Nov 15, 2016 6 min read

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Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday he spoke with receiver Antonio Brown about running out of bounds on the team’s final play of Sunday’s 35-30 loss to Dallas instead of attempting to throw the ball back to the middle of the field in an effort to score.

“I give A.B. specific instructions in terms of how he’s to approach the return game week-to-week. Or even within game, situationally, to account for those circumstances in terms of what he needs to provide us and what the depth is behind him, or what the depth is not behind him. Whether it’s at wide receiver or at punt returner,” Tomlin said. “So there are a lot of variables in terms of some of those things. At the end of the game, I’d like to see us stay in bounds and fight and claw for every scratch, every yard, every blade of grass and any opportunity that we can have to win the game. That’s a different discussion than maybe some of the other discussions in terms of some of the plays in game.”

Brown said later in the night he didn’t recall that conversation and took umbrage with the coach’s insinuation that he wasn’t trying to win.

“In that situation, there was nowhere to go,” said Brown. “I’m running at full speed. We had one guy (in front of him) and three guys to the other side of the field. We lose a game and everyone finds a reason to say that one play was the reason we lost.

“What should I do, just fall down in bounds or get tackled in bounds?”

Brown had gotten the ball to the Dallas 20 on a 44-yard catch-and-run down the left sidelines. But the left-handed Brown never looked back to see if he had anyone behind him to which to get the ball.

Brown didn’t feel that was an option.

“It’s not like we had a lateral play or were running a play that would give us a chance to score,” he said. “In that situation, I was singularly focused on trying to get into the end zone.

“Even if I fall down in bounds, the game is over.”

@ The word of the day for Tomlin was “popcorn.”

Tomlin described the team’s issues this season with that term early in his press conference Tuesday following the team’s 35-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday that put Pittsburgh’s losing streak at four games.

What’s popcorn mean?

“A splattering of incidences, one here, one there, one there,” said Tomlin, gesturing to make his point.

In that regard, Tomlin must feel a little like the little Dutch Boy of Hans Brinker fame. He puts his finger in a hole in the dike in one spot and another immediately opens up.

Tuesday, the news was that the team has lost defensive end Cameron Heyward for the remainder of the season with a pectoral injury.

That’s a huge blow, indeed for a team struggling to battle its way through a myriad of issues.

The Steelers are 0-4 in the past two seasons when Heyward or fellow defensive end Stephon Tuitt have not played.

And we saw how the defense worked earlier this season when Heyward missed the first two games of his career with a hamstring injury. Pittsburgh allowed 362 rushing yards in losses at Miami and at home to New England.

Rookie nose tackle Javon Hargrave has played just over 40 percent of the team’s snaps this season. That number is going to go up considerably.

But he also needs to produce. In 214 defensive snaps, Hargrave has 12 tackles, no sacks and no quarterback pressures.

This from a player who had 37 sacks in college. Now, that was at South Carolina State, which nobody is going to confuse with Alabama anytime soon, but 37 sacks are 37 sacks, regardless of the level of play.

And, despite seeing flashes of Hargrave’s ability in training camp and the preseason, it hasn’t translated into the regular season.

It needs to now.

Tuitt has played 90 percent of the team’s defensive snaps this season. That’s not going to change. In fact, that might go up, as well.

But he can’t do it himself.

@ One of the big issues for the Steelers in losses to New England and Baltimore had been penalties. The team had 23 combined in those two games.

In the loss to the Cowboys, they had just four. But two came on Dallas’ final two touchdown drives and were of the 15-yard variety.

“The first one, on the second-to-last possession, we got a 15-yard hit on the sideline by Ross Cockrell, on their sideline. It was a good call,” said Tomlin. “We can’t do that. We did it. It was a 15-yard penalty. You know those 15-yard penalties aid score drives. Statistics tell us that. But we don’t need statistics. We’ve lived it in some instances this year. And then on the last drive, it was really a shame, because Sean Davis really was just hustling, trying to rake at the football, and keep the play in bounds, keep the clock running.”

@ The word “accountability” has been thrown around a lot among the Steelers players the past two weeks and have, of course, trickled into the media and fan base.

Of course, Tomlin is accountable for everything that goes on or does not go on with this team. To that point, Tomlin, who has used the term with his team in its meetings, hence the players’ free use of the word, feels that and an attention to detail – another term he’s preached to the team – are being addressed.

“You know, like I said, if I thought the incidents were running rampant, that obviously, you respond accordingly,” said Tomlin when asked specifically about benchings or the outright release of players. “It’s been popcorn. It’s a global thing. We’ve got to all continue to work, both players and coaches, at eliminating it. I’m open to doing whatever needs to be done in terms of making appropriate changes that change the outcome of this and games — and will.”