Everything Mike Tomlin said after Steelers blow game vs. Cowboys

The Pittsburgh Steelers frittered away a golden opportunity to take control of the AFC North on Sunday night, falling 20-17 to a depleted Dallas Cowboys team in a game that was there for the taking throughout. Pittsburgh was just never able to get everything going at once: Despite no Micah Parsons or Demarcus Lawrence on the other side, the Steelers' offense couldn't get out of its own way in the first half. And when they finally did find a rhythm on that side of the ball, the defense collapsed, allowing two touchdown drives to Dak Prescott and Co. in the fourth quarter — including the game-winning score with under 30 seconds to play.

Pittsburgh could be sitting atop the division at 4-1 right now; instead, they're tied with the Baltimore Ravens at 3-2, with renewed concerns about the offense under Justin Fields and a young secondary that got picked apart late. (Not to mention the status of mercurial No. 1 wideout George Pickens, who was silent for most of the game before throwing a tantrum in the final seconds.) As you might imagine, there was a lot for head coach Mike Tomlin to address after the game, but some of the head coach's comments raised more questions than answers.

Everything Mike Tomlin said after Steelers' loss to Cowboys

George Pickens 'wasn't less of a focal point'

One of the big headlines after the loss was the play — and the behavior — of Pickens, who announced himself "open [bleeping] always" to start the night but was blanketed by Stefon Diggs throughout in a three-catch, 26-yard performance. Even more concerning than Pickens' lack of production was his lack of time on the field: The Georgia product was outsnapped by the likes of Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, hardly what you want to see from the guy who's supposed to be your clear No. 1 target.

After the game, though, Tomlin attempted to downplay the situation, telling reporters that "we just wanted to kind of minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity."

Every player needs to be rotated out at some point during a game, but this stretches credulity a bit. For starters, Heyward is taking on a far more physically taxing role in the trenches on a snap-by-snap basis, and even he significantly outsnapped Pickens in this game (55 to 34). And even if the Steelers were trying to keep Pickens fresh, that doesn't explain why they put two less-talented receivers on the field more often: Jefferson played 47 snaps, Austin 44, and Pittsburgh was apparently unconcerned about their conditioning.

'No hesitation' using final timeout on last Dallas drive

Tomlin also came in for some criticism regarding his clock management in the final minutes, specifically his decision to burn Pittsburgh's final timeout ahead of a fourth-and-goal for Dallas from the four-yard line with 26 seconds left. Tomlin said he had "no hesitation" about the decision, explaining that "we had an opportunity to win the game right there" and adding that he wanted to give the Steelers a chance to adjust after seeing what formation the Cowboys came out in.

But that plan backfired after Dallas scored anyway to take a 20-17 lead, leaving Pittsburgh no way of stopping the clock as it tried to hurry down the field for a tying field goal. Not that the Steelers' final drive stood a great chance of succeeding anyway, but maintaining the ability to use the entire field would certainly have helped.

'Self-inflicted wounds' cost offense

If you want a tidy summation of the Steelers' performance in this game, you can just go back to Tomlin's comments entering halftime: "If we stop kicking our own butt we can start focusing on theirs".

You'd think that facing a defense that had problems stopping the run even before it lost its starting edge rushers would be a prime opportunity for Arthur Smith to get deep into his bag. But Pittsburgh kept getting in its own way, whether it was Fields missing an open receiver or an ill-timed penalty or just a flat-out inability to run the ball. (The Steelers averaged just 3.53 yards per carry on Sunday night.)

Tomlin kept up the same tune after the game, saying "we own it, we have to be better". The coach blamed "self-inflicted wounds" for the offense's inability to stay on schedule and put points on the board, chalking it up to both a lack of execution by his own team and "top-quality execution" by Dallas. We know which of those two options feels more likely to us, though.