By Eric Adelson
https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-mess-might-hot-mike-tomlin-control-matters-063817954.html
September 25, 2018
Bud Dupree returns an interception for a touchdown in Monday night's 30-27 win in Tampa (AP)
TAMPA, Fla. – Urban Dictionary defines “hot mess” as “When one’s thoughts or appearance are in a state of disarray but they maintain an undeniable attractiveness or beauty.”
By that measure, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the hottest of messes. They always make you watch and they always make you wince. There is beauty and bumbling in just about every quarter, and there was plenty of both in the team’s first win of the season, 30-27, here on Monday against the Buccaneers. It was vintage Mike Tomlin, where you walk away wondering, “That’s a fun team … but is it a great team?”
They couldn’t even land the team plane here without drama, having to abort to nearby St. Petersburg on Sunday because of thunderstorms. Some of the players plotted a cockpit takeover, joked linebacker Bud Dupree. “I thought we were kidnapped,” he said after the game.
On Monday night, the game started with turbulence: a Steelers penalty. On the opening kickoff.
How does that happen?
Then the defense gave up a touchdown. And then came a stiff-arm that will go down in football folklore, with tight end Vance McDonald receiving a Ben Roethlisberger pass and then delivering a meme-tacular blow to Bucs safety Chris Conte.
“Just punish him,” was McDonald’s mindset. “Inflict as much force on him as possible.”
Asked if there was a certain body part he was aiming for on the stiff-arm, McDonald said, “Yeah. His temple. To just crush him.”
McDonald raced to the end zone as Conte crumpled to the ground. Defensive lineman Cam Heyward, standing on the sideline, extended an arm toward Conte as if pointing a bow and arrow. “Dude got owned,” Heyward said after the game. It changed the entire vibe – a literal TKO in the first round.
The Steelers made three picks, including a pick-six, and went ahead 30-10 late in the second quarter. That should have been it. But that’s never it when it’s the Steelers. The Black and Yellow almost blew it, giving up 17 unanswered points and nearly the game. The whole affair could have ended differently had the refs not ruled Bucs receiver Chris Godwin down on what looked to be a touchdown early in the third quarter. The Steelers didn’t make sure, so Godwin stood up and bolted for the red painted rectangle. Then there was a DeSean Jackson punt return for a touchdown that was nullified because of a holding call. Pittsburgh gave up three touchdown passes overall and 411 passing yards.
“We need to do better at putting it away,” Roethlisberger said, in a classic understatement.
This is a veteran team and there always seems to be some rookie hijinx.
“Guys have got to make those one-on-one plays, those 50-50 plays,” Tomlin said. “We didn’t make enough of them. They made too many, and I just thought it didn’t reflect the overall performance when you’re giving up chunks like that.”
All of the credit and blame lands at Tomlin’s feet. He is now 13-2 on “Monday Night Football,” and when the lights shine brightest, his teams always steal the show. There’s Antonio Brown with a black sweatshirt with “$1.28 million” embroidered on the chest – a nod to his rookie contract. There’s Roethlisberger apologizing at his postgame news conference to Brown for “showing too much emotion” on a third-down incompletion late in the game to the wideout, an error that made Big Ben slam his helmet on the sideline in frustration. (Brown grinned and said it was no big deal.) There’s linebacker Vince Williams running off the field after the game shouting “Fitz-Tragic! Fitz-Tragic!”
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