Despite the infamous two-point failures in a five-point loss to Dallas a week earlier, Mike Tomlin remained aggressive both on and off the field in Cleveland on Sunday, and he picked it right back up at home Monday.
Tomlin, who questioned referee Brad Allen's crew for "bad calls, or no calls right after the game," stood by those comments a day later. He also repeated a call for the NFL to hire full-time officials rather than employ them on a part-time basis, as they have done for decades.
"You know, I was just kind of disturbed by some of it," Tomlin said of Sunday's officiating during his weekly news conference, moved one day ahead because of the Steelers' Thanksgiving night game in Indianapolis.
"It's a natural human response. I know those guys got a tough job; I respect the job that they have to do. But we got tough jobs as well. ... I'm not trying to turn this into a global officiating discussion. I said what I said yesterday and I meant it and I'm moving on."
He did not cite specifics, except one in which officials called a personal foul on Lawrence Timmons, ruling he illegally hit Browns rookie quarterback Cody Kessler, knocking him from the game with a concussion. Timmons said he never touched Kessler, who was tackled by Ryan Shazier. Tomlin agreed.
"He missed him," the coach said. "I disagree with the call."
Tomlin, a member of the competition committee that drafts rules changes, said he had not heard anything from the NFL office regarding his comments as of noon Monday. He repeated his desire to see on-field officials to be hired as full-time employees.
"I believe that's a discussion that needs to be had," Tomlin said. "But more than the discussions, I think that it needs to move in that direction and move relatively quickly. But there are politics and so forth involved in that, labor and so forth involved in that. I get it, but it'd be nice if that process gets going."
Tomlin, whose Steelers missed on all four two-point tries after touchdowns against Dallas, came right back to take risks on offense in Cleveland. He had the Steelers go for a touchdown with no time left rather than kick a short field goal. They made it, and he had them stay on the field for a two-point conversion that they made to jump ahead 14-0 in a game they would win 24-9 to snap a four-game losing streak. At 5-5, they climbed back into a tie with Baltimore atop the AFC North Division.
Why not kick a field goal to go up 9-0 instead of risking coming away with nothing at the end of the first half?
"We want to score a touchdown," Tomlin explained.
Did those moves send any kind of message?
"No message. The message is we wanted to score because scoring produces wins and we're always generally aggressive in that area of the field."
Tomlin said the Steelers escaped Sunday without adding to a long list of injuries, many of which might not change since they have such a short time before playing again.
"The short week is what it is," Tomlin said. "We're not going to complain about that. It's a short week for them as well."
