Week 12 ended with a loss for the Pittsburgh Steelers after their back-to-back wins. They were crushed by the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night, November 21 at Huntington Bank Field. And as obvious, the Steelers aren’t happy with the results. This is even evident from Mike Tomlin’s captain’s words.

During a post-game presser, Mike Tomlin’s defense captain and defensive tackle, Cameron Heyward talked about the missed penalty call of the game. He said, “There was a holding too. So, because I was wrapped around my waist. But yeah, there was no call. So, I don’t know what we were, you know, confused about. But, you know, I know Mike Tomlin was communicating, then they said we were not taking the penalty and then we were like, Mike wants the penalty. And so we were just waiting for them to get it right.”

This happened in the first play after the two-minute warning. Earlier the Steelers felt it was an intentional grounding penalty, but later on coach Mike Tomlin and the team accepted that rare illegally touched pass penalty post-confusion. However, eventually, the team lost to the Browns 19-24.

Heyward, who is upset with the missed penalty call, is the defense captain of the Steelers after the players voted for him to be this year’s team’s captain, besides T.J. Watt. In this game, he was able to make only one tackle and 5 assists. Obviously, this isn’t the game and result the Steelers were expecting. That’s the reason why Heyward said, “Missed opportunities. We have to eat it. They made more plays at the end. Some of that stuff we can have some head scratching about what was displayed. But man, just take it, move on. Everybody’s pretty pissed off about the loss, but, you know, we gotta learn from it. Be better next time.”

Now Heyward is trying to learn from the mishap that happened on TNF. Meanwhile, Mike Tomlin is still wondering about his costly coaching decision of the call.

What does Mike Tomlin have to say after the loss?

With the game on the line, Mike Tomlin made a decision that left Steelers fans stunned. Up 19-18 against the Browns, the defense came up clutch, stopping a crucial third-and-2. But then, a rare penalty on Cleveland gave Tomlin a choice: force a long field goal or push them back and risk another third down. In a confusing turn, Tomlin first declined but then accepted the penalty, thinking the wind and distance would work in Pittsburgh’s favor. But it didn’t.

Cleveland converted the new third-and-7 and sealed the game with a touchdown just a few plays later. Therefore, post-game, Tomlin defended his choice, saying he prioritized the tougher kick. He said, “I thought it was an [intentional grounding penalty] initially. I couldn’t hear the officials—I thought it was a grounding. When I realized it wasn’t ruled a grounding, I got information from them and made the call that we wanted to make. The distance was more important to us. If it wasn’t grounding, we wanted to move them five yards back. They were potentially kicking into the wind, and we wanted to stop them and make the field goal a longer one.”

But now it’s over! With the loss now looming, it’s a decision that will haunt Mike Tomlin for days.