As many who follow the NFL closely already know, explosive plays are a huge element of every game in addition to turnovers. In the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday win over the Minnesota Vikings, the team’s offense only registered three explosive plays on paper. With that said, one can’t discount the two pass interference penalties that were called on the Vikings defense that resulted in explosive yardage gains of 22 and 49 yards. Additionally, the Steelers offense also registered a gain of 41-yards in their Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns thanks to a pass interference penalty
On Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was very curiously asked if he’s concerned right now that the team’s offense is having to rely heavily on defensive pass interference penalties so far this season.
“To say that you’re relying on defensive penalties, splash plays were not produced because of those defensive penalties,” Tomlin replied. “When 10 [Martavis Bryant] is running behind somebody, if you dont jump on his back, he’s going to catch it and score. So, you can frame it in whatever way you want to frame it. The reality is, we’ve been in third and long some. In Week 1, we were in third and long some because of the penalties. That was the case some this week, but less so.”
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