Yellow is a prominent color when the Steelers play at Heinz Field, but there was way too much of it on the field on Sunday.
The Steelers were penalized a whopping 13 times for 125 yards during their loss to the Buccaneers and the flags ran the gamut from false starts to post-play personal fouls. There were plenty of other Pittsburgh miscues over the course of the afternoon, but the penalties were coach Mike Tomlin’s focus when he met the media to discuss how the Steelers lost a game they were leading with less than a minute left to play.
“They did what was necessary to win the game. But after a performance like that, I think it’s appropriate that we look within and look at what it is that we are doing,” Tomlin said, via the team. “The bottom line is that we are an undisciplined group. We are too highly penalized. Obviously, we are not coaching it. We are allowing it to happen. So I take responsibility for that. We are not going to win close football games being penalized in the manner in which we’ve been penalized over the first month of the season. It’s unacceptable. It’s inexcusable.”
The post-play penalties should be the easiest to wipe out. Wide receiver Antonio Brown was flagged for excessive celebration of a touchdown, running back Le’Veon Bell got penalized for taunting and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward was hit with unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing for a call the officials didn’t make against Tampa. The issues have existed throughout the month and the Steelers need to clean up their act if they are going to remain in contention for a playoff spot once the back end of the season arrives.