“It was just poor judgment by a young player,” Mike Tomlin said after the Steelers stumbled through a rough Week 2 loss to the Seahawks. The coach was talking about rookie running back Kaleb Johnson’s awkward kickoff misstep in the fourth quarter. Seattle had just grabbed a 17-14 lead (thanks to Jason Myers‘ 54-yard field goal), and Johnson, seemingly caught off guard, let the kickoff bounce right past him into the end zone.

The back thought the play would automatically be dead (rookie mistake), as he just didn’t know the nuances of the NFL rules. But Seattle’s George Holani, the backup, knew exactly what was up and jumped on the ball before it rolled out, turning it into a touchdown and pushing Seattle’s lead to 24-14. Since it was a scoring play, the refs could review, and yes, the call on the field stood.

Fast forward to now, and Tomlin just broke down the NFL rules that his rookie RB was unaware of. When asked whether the Seahawks’ player was out of the end zone when he fully recovered the late kickoff, the HC stood by the refs’ decision. “They ruled it a TD on the field and that provided an opportunity for it to be reviewed. I assumed they did, and I moved on.” Indeed!

As per the new NFL kickoff rules, if the ball lands anywhere in that landing zone—between the goal line and the 20-yard line—and then keeps rolling into the end zone, the receiving team can’t just assume it’s dead. They either have to catch it, return it, or down it. If they don’t, it’s still live, meaning the kicking team can swoop in and recover it (which the Seahawks eventually did). The result? It cost the Steelers dearly.

The Seahawks tallied a 24-14 lead with 12:46 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Steelers surely cut the lead to 24-17, but it took Sam Darnold and his offense to secure a win with a 14-point difference. For starters, Darnold connected to A.J. Barner for a 19-yard pass, then with Jaxon Smith-Njgba for a 43-yard catch.

Amidst all of this, Seattle’s quarterback took a couple of sacks, but Kenneth Walker III tallied a 19-yard touchdown run, putting Seattle up by 14 points. Final score: 31-17. Given that Kaleb Johnson’s blunder in the fourth quarter shifted the momentum in the Seahawks’ favor, Mike Tomlin had to make a tough decision.

Mike Tomlin’s rookie RB won’t make such a mistake again

Following a terrible mistake from Kaleb Johnson that cost the Steelers badly in Week 2, we can now say that Johnson won’t be returning kicks for some time. The reason? After the tough loss against the Seahawks, Mike Tomlin admitted that the rookie will “probably not” return kicks in the short term. Sports reporter Riley Holsinger added another layer while revealing that Tomlin also said he will leave the light on for him to work his way back into participation.

After the game, Johnson took accountability for the muffed kickoff, stating, “I just made a mistake. Got to stick to it, move on, and just continue to get better every day.” But that doesn’t mean Johnson was new to the return game. During his freshman year at Iowa, the rookie returned 13 kicks for 325 yards. As for his NFL career, Johnson has tallied 190 yards on eight returns in the first couple of games.

While the debates and criticism around his actions were palpable, the Steelers’ special teams captain, Miles Killebrew, offered some words of encouragement to the rookie. “He’s going to be hard on himself,” he said. “And we just have to make sure that everyone knows that as a unit, we got each other’s backs, and we believe in him.

“He’s a great player. I was just sharing with him that there’s parts of our game that all of us wish we could have back today because we didn’t get it done collectively.” With that being said, you could almost feel why Mike Tomlin decided to keep Johnson away from returning kicks for now. Will he get another shot? Only time will tell.