From the Press Room: Steelers at Eagles

Keeping a lid on it: Coach Mike Tomlin stressed it time and again during his postgame press conference following the Steelers 35-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The defense didn’t keep a lid on it.

“From my perspective it’s less about what they do and about the things that we’re not doing,” said Tomlin. “We’re not positioning ourselves to win games. We didn’t today, and we got to own that.

“Some fundamental things have fallen short. We got to keep a lid on it. If you don’t keep a lid on it in the NFL, you don’t give yourself a chance to play.

“We didn’t do that. And I thought it was a domino effect from there on. I thought our eyes weren’t in the right place defensively and it’s capable of happening when you’re not keeping a lid on it. You got to keep a lid on it. I thought we were too penalized. I look at those penalties. Some of them I thought were questionable, but that’s life.

“I just thought the penalty component of it and our inability to keep a lid on it was Steelers vs. Steelers and when you’re playing good people like this group, you’re not going to put yourself in position to do the things you need to do.”

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for three touchdowns, 39, 27 and 29 yards, and also hit Zach Pascal for a 34-yard touchdown despite coverage.

“Position is just a component of playmaking,” said Tomlin. “The finish is probably equally as important as the positioning and we were in position, but their guy made a play, and we didn’t. We were in one-on-one circumstances on the other side of the ball, and it was a different outcome. One time we were out of bounds, one time was OPI, one time the ground dislodged the ball and that’s the minutiae. That’s the playmaking, that’s the difference.

“They were making those plays and we were not, and we got to own that. We got to see it with clear eyes and make no mistake we do. There is nothing comfortable about it, but we see it with clear eyes.

“We got to make those plays. We got to break those balls up…