PITTSBURGH — Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson “probably” will not be returning kickoffs in Week 3 after his special teams gaffe in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday.
Apparently believing the play would be called dead, Johnson allowed the kickoff from Jason Myers to bounce over his head and into the end zone in the fourth quarter. However, according to the NFL’s new kickoff rules, any ball that lands between the goal line and the 20-yard line and goes into the end zone must be returned or downed by the receiving team. Otherwise, it’s a live ball.
Seahawks backup George Holani recovered the ball near the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
“Probably not in the short-term,” Tomlin said in his weekly news conference when asked if Johnson would continue returning kickoffs. “I’m certainly going to give [Johnson] an opportunity to work his way back from that. I believe in his talent. He’s a sharp young man. He’s a hard worker, and so you leave the light on for him. You give him an opportunity to move on from it, but he has to do that.
“He has to display that with his daily work, and he’s going to earn himself back in the position to be a participant. And so we’ll see where the rows lead us. I’m open to it, certainly.”
While running back Kenneth Gainwell is the Steelers’ other return man, Tomlin said he hasn’t decided on potential replacements for Johnson. During the preseason, the Steelers also used running back Trey Sermon, now on the practice squad, as a kick returner. Second-year receiver Roman Wilson has some experience after returning a handful of kicks at Michigan.
After the game, Johnson expressed remorse for the fielding error.
“I just made a mistake,” said Johnson. “Got to stick to it, move on, and just continue to get better every day.”
The Steelers haven’t practiced since Sunday’s loss, but Tomlin said he looks forward to seeing Johnson’s response and growth from the incident.
“You’ve got to man up, you got to acknowledge your shortcomings, and then you got to work to move beyond it,” said Tomlin. “And it’s my job as a leader to provide that opportunity.
“… Forget what you say, it’s about how you move forward in terms of your work, the level of detail and the consistency of it. And so, we certainly will be watching that closely as we push into this week.”
The Steelers also be without several defensive players due to injury. Both edge rusher Alex Highsmith and defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk have been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots with ankle sprains, with Loudermilk expected to miss multiple weeks. The availability of Derrick Harmon (MCL sprain), DeShon Elliott (knee) and Joey Porter Jr. (hamstring) are considered “questionable, at best,” said Tomlin.
Inside linebacker Patrick Queen (oblique) and cornerback Darius Slay (shoulder) were both banged up against the Seahawks, but Tomlin was optimistic about their availability for Sunday.
Because of those injuries, the Steelers’ schematics were limited and contributed to Seattle putting up 395 yards of offense.
“Our defense wore down some, particularly as the game went on,” said Tomlin. “… Our lines got a little thin at various points in the game. I thought we felt the effects of that.
“Certainly we were somewhat limited with some of the schematics that we would like to deploy, because we had some new people in there and we are relatively new to this season. We weren’t as good as I’d like for us to be in terms of our midstream adjusting, in terms of some of those things.”
