Tomlin walks out on a question about his future.
The most interesting bit comes at the end of the article.
"Mike T's a great coach," Pittsburgh running back Najee Harris said. "But we can't put too much on Mike T. Sometimes, you just got to look at the players. Sometimes, you can't even look at the coaches. You just got to look at the players, and we didn't really execute."
While the team wholeheartedly lobbied for Tomlin, Harris also hinted at some discourse behind the scenes. Harris emphasized the coaches weren't the problem, but Harris said he wants to see changes to the team's structure and discipline.
"Obviously, this is my third year," Harris said. "I have my opinions on things, but I'm just a player. But if we want to elevate and get where we're at, there's got to be some in-house things that need to change. I feel like Coach T always tells me, 'Just play running back' -- and that's some little inside thing that we have too. But if we want to elevate and get where we are and achieve those goals that we want, we have to change some in-house stuff."
Harris elaborated when asked what needed to change.
"It's just the rules that are in the building," Harris said. "We got to be more disciplined. We got to be more committed. I'm not saying that we're not, but just coming from a place that has structure and just seeing we probably could get help in these areas. It might make a change. I think that that's something we could help. I'm not saying nothing about coaches or anything like that. I'm just saying more of just in-house rules.
"I'm just a player, but the guys in that building know what I'm talking about."
That's a Saban coached player. I think without actually saying it, he's saying what I have been saying forever. Tomlin is a great motivator. Tomlin gets guys to be hyped and play with intensity. What Tomlin doesn't do is instill discipline. He doesn't get players playing with focus. That's why his teams are unprepared, play sloppy, make mistakes, etc. It's why they lose back to back home games to 2 win teams. It why the WRs have gotten away with acting like divas for several years now.
Tomlin won a super bowl with Cowher's assistant coaches and with a veteran team already trained a certain way. Then those coaches began leaving along with most of those players. Tomlin started having less and less success. He hired assistants that nobody else hires, which could be a sign he's bad at judging talent or a sign he fears hiring someone that could threaten him. He has strongly influenced Steelers drafts (Maryland players over OSU players, Kenny Pickett, etc.) and typically his picks suck.
After 17 years he has to be burnt out. He sees Carroll, Belichick, and Saban moving on. He saw how Sean Peyton turned a year off into a massive contract. On top of that, the Steelers' minority owners do not support him. The local Pittsburgh media has turned on him. Fans are growing more and more tired of the lack of playoff success. Winning seasons are nice, but they cause stagnation. You either make the playoffs as a pretender with massive weaknesses or you miss the playoffs. Either way, your draft pick sucks. Not awesome for a franchise that doesn't spend heavily on free agents. I really wonder if there's even pressure coming from Rooney. He's given Tomlin the highest paid D in the league and one Tomlin picked. He gave Tomlin his QB in a first round when draft experts say he would have been there in the second. Tomlin's assistants have been an absolute mess except for the temp hire of Miami's former HC whose name I'm forgetting and the Special Teams coach who is the only Cowher holdover.
Meh, just my thoughts after watching the games today and seeing that article and his walkout.
If Tomlin goes, I wish him the best. If he stays I will still root for the team as always. However, I think it's time for both to go their own way.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
