The hallmark of the Pittsburgh Steelers has always been a tough, hard-nosed defense. That unit was on full display in an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Their stifling run defense and never-ending pass rush ruined Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins’ debut in Atlanta, while Steelers kicker Chris “The Wizard of Boz” Boswell kicked Pittsburgh to a win.
There was, however, one major area of emphasis that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says his team must address.
“There were some things that obviously need to be improved,” Tomlin said. “You know, low-hanging fruit is the penalties. I thought penalties were catastrophic to our efforts. We had some big plays and field-flipping scenarios negated by penalty. So, we got to grow there and we’ll put our focus appropriately there, in improving those areas.”
The NFL admitted on Monday that two of those penalties were the wrong call. Late in the second quarter, Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt perfectly timed the snap count, whipped around the right tackle, got a strip-sack, and recovered the fumble.