Gene Collier: Mike Tomlin prefers less dancing from Steelers

Word came early Wednesday that the Steelers' chances of reaching the playoffs now that they have won three games in a row have inflated to 58.7 percent, at least according to makeNFLplayoffs.com, and, while that means next to nothing, it's useful by at least one comparison.

The New York Jets, on the same website, are having their postseason likelihoods expressed as a decimal at 0.00026, which I'm interpreting as roughly three ten-thousandths of something, but don't quote me.

Given the dimensions of the playoff-probability gap, when the two teams confer Sunday in fabulous East Rutherford, N.J., you're probably looking at something like Jets 26, Steelers 24, because that's the way this NFL tends to work.

In real, tangible, football terms, the Steelers should have little to worry about at the moment, given an exploding offense combined with a defense suddenly reacquainted with both sacks and turnovers. About all coach Mike Tomlin has come up with for serious fretting this week is that he didn't like the dancing the other night.

Hope you didn't miss this:

"We gave up a 108-yard kickoff return, which quite frankly was ridiculous -- guys dancing around and so forth before the ball is kicked and then getting one run back on them is unacceptable," Tomlin said at his weekly media availability. "You won't see our kickoff team dancing anymore."

Tomlin was purposefully specific right there, because Antonio Brown had only just finished his own end-zone dance after a 54-yard catch and run for the touchdown that made it 29-10 over the much-despised Baltimore Ravens when the coverage team seized what the coach might call a rhythm opportunity.

"I didn't really notice it," kicker Shaun Suisham said. "I'm getting lined up for the kick, so I really am pretty oblivious to it. We obviously fell short there. Every one of us could have been better on that play. You've got a very good player back there, and, if you give him the opportunity, he does have that ability to make a play like that.

"We have a lot of guys on the coverage team who take a lot of pride in what they do, and we'll be ready for this week."

Much like the play in question, few people responsible for that 108-yard transcontinental by Baltimore's Jacoby Jones were anywhere to be found in the Steelers locker room Wednesday prior to practice.

Much like Jones on blastoff from the south end zone at Heinz Field, I didn't see anybody from that unit.

Well, check that.

Darrius Heyward-Bey was there, to be sure, having only recently extricated himself from a block by since-released Ravens tight end Phillip Supernaw, who drove him so far upfield before planting him that, had it been a cab ride, it would have cost $13.90.

William Gay and Antwon Blake were equally culpable, and Shamarko Thomas took a soft angle that didn't allow him to run down Jones, but none of that seemed to bother Tomlin as much as the dancing.

This might be a good time to point out that before Sunday, no one had returned a kickoff for a touchdown against the Steelers in nearly four years, or 58 games dating to Dec. 19, 2010, when the Jets' Brad Smith went 97 yards. The Steelers have been fairly reliable in that area, so, if dancing was a contributing factor Sunday, I suggest just swapping out the pre-kick music, perhaps for some of the darker Rachmaninoff, which generally leads to intense focus and precious little body-part-shaking.

You have to remember the special-teamers are pretty excitable, and it wasn't lost on anyone that the Steelers sideline erupted in glee as Suisham himself mixed it up with several Ravens after the whistle.

A former hockey player in his native Canada (excuse the redundancy), the Steelers kicker obviously felt the visitors were taking liberties.

"Just a reaction to a play on the field, a guy going into the pile late, but he was in there and I was just trying to get him out of there," Suisham said. "That [Ravens] game certainly has a much different feel than most. I just got caught up in the game and was reacting to what was going on. You know, they're my buddies and they'd do the same thing for me."

The kicker didn't deny a history of hockey fights.

"If you can call a teenager a fighter," Suisham said. "I certainly enjoyed it. I love everything about hockey.

"My best memories as a kid come from hockey."

I asked if there was too much fighting in hockey.

"No," he said.

Just about the right amount then?

"It seems OK to me. I still enjoy watching it."

And, obviously, No. 6 isn't above sending a message when he feels it's necessary.

If the Steelers are going to send their fellow AFC playoff contenders a message here in the next few weeks, maybe it should be that they're not going to allow any skittish special-teams play to get in their way against teams they should squash like a bug.

Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.