Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin confirms suspicion surrounding Nick Herbig's lack of playing time against the Bengals

Less than two weeks ago, Nick Herbig had arguably the best game of his career against the Cleveland Browns. A two sack performance that put him in the national spotlight, it has become clear to the naked eye that Herbig is one of the better pure pass rushers in the league.

Yet last Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals, Herbig played just 38 percent of the Pittsburgh Steelers' snaps, opposed to Alex Highsmith, who played 70. That may have had something to do with the fact that Joe Flacco threw for over 340 yards and Ja'Marr Chase was out there breaking records.

But from Mike Tomlin's perspective, the Steelers didn't plan on playing Herbig as much going into the Bengals game. It was done in an effort to stop the run, and it still ended up backfiring.

Steelers wanted heavier personnel to combat Bengals' rushing offense

"You know, certainly our inability to control the run and limiting one-dimensional passing circumstances probably affected his participation some," said Tomlin of Herbig's role on Tuesday via the Steelers YouTube channel. "But again, we got a lot of good players. As I mentioned often when you guys talk about playing time, just keep watching."

"We're going to utilize all our good players. Sometimes games unfold, whether it's schematics or matchups or just how things unfold. You guys were asking me about Muth last week. I'd imagine you're not going to ask me about Muth this week, and that's just an example of it."