Another Tuesday and another remarkable press conference by Pittsburgh Steelers’ Head Coach Mike Tomlin. By “remarkable,” I mean dumbfounding, head-scratching and down-right laughable.
Look at some of these quotes by Tomlin today.
On the lack of vertical passing:
“Our vertical passing game was easier to eliminate after getting down 17-0, Jets could take away deep ball.”
My first question is, what vertical passing game was there to be eliminated? The one deep ball actually attempted and completed was in fact when the team was down 17-0 with less than two minutes in the game. Tomlin’s comment makes zero sense.
This leads me to my second question. The team is facing a defense that had given up more passing touchdowns than any other team in the league. Why did the Steelers come out throwing sideways again? The answer is of course because Tomlin and Todd Haley tried to out-think the opposition.
On Martavis Bryant:
“Martavis Bryant is getting better since he started playing. He’s improved more while playing than he did sitting.”
Ummm, what? Wait a minute, is Tomlin suggesting a player is improving by actually playing versus watching from the sidelines? You would have thought Dick LeBeau spoke these words.
If Bryant wasn’t playing because the coaches felt more comfortable with Justin Brown’s knowledge of the offense then I can accept that answer. But don’t tell us the guy you sat for the first six games could have been getting better by playing at this point in the season.
On the infamous James Harrison offensive sets:
“That play with James Harrison didn’t unfold the way we planned. It has been practiced for weeks.”
I respect Tomlin for taking the bullet here. That abortion of a play began and ended with more personnel confusion from Todd Haley. The bigger issue is why is Tomlin’s quarterback saying “they’ve never practiced that before” but Harrison claims its’ “been in for several weeks?”
Again, someone isn’t on the same page but why should we be surprised?
Mike Tomlin, as are all NFL Head Coaches, is mandated to give weekly press conferences. About the only useful thing that ever comes out of them is injury news and even that’s a bit sketchy. Today’s presser is one we can chalk up as just bizarre.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
phot0 courtesy steelersfeed.com
1 comment
Tomlin is just like Obama, all talk but little or no action, just rambling on and on and on