Earlier this month, Mike Tomlin was requested what he had realized about his receivers within the absence of the group’s star, George Pickens, by damage. It was not the primary time Tomlin’s group had been questioned this season, and it’ll in all probability not be the final. As ever although, the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach expressed his religion in his gamers. “We imagine in our group. I’ve mentioned that repeatedly and possibly you’ll begin believing me,” he replied.
“We’ve a bunch of fellows who need to be the rationale we’re profitable,” the 52-year-old continued. The message pointed to belief as an important pillar of his teaching model, as Tomlin might simply as simply have been talking in preseason when quizzed in regards to the risks of a supposed has-been and a never-was – Russell Wilson and Justin Fields respectively – combating for the proper to be the Steelers’ beginning quarterback. The uplifting energy of Tomlin’s belief stays the identical, whether or not for a backup wideout or for Fields in an important fourth and brief. In the event you be a part of the Steelers you turn out to be higher. It’s that straightforward fact that has helped earn one other go to to the postseason whereas extending Tomlin’s historic run of by no means having a shedding season in nearly 20 years as Steelers head coach.
Pittsburgh are again within the playoffs, after Miami and Indianapolis quietly exited the race on Sunday, regardless of doubts over Wilson and Fields, regardless of a scarcity of stars in offensive talent positions and regardless of a fierce schedule. Along with his immense physique of labor, Tomlin’s plan at quarterback ought to have been trusted from the outset, even when the loser of the preseason tussle, Fields, began Week 1 instead of the injured Wilson.
In spite of everything, belief in Tomlin often pays off. Keith Butler, the Steelers’ defensive coordinator from 2015-22, explains as a lot as he particulars his career-changing expertise working with a fresh-faced 24-year-old graduate assistant, 16 years his junior. “My historical past with Mike goes again properly earlier than the Steelers,” Butler says, leaping on the probability to share his historical past along with his nice pal. “Once I bought out of taking part in with the Seahawks I didn’t need to transfer my household round all around the nation to educate. So my ideas have been to try to spend my profession on the College of Memphis. There have been guys which might be simply getting out of faculty who assist the teaching workers, as they’re attempting to get within the enterprise, as graduate assistants. Mike did that with us and at the same time as a [graduate assistant] I assumed he did an excellent job of studying from the workers. He was prepared to study.”
Even in his first steps in teaching, Tomlin marked himself out as a pacesetter. The pair would then reunite, with Butler teaching linebackers, when Pittsburgh picked Tomlin to take over as head coach in 2007. In his sophomore season their journey would attain an unmatchable excessive by successful Tremendous Bowl XLIII.
Heath Miller, who collected his second ring with the Steelers in that sport, expands on how Tomlin retains maintain of hearts and minds within the locker room.
“Coach Tomlin has the suitable quantity of confidence,” the previous tight finish says, “and that trickles all the way down to everyone on the roster. When you understand the coach has confidence and perception in you that goes a extremely good distance.
“He’s open and sincere about what he expects from his gamers. He’s at all times capable of finding methods to inspire people. And it’s totally different yearly. It’s totally different on a person foundation. He’s a extremely good folks particular person, so he can get to know guys and know what buttons may work on this man and people he must push with one other man to maintain them motivated, to maintain them hungry, to maintain them on edge. That’s not straightforward to do.”
It has definitely been totally different this yr in Pittsburgh. A number of seasons of soul looking within the post-Ben Roethlisberger period led Tomlin to return to his defensive roots. With a placeholder in Kenny Pickett at quarterback, he turned to TJ Watt and a methodically rebuilt defensive energy to scrape by. The offense was all however mothballed and since then Tomlin’s sometimes explosive Steelers have swerved again to the extra conservative ideology that clinched the Tremendous Bowl for Invoice Cowher within the 2005 season and Tomlin three years later.
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Pittsburgh simply wanted a succesful quarterback to place the offense ready to win video games relatively than tread water. Cynicism was comprehensible, contemplating Tomlin had not performed quarterback whisperer in his first 15 seasons. Then alongside got here Pickett. It’s a minor miracle that the now Eagles backup threw 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions with a dismal QB ranking of 78.7 whereas additionally producing six fourth-quarter comeback wins whereas recording a 14-10 report in Pittsburgh. These unusual figures communicate of Pickett holding unbelievable self-belief regardless of a clearly restricted potential to throw the ball.
The person who helped instil that perception and squeeze out each drop of Pickett’s expertise was certainly Tomlin. The concept he might do the identical for Wilson, a light Tremendous Bowl successful quarterback who nonetheless has bucketloads of throwing energy, turns into much less unusual when seen by the lens of Pickett’s typically technically grim play that additionally, often, reached unlikely glory.
You might say Tomlin has restored an applicable quantity of Wilson’s confidence. That’s important grounding for the Steelers as they bid to not simply make up the numbers in January, the place they’ve failed so typically lately – their final postseason victory got here in 2017 towards the Chiefs, when Alex Smith was nonetheless the Kansas Metropolis quarterback, and Pittsburgh have misplaced 5 straight postseason video games since then. Tomlin’s comfortable defense-first reset and the return of Pickens to appropriate latest struggles in scoring might be essential as they bid to clinch the AFC North title on Saturday. A win over Baltimore would let that confidence bubble up a bit of additional with, as Miller places it, the group “battle-tested and prepared” for the postseason.
