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Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin is catching heat for not using timeouts at the end of the first half during a matchup between the Bills and Steelers.
Rather than attempt to get his offense the ball back one last time before the break, Tomlin allowed Buffalo to run out the clock.
The decision is being criticized for a couple of different reasons.
The Steelers trailed by two touchdowns after a disastrous first half. In fact, Pittsburgh found itself down 21-0 midway through the second quarter thanks to a George Pickens fumble deep in Steeler territory and a Mason Rudolph interception in the endzone.
They’d cut into the deficit with a touchdown on their final possession of the half, but they could’ve had one more scoring chance had Mike Tomlin used his timeouts.
The Steelers’ lone first half touchdown was set up by a blocked field goal, and on that play, holder and starting punter Sam Martin appeared to pull his hamstring.
Sam Martin, the Bills punter and the holder, just pulled his hammy on that blocked FG. 😬pic.twitter.com/2f2RkypKMY
— John Ewing (@johnewing) January 15, 2024
On the next Buffalo drive, Josh Allen was sacked on first down to set up a 2nd and 17 with just under a minute on the clock. With all three timeouts remaining, Pittsburgh could’ve theoretically stopped the clock and forced the Bills to use a backup punter in less-than-ideal conditions.
Instead, Allen took a few knees to get to halftime.
Steelers fans were critical online.
“Mike Tomlin is taking his timeouts with him to heaven.”
“Mike Tomlin absolutely clueless. Use your timeouts and force a possible shank or blocked punt with the punter hurt.”
“Their punter is hurt, and we had (3) timeouts. Mike Tomlin outdid himself with game management there.”
“Three things are guaranteed in our lives: 1. Death 2. Taxes 3. Mike Tomlin not knowing how to utilize timeouts.”
Now, the Steelers likely would’ve gotten the ball back with minimal time on the clock, but given the fact that the Bills were down a punter and Pittsburgh had just pulled off a huge special teams play, at least trying to apply pressure could’ve proved beneficial.
You never know, a shank or another blocked kick might’ve resulted in the Steelers stealing a score.
Now, we’ll never know.