Nov 11, 2016 4 min read

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Mike Tomlin gets a lot of criticism as the Steelers head coach, some warranted, some not.

Sunday’s game plan in Baltimore was derserving of the criticism. The Steelers are built to attack downfield on offense. So the Steelers went with a run-heavy attack against the offensively challenged Ravens.

Yes, they wanted to protect quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But the game plan would have been the same had Landry Jones started.

And that’s just plain wrong.

That was my initial thinking coming out of that game.

Watching it again, I realized the Steelers had tried to change things up starting the second half.

They went no-huddle on their initial series of the third quarter. Roethlisberger missed Sammie Coates deep on third-and-five to go three-and-out on the first series.

On their second series, we’ll never know of that was the plan because Roethlisberger had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage that was intercepted.

And he then missed Antonio Brown on third-and-12 on a no-huddle pass on their third series.

The Steelers tried to change things up. Roethlisberger just wasn’t making it happen to that point.

And that, my friends, is where the criticism for last Sunday’s debacle should lie – on the shoulders of two units that are taking up some $47 million of cap space this season. The quarterback wasn’t very good and hasn’t been good on the road in any of the team’s last three road games. And the offensive line allowed itself to get pushed around in the run game.

The good news for the Steelers is that they’re at home Sunday against Dallas.

While Roethlisberger’s passer rating on the road is 74.2 – and that includes a good game in the opener against Washington – his rating at home is 122.2.

This isn’t something new. It’s been a trend for Roethlisberger for quite some time. At home, he’s a potential MVP candidate. On the road, he looks like the latest quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers have to figure out how to change that trend if they want to turn this season around. But there’s hope.

In each of the previous three seasons, the Steelers have gone 6-2 in the second half. They’ve done so six times in Tomlin’s nine seasons.

Each year, we hear about how Tomlin has “lost this team,” and other such bunk. And yet, that never seems to be the case.

If the Steelers are going to go 6-2 in the second half this season, they’ll need to start with a win against Dallas.

In each of the past three seasons, they’ve started the second half of the season with a win.

In 2015, after consecutive losses to Kansas City and Cincinnati, they bounced back with a 38-35 win over Oakland.

In 2014, they came off of wins against Houston and Indianapolis to whip the Ravens, 43-23. That also was, coincidentally, their last win over the Ravens.

And in 2013, they came off back-to-back losses to Oakland and New England to beat the Bills, 23-10.

Oddsmakers obviously feel that will be the case again this year. They have made the Steelers the favorite in this game, now by two points.

The Steelers will have a tough time stopping Dallas’ rushing attack. It hasn’t been held under 100 yards this season and hasn’t been under 168 yards in any of its past six games.

But the Steelers also will have plenty of success offensively as well. Dallas’ running game, which helps the Cowboys control the clock, also protects what is an average defense.

Roethlisberger and company should have plenty of success against an average defense at home, where he has thrown 12 touchdown passes against two interceptions in three games.

The Steelers also will get an opportunity to show off a new toy in their offense this week as Ladarius Green is expected to be activated on Saturday. Dallas, as I noted earlier in the week, has allowed 47 completions of 53 pass attempts that have targeted tight ends this season. That 89 percent completion percentage vs. the tight end is the worst in the league.

If this game were being played in Dallas or even at a neutral site, I’d pick the Cowboys. But it’s not.

The Cowboys will score enough to keep this close, but I think the Steelers pull it out in a circle-the-wagons game, 27-24.