They say that Quarterbacks and Head Coaches get too much credit for wins and take too much blame for losses.
I’m not sure I agree with that when it comes to Ben Roethlisberger. The team often goes as he goes. I do think that sometimes Mike Tomlin takes too much heat from Steeler nation though.
That being said, I think the mindset of the team going into a game is his responsibility.
Tomlin’s Steelers have infamously come out flat as big favorites. This season alone the Steelers just didn’t look good against the Jaguars and lost to the Bucs at home; both games where they were heavily favored.
Tomlin’s career record is 1-3 against the Raiders, who have probably averaged about 4 wins per season during his tenure as head coach.
It’s pretty telling that in Tomlin’s press conference he got plenty of questions about how he keeps his team focused against a 1-8 team. There was the same kind of questions posed to the veterans in the locker room.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but that’s why I’m not paid to be an NFL coach. Mike Tomlin is.
It does seem like Tomlin’s aware of it. In his press conference he broke down the Jets players like we’re about to play the early 2000’s versions of Mike Vick and Chris Johnson.
Coach Tomlin needs to drill that into his players all week. Make them think that this Jets team is the defending Superbowl champions.
I’m not sure this Steelers team is on the same level as Denver or New England, but if they got a bye and a chance to play one of them at home in the playoffs you never know. To do that they just have to take care of these bad teams.
If the Steelers had taken care of Tampa at home they’d be fighting New England for the AFC’s #1 seed right now.
That’s still not out of the question, but to get there they need to take care of two weak (and more importantly, AFC) teams in the next two weeks.
If Tomlin takes his team into the bye at 8-3, and they get healthy on defense with the week off, this team might really start scaring people.
