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Tomlin happy with offensive line, effort

PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin’s weekly news conferences have the same agenda:

The Steelers head coach tries to answer questions while revealing as little information as possible.

He deviated from that a bit last Tuesday when he was asked about Landry Jones substituting at quarterback for the injured Ben Roethlisberger.

Tomlin’s answer basically said that he was confident Jones knew and understood the Steelers’ offense. It was then just a matter of being able to apply that knowledge and execute.

The test came on Sunday, and the New England Patriots beat the Steelers 27-16 at Heinz Field.

Jones’ numbers were so-so. He completed 29 of 47 passes (62 percent) for 251 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His passer rating was 76.6.

“I thought he did some good things,” Tomlin said. “The red zone interception was unfortunate, but it wasn’t going to be about Landry Jones playing for us tonight. It was going to be about the challenge that was presented to us and the way we needed to play collectively in an effort to overcome that challenge and largely were unsuccessful.”

The interception was big in a game that wound up being decided by 11 points. Jones’ pass to Antonio Brown was picked off in the end zone by Malcolm Butler.

“That was just a bad ball,” Jones said. “A.B. ran a good route. I just threw a crappy ball. Good play by a good corner.”

Jones had good protection from his line. He was not sacked in his third career start.

Asked to rate his work, Jones begged off, saying he would have to review the tape before he could offer an evaluation.

“To be honest with you, we moved the ball up and down the field,” he said. “That was no issue. The issue was in the red zone. We kicked (three) field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.

“Then we had that interception, missed a couple of field goals and had a holding penalty on a touchdown pass. So everyone had a hand in it. We have to solve this red zone issue to be the offense we want to be.”

The Steelers are off this week. That will give Roethlisberger more time to recover from his knee surgery. There’s no word if he’ll be ready to return for the next game, Nov. 6 in Baltimore.

If it’s Jones starting again, that’s fine with offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva.

“I think he did an outstanding job,” Villanueva said. “I thought he was very confident. He made a lot of plays. I think as an offense we could have done a lot more to help him out.”

Brown out

Antonio Brown was in and out of the game in the second half because of a thigh bruise.

He took a helmet to the leg and briefly left the field for treatment.

“I’m pretty good,” he said after the game.

Brown had a 51-yard reception that set up the Steelers’ only touchdown, Jones’ 19-yard pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Self-inflicted trouble

Le’Veon Bell looked back on the game and saw too many mistakes by the Steelers.

“You can’t shoot yourself in the foot,” he said. “The margin for error is small against a team like that. When you’re hurting yourself, it’s going to be hard to overcome because they’re good.”

Belichick’s praise

Bill Belichick’s Patriots have won two AFC Championship games at Heinz Field, yet he said he considers it a tough place to play.

“I have a lot of respect for the Steelers and coach Tomlin,” Belichick said. “That entire team is tough. They compete very hard. It certainly wasn’t easy. We made a few more plays than Pittsburgh did today.

“It was a good team win. It’s tough to win here. We’ll take it.”

Up and down

Tom Brady started the game by completing eight consecutive passes. Than he connected on just three of his next 13 attempts.

“It’s good to come in here and get the win,” he said. “It’s a great place to play. They have a good team. They always have.”

The Patriots leaned heavily on LeGarrette Blount, who had 127 yards. He was cut loose by the Steelers after he left the field before a game was over. The Patriots took him back, and he’s been a big part of their offense.

“He’s so deceptive with his quickness,” Brady said. “He’s a big back, but he has great agility. He makes yards after contact. He had a great day today.”

Respect for Brown

Butler offered this assessment of Brown: “He’s one of the best, if not the best. He’s either No. 1 or 2. He has no flaws.”

Disappointing day

Linebacker Jarvis Jones had one of his better days as a pro, with seven tackles (five solo), a stop for a loss and a quarterback hit. But he came away disappointed.

“On defense, we hold ourselves to a standard,” he said. “For the last couple of weeks, we haven’t been that defense. We need to get that corrected.”

Future date?

Bell suggested the Steelers and Patriots could meet in the postseason.

“Maybe we’ll see them again down the road, if we play well enough and they play well enough,” he said.

Coming up short

Defensive end Stephon Tuitt on the Steelers’ defensive struggles: “Right now we’re not getting it done. We need to get better at it. We need to work hard, and take time during this break and to see what we have, look at what stuff is not getting done.”

Stats and streaks

Tomlin is 2-5 in the regular season against New England.

Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com

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