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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin walks off the field after the Baltimore game. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

On-field foray was 'inexcusable', admits Steelers' boss Tomlin

The Pittsburgh chief says walking onto the field was unintentional.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS HEAD coach Mike Tomlin was “mesmerised.” He was also, he admits, out of position.

Way out of position.

Tomlin was so awed by the way Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones raced through the Steelers crumbling kickoff return unit in the third quarter Thanksgiving night, Tomlin couldn’t take himself away from watching it all unfold in high definition on one of M&T Stadium’s video boards.

Only when Tomlin — standing on the white strip of grass meant to separate the playing field from the sideline — saw his black-and-gold jacket and black baseball cap flash across the screen did he realise it might be a good time to move. Too late.

As Tomlin danced to his left, Jones edged right to avoid bowling the coach over. Pittsburgh’s Cortez Allen made the tackle after a 73-yard return, a bizarre play that will be remembered far longer than Baltimore’s eventual 22-20 victory.

It’s an ill-timed two-step the 41-year-old Tomlin allows was a lot of things, namely “embarrassing, inexcusable, illegal and a blunder.”

The play:

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The one thing it wasn’t, he insists, was intentional.

“The thought that it could be perceived as intentional never even crossed my mind,” Tomlin said Tuesday during a lengthy and candid apology. “I realised I fell short of the expectations of my position in being where I was and my actions on the play. I am not one to seek comfort from that standpoint, so I was just going to take my medicine.”

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    Mute Mike Neil
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    Dec 3rd 2013, 11:28 PM

    Absolutely intentional. You can see him looking out of the corner of his eye waiting on Jones to get close before sticking out his foot and quickly pulling it back in to make it look like a “mistake”. The sly smirk on his face after it was not the reaction of an innocent man.

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    Mute colm connolly
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    Dec 4th 2013, 1:26 AM

    A joke that it was not called and amazing that it was not even spoken about on the broadcast till about 10 mins after the incident ,Tomlin is turning into the most hated coach’s at the moment and the smile was just sickening when he knew he got away with it

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    Mute Oisín Tarrant
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    Dec 4th 2013, 12:51 AM

    Id be pissed too if they made me wear tights and my moms 80′s shoulder pads

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    Mute John Dixon
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    Dec 4th 2013, 1:30 AM

    Tomlin knew exactly where he was and what he was doing.

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    Mute Michael Nyland
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    Dec 4th 2013, 12:16 PM

    Intentional or not, it was a violation that should have been punished both during the game and after the game.

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