Tomlin: Steelers looked like a 'junior varsity' team in ugly win

Mike Tomlin sounded more like a head coach who lost than one who had triumphed after the Pittsburgh Steelers scraped out a 19-14 victory Wednesday over the Baltimore Ravens.

"To be bluntly honest, I'm really disappointed in our performance tonight," Tomlin said postgame. "We did enough to win, but that's all. It was really junior varsity, to be quite honest with you, and it was in all three phases.

"We couldn't run the ball effectively when we needed to, we dropped too many significant passes - very catchable, makeable passes - we didn't make significant plays in the special teams game, our kickoff coverage unit wasn't good enough, we turned the damn ball over, we gave up big plays in critical moments on defense. Can't have it. They converted a long run on a possession down before the half - unacceptable."

Though they led for most of the game, the Steelers allowed their division rivals to hang around all afternoon thanks to a number of miscues. The errors began on the Steelers' second offensive series when Ben Roethlisberger threw an end-zone interception on fourth down from the 1-yard line.

Among other problems, the Steelers scored only one touchdown on four red-zone trips, and drops - officially, five of them - plagued them in the passing game all day. Asked about the reason for the issues, Tomlin kept his answer short.

"Us sucking," he said.

Roethlisberger, who was efficient from the pocket after his early blunder, was also frustrated with the performance.

"We won today, but it sure doesn't feel like it," he said. "Just not good football."

Still, the Steelers became the first team since the 2015 Carolina Panthers to begin a season with 11 consecutive victories. They'll look to make it 12 straight Monday against the Washington Football Team.

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