Steelers' Mike Tomlin Calls out 'Catastrophic' Defensive Penalties in Win vs. Titans

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called out his team's lack of discipline following their 20-16 home win over the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.

According to Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith, Tomlin lamented the Steelers' high penalty total, particularly on defense, saying:

"Obviously it could have been cleaner, first and foremost from a penalty perspective. Part of being a tough team to beat is not kicking your own butt, and we've been doing that, and we've got to own that. We'll bring some officials into our practice setting in order to be cleaner, because that was catastrophic, really, to a lot of our efforts."

Overall, the Steelers were penalized 10 times for 80 yards in the win, compared to the Titans' seven penalties for 51 yards.

Of those penalties, six of them were on defense and resulted in the Titans being awarded a first down.

On the Titans' first offensive drive of the game alone, pass-rusher T.J. Watt was called for roughing the passer, cornerback Patrick Peterson was called for illegal contact and rookie corner Joey Porter Jr. was called for both a facemask and illegal use of hands.

Despite the miscues and mental errors, the Steelers persevered and won thanks to a go-ahead three-yard touchdown pass from Kenny Pickett to Diontae Johnson with 4:09 remaining.

Still, the Titans had a chance to win at the end and drove the ball all the way down to Pittsburgh's 19-yard line, but linebacker Kwon Alexander intercepted rookie quarterback Will Levis with six seconds remaining to seal the win.

While the underlying stats suggest the Steelers should be a losing team, they are 5-3 on the season, which puts them in second place in the AFC North behind only the 6-2 Baltimore Ravens.

Pittsburgh is only 29th in the NFL in scoring offense this season with 16.6 points per game, and it has a point differential of -30, making it one of only three teams in the league this season to have a winning record and a negative point differential.

Tomlin's team continues to find a way, but the longtime head coach clearly understands that winning won't be sustainable if the penalties continue at their current rate.