Steelers’ Mike Tomlin Explains Why He Benched Broderick Jones

While Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was pleased with his team’s winning effort against the Denver Broncos in Week 2, he made it clear that they can’t continue to play an undisciplined brand of football moving forward.

During his postgame press conference, Tomlin stated that the Steelers’ offense in particular cannot keep committing penalties due to their detrimental nature in terms of building up drives and putting up points on the board.

“You can’t produce or sustain drives being penalized the way that we were, so we’ve got some work ahead of us there, among other things” Tomlin said. “Just from a knee jerk reaction standpoint though, that was the most troublesome component of the game.”

Pittsburgh committed nine accepted infractions for a total of 78 yards in its 13-6 victory over Denver, six of which came on the offensive end and wiped out several chunk plays that otherwise may have changed the outlook of the game.

For example, Van Jefferson was called for a pick play and tagged with an offensive pass interference in the end zone with seconds remaining in the first half, which negated a George Pickens touchdown.

Broderick Jones played just 11 snaps at right tackle all game, yet was hit with three penalties on a single drive. The most consequential of those calls came when he held Jonathan Cooper as Justin Fields rolled to his right and hit Pickens for a 51-yard catch down the sideline, which was brought back as a result.

Jones was already on his way to Tomlin’s doghouse before his lack of awareness was on full display in Denver, as rookie first-round pick Troy Fautanu seemingly usurped him for the starting right tackle job his return from an MCL sprain.

Still, Jones was set to rotate with Fautanu on Sunday and could’ve used that opportunity to show why he was a first-round pick a year ago. Instead, his propensity for committing penalties may have cost him in the long run.

When asked if he pulled Jones due to his lack of discipline, Tomlin provided an answer that offered all of the necessary insight without saying too much.

“You got it,” Tomlin exclaimed.

Make sure you bookmark Steelers OnSI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more