PITTSBURGH — Make no mistake, Mike Tomlin has never met a moral victory he liked.
He is not into encouraging signs, especially after a loss such as the one Thursday night in Cleveland. He does not see a bright side. Certainly not immediately.
But, after he watches the video of the Steelers' 29-17 loss against the Browns, a score inflated by the Keystone Cops routine at the end of the game, he just might find some measure of positivity with his offense.
Granted, the bar has been set very low after the first two games. And 308 yards offense isn't exactly the stuff of the Greatest Show on Turf.
However, after least for one half, the offense took a step — perhaps a very small step — in the right direction in Cleveland. And, in the early stages of the third quarter, it continued to trend in the same direction until an 11-play drive that had moved to the Browns 15 was derailed by a debatable penalty by tackle Chuks Okorafor.
"We are getting there, it is just not where it needs to be," quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. "We need to get a victory. The first half we made steps in the right direction, but the second half just was not good enough."
The Steelers only managed a 34-yard field goal by Chris Boswell in the second half after taking a 14-13 halftime lead. But they only had six possessions because the defense was being eaten alive by a Browns running game that gained 171 yards and ate chunks of time with two 80-yard drives that consumed 25 plays. Four of those possessions ended in a punt, another by the ill-conceived lateral play that resulted in a Browns touchdown to end the game.
"I think it was a little bit of the rhythm and then we just did not hit on the plays that we needed to," Trubisky said, explaining the difference between the first half and second half. "We had some crucial plays in the second half that, if we got those plays, then it might have been a different story."
The biggest was an Okorafor penalty for being illegally downfield on a shovel pass to rookie Jaylen Warren that gained 35 yards to the Browns 15 on the opening drive of the half. At the time, the Steelers had run 11 plays, beginning at their own 16, and were using their hurry-up offense to set the tempo.
That's when the defense surrendered back-to-back 80-yard drives that ate a combined 13 minutes, 37 seconds from the clock, nearly an entire quarter. Just like that, the Browns had a 23-14 lead.
"We hit some (plays) in the first half, which is why we scored 14 points," said Trubisky, who passed for 207 yards and ran for a 1-yard touchdown. "Three points in the second half is not going to do it for us. I would say not putting two halves together would be inconsistent."
The Steelers offense actually looked like a proficient attack in the first half. Each touchdown drive was 75 yards, featuring a mix of pass and run. Trubisky was 3 for 3 for 50 yards and Warren carried three times for 20 yards to set up the first touchdown — a 5-yard run by Najee Harris.
And the second touchdown drive began with Trubisky using his mobility to complete two passes for 24 yards and ended with seven consecutive running plays for 48 yards.
Even when the Steelers got the ball back at their own 32 with 30 seconds remaining, they didn't lay down. Trubisky got the ball to the Browns 43 with a holding penalty against cornerback Denzel Ward on Diontae Johnson and a 20-yard completion to Chase Claypool. The drive stalled with three consecutive incompletions, but the decision to decline taking a knee and attempt to get another score showed a rare quality in the offense: confidence.
"I feel like I am in a good rhythm with my routine," Trubisky said. "I felt good tonight, but we just got to be better in the second half."
Tough road
Tomlin said after the game the Steelers "will learn, get better, and get better very fast." They need to or they will find themselves in a hole as deep as their 0-4 start in 2013.
Even if they beat the New York Jets in their next outing — hey, they might not be an underdog for the fourth game in a row — the Steelers face the toughest stretch of their schedule in the next four weeks.
Three of the four games are on the road — Buffalo, Miami and Philadelphia — and the only home game is against Tampa Bay. In case you haven't noticed, none of those teams has lost a game.
"This one is going to be on the pot simmering for a while," defensive end Cam Heyward said. "We all have to own it. I am going to wear this and I am going to be better because of it."
Hold on, rookie
Rookie running back Jaylen Warren not only made the mistake of fumbling after a 17-yard gain, he did so right in front of his head coach, who abhors turnovers.
Even though Johnson recovered the fumble, Tomlin yelled at Warren and yanked him immediately from the game.
Normally, a rookie running back might never get back in the game after that. But Tomlin can see the value in Warren, who has quickly established himself as more than just a nice backup to Harris.
Warren had 30 yards on four carries and made the big play with his 35-yard gain on a shovel pass that was wiped out by Okorafor's penalty. He runs downhill, hits the designed hole and bounces off defenders. He might be just what the Steelers need to take some of the workload off Harris.
So long as he doesn't continue to fumble.
