Tomlin taking wait-and-see approach at QB

Winning the weighty downs: The Steelers went into Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens ranked seventh in the NFL and fifth in the AFC in run defense.

But the Ravens were able to run the ball against the black and gold, putting up a total of 215 yards with J.K. Dobbins going for 120 yards on 15 carries, an eight-yard average.

“Oftentimes when you’re not successful it’s both the schematics and it’s performance, and I’d say it was both,” said Tomlin. “I thought they won the war of attrition as the game wore on. I thought the pile fell the direction that they desired it to. What could be second-and-eight was second-and-six. You do that consecutively, what could be third-and-four, third-and-two, those downs are played out differently in the National Football League.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting them in position to minimize that pile. We got to come off blocks a little better. And we got to understand the weight of possession down ball when you’re playing someone that’s playing the attrition game. We had a third down and seven that we had a break down and they had a 25-yard gain and the drive extended. They ran the ball some more and they end up getting the field goal on that drive. We win that third-and-seven we’re on the sideline. Those attrition plays that we discussed whether or not that pile is falling forward, and things of that nature doesn’t exist.”

With the Carolina Panthers on the horizon this week, led by running back D’Onta Foreman who has put up four 100-yard games this season, it’s an issue the defense will have to address in practice this week to be ready to go on Sunday.

“We very much could be in that style of game again this week with the way Carolina is playing,” said Tomlin. “We got some schematic work ahead of us. We got some physical work ahead of us. The pile needs to fall the direction in which we desire it to fall. And outside of that attrition component of discussion, you got to win the weighty downs. You win the weighty downs,…