Offense's 'process of growth' was evident in game-winning drive

Regardless of whether or not the Steelers make the playoffs, they still have something to play for.

The development of a young offense has been one of the focal points of the 2022 Steelers, and its improvement is critical for the franchise moving forward.

Saturday night's game-winning drive in the 13-10 victory over the Raiders is the latest shred of evidence for the offense's growth.

"When you're in those weighty moments and you're looking around at people, you like to feel their presence," Mike Tomlin said of the offense Tuesday morning at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "In a lot of instances, I did. I didn't see big eyes. I saw sure eyes. I saw guys that understood what was at stake and guys that looked prepared to go do it. Now, you gotta go do it, but I liked the feel of the group leading up to it."

Want a closer look at how Tomlin got a feel for his group leading up to that drive? NFL Films captured it:

Is that beautiful for what? That is a "grow-up moment," and Tomlin had his finger on the very pulse of it.

There has been evidence of some growing up th. Kenny Pickett's 145 consecutive passes without an interception and the running game averaging 138.9 yards on the ground since the bye week are part of that evidence.

But there are a lot of young players in critical roles on this offense. Pickett and George Pickens are rookies. Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth are in their second year. And they're the ones who stepped up for the Steelers in that game-winning drive.

Pickett went 7 for 9 for 75 yards and converted a fourth and 1 on a quarterback sneak. Harris caught three of those passes for 30 yards, including a 19-yarder in which he carried half the Raiders defense on his back. Freiermuth caught three passes for 31 yards, with two of those receptions converting first downs. Pickens' lone catch provided the game-winning touchdown with :46 left on the clock.

I'd be remiss to not mention rookie Connor Heyward rattling off a 21-yard run to seal the game after the defense picked off Derek Carr for the third and final time.

When rookies and second-year players are relied on to be the main producers on offense, there will be inconsistencies. It's inevitable. That's one of the reasons the offense has been hit and miss all year long, and one of the reasons they've converted only 53.3% of their red zone trips into touchdowns.

That same inconsistency reared its ugly head Saturday night. As Tomlin said Tuesday, "We left points out there." The offense simply couldn't finish drives. That's been a problem all season long.

"We can't run away from that. We can't act like those realities don't exist," Tomlin said. "But I've been pretty consistent in my messaging. I acknowledged that in a lot of ways those individuals and that collective is in the process of growth. But while doing so, I'll continue to acknowledge that they're good enough to win while doing so. And we don't grade on the curve in terms of what we expect in terms of the outcome of games."

That's why it's encouraging that when their backs were against the wall, they found a way to get the job done. That will always please Tomlin. As long as his team does enough to secure victory, that's all he cares about.

Finding guys who are figuring that out in the early stages of their respective careers is worth the push for more wins, even if it doesn't result in a playoff spot this season.

"That's why we work every day," Tomlin said. "We're really intentional about the environment that we create. It's reasonable to expect guys to get better. Very reasonable."

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• Obviously, Pickett's execution and confidence was essential for that game-winning drive. That came as little surprise to Tomlin, who further elaborated Tuesday on his rookie quarterback's clutch factor.

"I imagine he was born with it. I know that it's not the first time I've seen it. I know it's not the first time that people from Western PA have seen it. We've seen him do it next door," Tomlin said. "I think that's why we have such a great deal of comfort in his intangible quality and from a draft-evaluation perspective. We were in close proximity to it. And when you're in close proximity to it, it becomes less intangible. You can almost feel it. It is real. I don't think any of us are surprised by it."

• The upcoming game against the Ravens was flexed to Sunday Night Football. No surprise here that Tomlin is a fan of the move.

"When I got the call the other night that the game was flexed, man, I didn't hate that. I love that," Tomlin said. "If your games are not getting flexed this time of year, you're not doing it right. You're not in significant ones. We don't run from that; we run to that. Although we do respect their environment and the hostility of that environment on Sunday Night Football, we're not going to hate the fact that we're there. We're going to embrace that and smile in the face of the adversity that those variables create."

• It wouldn't be a Tomlin press conference in preparation for the Ravens without calling them a "great dance partner." But now he referred to John Harbaugh as one too. That was the "classic Tomlin" moment of the day.

• Of course, this matchup with the Ravens has serious implications on the Steelers' season. Pittsburgh must win out to have a chance to let all the other stuff play out for them to sneak in as the No. 7 seed once again.

However, this matchup with Baltimore comes only three weeks after the first matchup. As far as taking anything away from the previous game, Tomlin expects the dynamic of this game to be different.

"I've been in this League long enough to know that you could roll two teams out on back-to-back days and the game could unfold differently," Tomlin said. "Although we did play them a couple of weeks ago and there's some things to be gleaned from that, I don't think either party is hanging their hat on how that transpired or that component of it. 

"I just think that, particularly in today's scheduling, it happens every year, particularly backloaded divisional games. We’re playing one of these divisional teams in a two or three week span it seems like just about every December or so. So, I don't think it's new to us. I don't think it's new to any of us in the NFL, but I think we all acknowledge that the texture of one game doesn’t necessarily dictate the texture of another."

• One thing to be taken from the previous matchup is the 215 yards the Steelers' allowed on the ground. Believe it or not, that game has been more of an outlier than a symptom of a greater problem.

Overall, the Steelers are allowing 105.6 rushing yards per game this season, the sixth-lowest in the NFL. In the two games since that poor performance against the Ravens, the Steelers have given up just 79 yards on 35 carries, an average of 2.3 yards per carry.

"I don't know that was a fork in the road for our run defense," Tomlin said. "More than anything, I thought we had a bad day. I think our run defense has been really solid over the second half of the year. It wasn't reflected in our play that day. There's nothing we can do about that. That tape is in the can."

• Before the Steelers even take the field Sunday night, they could already be eliminated from the playoffs. It's tempting to watch the scoreboard, but Tomlin shared a similar sentiment that his players did on Monday regarding all the different scenarios that have to play out in order to qualify for the playoffs.

"We're going to focus on the things in our control, and that's our preparation, and then what we do inside the stadium on Sunday night," Tomlin said. "We acknowledge all those scenarios and things exist. But all of those scenarios and things have existed since September 11, since we started the season. Every time you step on the field, there's high urgency. You get 17 opportunities to state a case for yourself. We have lived in that urgency, we understand it. So, we're not going to waste any time talking about it. We didn't waste any time talking about it in September. We're going to stay focused on preparing and then ultimately playing this game."

• On the injury front, Tomlin confirmed that Marcus Allen had surgery to repair his bicep injury. In addition, Tre Norwood (hamstring) and Myles Jack (groin) are still dealing with their existing injuries. Jack was active last week, but he's been hampered by lower-body injuries for the second half of the season. Even when he's playing, it's significantly less than 100 percent.

• In some good news, Tomlin said he expects Terrell Edmunds (hamstring) to be available this week. Edmunds missed Saturday night's game due to his hamstring injury, and participation in practice this week will be critical for him. However, Tomlin being that optimistic to start the week is a good sign the Steelers will have their three main safeties back in the fold.

• Tomlin's press conference took place an hour earlier today than normal. Most likely, it's to give Tomlin and anyone else in the organization time to go pay their respects to Franco Harris, whose public viewing took place Tuesday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium.