Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin introduced a new term (at least to us) into the NFL.com blog vernacular on Tuesday: “Hacked off.”

No, it didn’t pertain to Ben Roethlisberger.

Tomlin, speaking to NFL.com senior writer Steve Wyche at the NFL Annual Meeting, said his team was not happy (aka, “hacked off”) after missing the playoffs last season.

“They were hacked off, and rightfully so,” Tomlin said. “But hacked off in an appropriate way … in that, hacked off at ourselves. This is a black and white business. Either you win, or you don’t. Either you’re in, or you’re not. We weren’t. We embrace that, we accept that. But our goals aren’t any different this year than they were a year ago, or any of the years I’ve been here for that matter.”

One area that likely “hacked off” Tomlin last season was special teams. It caught our attention that the otherwise obscure signings of WR Arnaz Battle and FS Will Allen earlier this month will be a boost to a special teams unit that often struggled.

“They’ve distinguished themselves as special-teams players,” Tomlin said. “Arnaz Battle was a high-quality special teams player in San Francisco. Of course, Antwaan Randle El brings some special skills in that phase of the game. Will Allen was a three-year captain as a special teams man for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So we feel good about the quality of people we’ve added.”

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