For a guy who coaches a team hard by the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny, Mike Tomlin has fast become the riverboat gambler of the NFL.
The Steelers coach set dual NFL records last season when he ordered his team to go for two-point conversions 11 times and they made eight of them.
Now, he has them throwing caution and the football to the wind by not only going for it on fourth down, but throwing passes of 29 and 19 yards in the process.
What’s next, multiple onside kick attempts?
There’s nothing like going for it on fourth down — and making it — that pumps up an offense.
“Definitely confidence,’’ guard Ramon Foster said of what those decisions do for the players. “You get that feeling that it’s all or nothing.”
Tomlin, his team down, 6-0, at the Washington Redskins Monday night, had them eschew what would have been a 47-yard field-goal attempt and go for it on fourth-and-1 at the 29. Not merely go for it but go for it with a 29-yard pass into the end zone that Antonio Brown caught from Ben Roethlisberger.
They had fourth-and-1 again on their next series, this time at the Washington 34, and again they went for it. This time, Roethlisberger threw it a little shorter, and Eli Rogers helped turn it into a 19-yard gain. That kept their second touchdown drive alive for a 14-6 lead.
“That showcases it right there,” Foster said. “That’s two times on fourth-and-short you go for it, not only go for it but Ben had the mindset to go for the gusto. It also lets you know we’re building something here as far as an identity on offense. We can pass and throw it around, we can also be aggressive.”
The same mindset did not exist on the other sideline. There, on the first series of the game, the Redskins offense moved to the Steelers 40, where they had a fourth-and-1. Coach Jay Gruden had his team punt. He told reporters Tuesday he regretted that decision.
“As a coach, that’s the one I regret the most. I should have gone for it,’’ Gruden said. “It was a good scoring opportunity for us squandered. I will second-guess that one.”
Gruden went for it twice later on fourth down and failed both times, so maybe his first decision was the right one.
Tomlin has made some aggressive gambles in the past, including a strange one at the end of his first season as Steelers coach. In a playoff game at Heinz Field, the Steelers scored a touchdown to close Jacksonville’s lead to 28-23 with 10:25 left. He had them go for two, but there was a 10-yard holding penalty on the attempt. Tomlin stuck with the 2-point try, even though it now came from the 12 and there was plenty of time left. It failed. The Steelers scored another touchdown with 6:21 left and failed on another 2-point try (this time from the 2). They lost, 31-29.
That was not the riverboat gambler in Tomlin — that was reckless. He became more judicial in his decisions, but he still has that “we-play-to-win” mentality, as he said Monday night.
“I don’t worry about the talking heads at all,” Tomlin said, referring to TV analysts. “We prepare and we get a certain level of comfort through that preparation and what we’re capable of. We felt like we could deliver in those circumstances. We took the risks associated with that.”
Tomlin’s history of going for it on fourth down is neither abundant nor abundantly successful. Last season, the Steelers tried on fourth down 12 times and converted on four after going 5 for 10 in 2014 and 9 for 15 in 2013.
Seattle had the best success last season, making 8 of 9. Four teams tried more than 20 times, including the leaders in Baltimore and Cleveland with 24 tries each. Those teams made it a combined 22 of 48 times. Those teams combined for a record of 8-24.
So maybe going for it many times on fourth down is not necessarily the answer. Or maybe the two teams were just desperate to try anything.
Desperate would not be a word to describe why Tomlin goes for it.
“It wasn’t haphazard by any stretch,” Tomlin said. “We prepared for it during the week, and the guys created enough comfort in us through preparation that we had very little hesitation” on either fourth-down call.
“That’s a big thing we talk about around here, finishing plays like that,” center Maurkice Pouncey said of the fourth-down success vs. the Redskins. “It changed the whole dynamic of the game. When he puts it in our hands, as offensive linemen, we love that.”
What’s not to love when the success rate not only is 100 percent but both decisions led to touchdowns in a 38-16 victory?
Tomlin rolled the winning dice Monday night, but, as any gambler knows, you’re only as good as your next bet.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: September 15, 2016, 4:12 a.m.