week 1 of 2018 now sits second. There were five games in particular where the penalties really mounted up. Those games were:Atlanta at Philadelphia: 26Pittsburgh at Cleveland: 23Buffalo at Baltimore: 19Dallas at Carolina: 19Oakland at LA Rams: 19Of the penalties called, 76 of them (30%) were pre-snap penalties, such as false-start, illegal formation, encroachment, etc. The top penalties throughout the league were:Offensive holding: 53False start: 42Defensive holding: 17Defensive pass interference: 17It’s hard to determine whether the increase in penalties was due to officiating or sloppy play. There are several new officials in the league this year which could be a factor. Additionally, starters are playing less and less in the preseason which leads to mental mistakes early on. Regardless, it becomes increasingly difficult to watch a game when the number of accepted penalties is approaching the twenties.One thing to remember is that, since 2015, the average penalties-per-game for Week 1 was actually less than the season average. If that’s the case, we’re in for some rough watching this season.
