Kovacevic: If Tomlin can't/won't address this offense, in word or deed, then his job should be in legit jeopardy

CLEVELAND -- Kenny Pickett's a concern, bordering on a crisis.

He's regressing with each week that goes by. From Pitt golden boy to fourth-quarter magician to this-isn't-cute-or-cuddly-anymore to what had to be considered his NFL bottoming out, a putrid 15-of-28, 106-yard passing output in the Steelers' 13-10 loss Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium ... the slide's starting to seem unstoppable.

Matt Canada’s a clueless catastrophe.

He should’ve been fired years ago. He’s instead been allowed to squat on the South Side all this time and fester long enough to become an NFL-wide punchline. His offense on this day squeezed out all of 249 yards, this despite Jaylen Warren amassing 74 of those on a single sprint, and his playcalling/instruction again failed to show coherence or communication, imagination or intelligence.

Unless anyone cares to describe what the hell this might've been:

I don't care if the receivers were supposed to block. I don't care if they just blanked out. I do care that it's the third week of November, and a muddle like that shouldn't survive minicamp.

Najee Harris has now added a mega-dose of controversy.

His comments after this game, openly critical of how the offense has been run, are the stuff of outright scandal. Not because he was wrong to speak them, but because they're accurate and because they emanated from one of the roster's more respected voices. When he acknowledges in front of cameras and microphones, this after a cautious pause of a full seven seconds, that opposing defenses often appear to know what's coming -- "Yeah, in some situations, to be honest with you" -- and when Harris asks when action's going to be taken on the offense -- "Is it fixable? Yeah, it’s fixable. Are we gonna fix it?" -- that's a deep, deep cut into the curtain that's supposed to shield any football team's culture.

In essence, it's a plea for help.

And to date, it's gone very much unheeded.

Let me state this, my friends, in the most tiptoe-free terms possible: There’s no reason Mike Tomlin‘s job shouldn’t be in jeopardy as a result of all of the above. And doubly so if he continues to downplay and even dismiss, both in word and deed, the most embarrassing passing offense most of us living Pittsburghers have ever seen.

Stop right here. Read no further. Press play:

Those were all seven of the passes Pickett threw beyond the sticks on this afternoon. And all one of such passes that he threw in the first half.

Listen, I can rattle off a stream of stats to support that both Pickett and the offense were abysmal. But that'd miss the broader point that ... man, this isn't exactly some out-of-nowhere development, and everyone should be well past the point of analyzing this stuff in the micro.

Get this: Of the 315 quarterbacks with 500-plus pass attempts since NFL-AFL merger in 1970, exactly one of them has thrown a touchdown pass on fewer than 2% of his total attempts. And that'd be one Kenneth Shane Pickett.

And to that, the head coach of this operation seems genuinely content to have adopted the following approach:

1. Keep games low-scoring via defense
2. Don't turn the ball over
3. Hope for something happy at the end! Yay!

By way of deed, that's meant almost never throwing to the middle, almost never taking deep shots and, above all else in weighing the overall impact, keeping Canada employed. Presumably because any worthwhile coordinator would tell him where to stick such an approach, whereas Canada won't land another job in the NFL without showing up for the interview with a mop and bucket.

By way of word ... let's just say Tomlin was showing that side of his stance on the offense time and again after this one.

These were real questions, real answers from the postgame press conference here:

Q: When you got the ball back with 1:42, was there any thought to run the ball? What was the thought process?

A: "Move down the field and put ourselves in field goal position. When you’re unsuccessful, there’s a lot of latitude in terms of judgment, play selection, et cetera. We stand by what we did.”

Wait, seriously? Stand by it?

To rewind: The Steelers took over at their 30-yard line with 1:42 left. The score was 10-10. They've got one of the planet's premier kickers. And they hadn't been able to achieve a blessed thing through the air, whereas Warren and Harris had been wearing down the Browns all day.

So they, uh, threw. All three times. All incomplete. All consuming a whopping 14 seconds off the clock, thus affording the Browns' offense ample time to boomerang back and boot their own winning field goal.

But because Tomlin states in an authoritative tone that the Steelers "stand by what we did," that's supposed to suffice?

Let's proceed ...

Q: What do you have to do to get your offense going?

A: "They have a really good defense. They make a lot of offenses look like that. Coupled with their venue, we have to give them some credit. We knew their reputation in Week 2. Maybe the rest of the National Football League didn’t. It’s kind of been confirmed in the weeks after that and, obviously, they were really good today."

The Browns' venue? The same bland bowl of drunken, dog-eared barkers over which Ben Roethlisberger ruled like a ruthless headmaster for two decades?

Gah!

And not to be missed, Tomlin didn't answer the question. But hey, kudos to the Steelers' advance scouts for acing that a division rival would be stout defensively.

Q: Is Kenny missing some confidence right now?

A: "No."

This one was from me. I get lots of one-word answers from him, maybe because I’m annoying enough to ask questions about his offense. Tried it three times in a row in Las Vegas, shot down each time.

Reassuring to know, though, that Kenny's really feelin' it out there, you guys.

Q: What do you see with Kenny that just doesn’t seem to be clicking?

A: "I think the Cleveland Browns had a lot to do with that. I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t compliment them on their players, their schematics, how they played today. The venue component, from an offensive perspective. There’s a lot of things that were challenging today."

Uh-huh. There's that scary venue again.

Q: On some of the missed throws from Kenny, was that a matter of miscommunication with the receiver?

A: "I don’t know specifically what throws you’re talking about. I’ll let him speak for himself."

What throws? How about half of them? Or how about just the three in which he and Diontae Johnson were more crossed up than a Swahili edition of Wordle? Or even just the one below that occurred with THE GAME ON THE LINE?

Nope. Offense is like 'Fight Club.' Can't talk about offense.

Q: Kenny was under pressure a lot. You expect that from their pass rush, but why else?

A: "Particularly environmentally."

It's the venue yet again. Because it makes perfect sense that the head coach would see his starting quarterback as being squeamish in a stadium setting ... without advising that quarterback to pursue other life interests. Since, you know, it's something of a prerequisite. And, in this specific case, it's never shown to be an issue for Pickett at any level of football.

Oh, and wasn't Kenny still feeling confident?

Q: You’re crediting the Browns' defense for today, but the passing game has had trouble getting going for the last month. What do you think needs to change?

A: "I don’t know if you could describe it as having a tough time getting going. Maybe we've just run it really effectively for the last few weeks."

Good Lord. I can't with this one. I just can't.

Q: Do you think you should have gotten Jaylen more than nine carries?

A: "I don’t. When you’re unsuccessful, you can look back and make a lot of those types of judgments. We don’t live like that. We don’t live in our fears. We don’t second-guess. We live. I stand by whatever decisions or play selections or ball distributions we had today."

Again, what does that even mean? To stand by stupidity -- and sorry, that's what this subject entailed, as I'll spell out in a moment -- is twice as stupid. And hollow as can be.

This was Warren's 74-yarder:

Here were two others:

I could watch that last one a hundred times, if I haven't already. Dude's becoming a star ... despite Canada ... despite Tomlin.

How, how, how does any coach, regardless of resume, witness all that Warren's doing these days and relegate him to nine carries? And how does Warren get only three other touches, even though one of those catches was a 14-yarder? And how does Warren get benched after his touchdown for the next two three-and-outs? And how, by all that's holy, does Warren carry the team down the field on a fourth-quarter drive, only to give way to Harris once inside the 20 ... only for the Steelers to settle for a field goal?

No semblance of accountability. Not so much as a suggestion. And, as God is my witness -- and I wasn't alone in this -- he seemed almost ... perky? ... upbeat? ... upon entering the press area and throughout the session. Not sure I'd ever gotten that vibe from him following a loss.

What does one even say about this?

I mean, I'd say that Tomlin himself is as stupid as some of these actions, except that he isn't. At all.

Or I'd say that Tomlin's issues are principally about his stubbornness, except that it wouldn't explain other messes on the field -- twice burning timeouts for 12 men on the field for his defense, six penalty flags to the Browns' one, players plainly out of position or unaware of assignments -- and now, obviously, there are messes off the field, as well.

Give Harris credit: He hasn't had much of a season running the football, but he's never conceded anything in any capacity. He's passionate about the game, about the team. And for the same kid who'd been going to bat for Canada -- publicly, anyway -- to now pipe up about what everyone everywhere can see, that takes mega-stones in this setting.

Tomlin needs to fix this. It's his locker room, not the players', at least per his own precedent. And it won't come by simply raising his tone. He'll need to listen to what Harris and the players have to say. All of them, including Johnson, who seemed to have a brief spat with Tomlin on the sideline in this game. (After which, uncharacteristically, Diontae declined to speak with reporters.) And if there are sensible changes to be made, then make them. Beginning with rocketing Canada into orbit. Now, not in the offseason.

Tomlin also needs to preside over the offense, however distracting or even distasteful he might find that facet of football. If he wants to be the defensive coordinator -- eh, he already is, so let me rephrase -- if he wants to be only the defensive coordinator, then he should step down and let someone else run the entire football operation. This never should've come down to Tomlin being called out, albeit indirectly, for not having lifted a figurative finger toward addressing the offense, and it ought to be embarrassing to the man that it did.

Also and relevant, does anyone really need to call the attention of Art Rooney II to all this?

If so, why?

GETTY

Kevin Stefanski and Mike Tomlin shake hands after the Browns' victory Sunday in Cleveland.

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THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Steelers: S Elijah Riley sustained a high ankle sprain in the third quarter and didn't return.

• Browns: LB Anthony Walker Jr. (hamstring) left in the second quarter and didn't return. ... S Rodney McLeod (biceps) was hurt when Warren stiff-armed him in the third quarter and didn't return.

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