Tomlin a Worthy COY Candidate
by Neal Coolong on Dec 31, 2008 3:30 PM EST
Email
PrintI read a thread on Steel City Insider titled "I've had all I can take of Tomlin...fire him now."
Are you serious? The moron's writer's main point was based around the injury QB Ben Roethlisberger suffered in Week 17 - a game the Steelers didn't need to win.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe in acceptable losses. Momentum is everything in the playoffs. Let's take a glance at the results of the last few AFC No. 2 seeds - 2005, Denver loses at home to Pittsburgh. 2006, Baltimore loses to Indianapolis. 2007, Indianapolis loses to San Diego. None advanced to the Super Bowl, and two of them didn't win a playoff game.
Roethlisberger could slip and hurt himself in the shower, but he needs game reps to stay sharp to avoid the recent trend of lower seeds knocking off higher seeds on the road. But I digres...this is about coaches. Romeo Crennel was, and should have been, fired. Tomlin? Call me a homer, but Mike Tomlin deserves Coach of the Year recognition.
There. It's on the table.
I'm a huge Jeff Fisher fan, and I think Mike Smith has done a fantastic job in Atlanta - they are most likely the 1 and 2 for the yearly award. Throw in Bill Belichick in New England, Tony Sporano in Miami and John Harbaugh in Baltimore, Coach Tomlin clearly is a tough argument to make.
I'm gonna make it anyway, because the man deserves at least that. The job Tomlin did this season is worthy of mention alongside the work these fine coaches put into their franchises.
Let's keep in mind, too, Coach of the Year honors aren't given to one coach. It's for the entire staff. Under Tomlin and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, they finished 2007 ranked first overall in total defense, but they were giving up 16.8 points per game, with 266.4 yards per game. Now, Pittsburgh gave up 237.2 yards per game, and just over two touchdowns per game (14.9). This is the same unit that did not give up 300 yards in a game until Week 15 - and that was on the road against the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Probably more than anything, though, look at the difference between last year's special teams units compared to now. Steelers Rookie of the Year Patrick Bailey has been arguably the team's best addition, and he wasn't even drafted. Keyaron Fox is right up there with Bailey. Tomlin took a pretty weak special teams from a year ago, and made it the best coverage unit in the league. It's a strong weapon, whereas last season, it cost them games.
And he did all of this with the worst punters in the league. Just think about how good this unit would be if Dan Sepulveda was healthy. Coaching isn't reaching top statistical positions with elite punters - it's doing it with Paul Ernster and Mitch Berger.
Offensively, the Steelers have been without Marvel Smith and Kendall Simmons for most of the season. While the offensive line hasn't been one of the better groups in the NFL, he's gotten more out of them than any reasonably minded follower of the game could have expected. What's more impressive, taking a group of perennial Pro Bowlers and keeping them at that level, or making a ragtag group a step or two better than what they are? The only true meltdown the line had was against Philadelphia, but judging by how well they played as a group against Baltimore, Washington and San Diego, it's pretty impressive.
Tomlin's offense was without a healthy Willie Parker for most of the year, as well as losing first round pick Rashard Mendenhall for 75 percent of the season, requiring him to use Mewelde Moore far more than they planned. Moore is another great example of an off-season acquisition who paid huge dividends. Considering they basically got nothing from their 2008 draft class in terms of on-the-field production, Moore, Bailey and Fox bought into Tomlin's way of the game, and the Steelers are, at worst, one game better than they were last year, and Tomlin will play in his first AFC Divisional game next week.
If you want to look at Coach of the Year as a cumulative effort, too, Tomlin has yet to lose a meaningful AFC North game. Pittsburgh went 5-0 in the North last season until losing a throwaway Week 17 game at Baltimore. Their playoff ticket was already punched, and most of their starters didn't play in the second half. Tomlin's 2008 Steelers became the first team since Cowher's 2002 Steelers to go 6-0 in the division. He's now 11-1 in the division in his career, with his one loss coming in a meaningless game.
With all that being said, he's not the likely choice. He did enough to win the award in most seasons, but whether Tomlin wins the award has nothing to do with the tremendous job he's done in the regular season. Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher never won it, but he's got a ring and likely a spot in Canton. After 2008, Steelers fans - and the rest of the league - should have the feeling it won't be long until Tomlin is mentioned on the same level.
His next goal, though, should be to win a playoff game.
35 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Tough to give Tomlin COY this year
He has done a great job keeping this team on track with a big assist from Lebeau. In his 2 years I have seen great improvement in special teams and the secondary. The offense has taken a step back but poor line play and key injuries didn’t help. Amazing turnarounds from Atlanta and Miami along with the elite play of Tennessee will keep Tomlin off the short list. I think Tomlin has the ability to be a better coach than Cowher and I think he will win COY sooner rather than later.
agreed
no way tomlin deserves coach of the year this year when you look at the turnarounds of teams like Atlanta, Miami and Baltimore. He’s done a fine job, and you can certainly see his impact on the defensive backs. However the coaching on the offensive side of the ball still leaves alot to be desired.
Mmmm...I Don't Know.
I too think that Tomlin is going to be another great coach for The Steelers, but COY?
This year? I’m not convinced.
Let me just say, before I start this discussion in ernest, I wouldn’t trade Tomlin for any other coach at this time, much less wish he were fired.
I think Tomlin is a work in progress. His up side is his future. But, for that future to be great, he has to learn a lot more about offense. Let’s consider, the great defense that The Steelers have this year. I have no doubt that Tomlin is the reason the D is great. He stepped into a situation with an already great D and a hall of fame D coordinator and, through his past coaching experience, made the secondary MUCH better. This in turn made the D better. He contributed. Now, let’s consider the offense. I feel that the offense has gotten worse each of the last two years (Even if the sacks are roughly the same).
Much has been written by many of us (I’m front and center) that B.A. should be fired, followed closely by the O-line coach, Zerlin (SP?). My sense is that while those two bumble the offense, Tomlin is very limited in his ability to suggest, or force changes for the better because he is unsure himself of what to do. Look at where our offense is ranked and look at the other teams that have offenses ranked in the same area. Do you, any of you, think that is acceptable for a team to become great? I should think not.
At this time, his superb motivation aside, Tomlin has really only been a very good defensive secondary coach. Special teams you say? Okay, you got me there. He has done a great job of turning the special teams around. To a point. My reply is: What about the return game? Sure I’m asking to much in such a short amount of time, but not from a COY.
To review the team left to him by Cower, and where it has gone: Run D – Roughly the same, Pass D – Much better, Passing O – Worse, Running O – Much worse, Kick and punt coverage – Much better, Punt and kick return – Roughly the same. Two up, two down and two about the same. I say that is about breaking even with what he was handed. Because he was handed a team one year away from winning a Super Bowl.
Right now, The Steelers are just like the Super Bowl Crows. The Steelers can win a Super Bowl if their offense can manage the game. But without significant gains on the offensive side of the ball (We have the most key ingredient, one The Crows did not have, a great quarterback), the Steelers are in danger of traveling the same road as those same Crows to one great season and a few also rans.
Of course there are the intangibles, namely, Tomlin’s ability to motivate, and get the most out of his players, which he is TRULY great at. He seems like a leader that is respected by his team. His “Eexpectation of performance” in the face of massive injurys is inspiring and refreshing. His unwillingness to accept excuses is down right unheard of.
So, while I’d like to consider him for COY, I’m just not there yet. The future is bright though. While with the Giants that dominated the 50’s, Vince Lombardi was the offensive coordinator and Tom Landry was the defensive coordinator. Tom went on to be the guy who brought in motions, and the idea of moving the offense to position the defense favorably for the play to come. Vince (Do I have to tell you?) went on to become a defensive genious.
Tomlin will get there, but he is not there yet.
Happy New Year.
Go Steelers.
Consideration
I would have say that Tomlin deserves consideration, when you look at the number of injuries and the toughness of the schedule. It’s very hard not to go with Mike Smith or Sparano, considering how bad those teams were last year. In there cases, though, you also need to give a TON of credit the GMs for each team. Particularly Dmitroff in Atlanta. He was able to draft a solid offensive line in one year (with a couple of pieces already in place). Until this year, one of the consistent complaints in Atlanta was the OL.
by WolfpackSteelersFan on Dec 31, 2008 6:29 PM EST reply actions
Tomlin will never get COY
Not because he doesn’t deserve it, but because the league will never award him with it. They look at the coaches who turn around a team completely or do something astonishing like go 16-0. The Steelers is one of the rare franchises that almost never have a really bad year. A bad year for us is like 9-7, compared to others who have 4-12 seasons like its nothing. The Steeler organization is expected to be one of the best every year so it comes to no suprise to people when they see us succeed. It is never a suprise that Pittsburgh win their division each year.
The NFL schedule system is designed so it can be the most competitive league in the nation. The teams who did bad last year get a break the next year and get to play the other bad teams, with also a high draft pick in the draft. The better you are, the harder schedule you will typically have so it shouldn’t be all that impressive on the turnaround of some of these teams as they are not playing as tough as teams as others around the league. Of course you still have to win the games but it makes it a whole lot easier when you play all of the bottom feeder teams rather than the past division winners. So yeah i give all of the organizations who turned things around credit (Ravens, Falcons, Dolphins) but all of the credit should not be given to the coach, and it should be recognized that the NFL supports these turnarounds in their scheduling.
by Bleed-Black&Gold on Dec 31, 2008 6:46 PM EST reply actions
Good point.
I thought the same. Think about last year; I don’t think Tomlin got any consideration, even though he won his division his first year, and won two more games than Cowher the year before.
by WolfpackSteelersFan on Dec 31, 2008 6:53 PM EST up reply actions
actually,
only two games are scheduled according to how a team did the year before. Since the non conference games are rotated, and u rotate a conference division every three years, that only leaves 2 games left that are decided by how you finished.
also...
awarding the worst-performing team with the top draft pick is also less of an advantage than one might think. The no 1 overall pick is no more likely to succeed at his position than any other first round pick, yet is going to carry a high price tag simply by virtue of being no 1. Unless the team is in need of a franchise QB, it makes more sense to trade that no 1 pick for multiple later picks because those players will still have talent and will be just as likely to succeed as any other early round pick.
it is still the number one pick. meaning you can choose ANY player you want. and the higher you are in the draft the better chance you have of getting the player you want/need. How good would the steelers be if they had adrian peterson or darren mcfadden? or even Joe Thomas? It is still a good help, That’s how we got our QB, at a fairly early round, and look at Matt Ryan. Sure you can argue players still have to perform, but there are a ton of great players who come out every draft from the top 10.
The high draft pick gives a team a better chance to pick the player that best suits their team, it is just up to the team if they are able to identify talent and players when they are given the oppurtunity. You can still have good drafts without having a high draft pick but its still an advantage to be able to pick who you want.
by Bleed-Black&Gold on Jan 2, 2009 12:21 AM EST up reply actions
remember
two games can be a BIG difference. If we have two more losses, and two less wins, the ravens win the division. So two games are a lot! One game can be the difference.
by Bleed-Black&Gold on Jan 2, 2009 12:15 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, look at New England
If they would have beaten us, they would have finished 12-4 with the #2 seed.
Not this year
Despite the toughest preseason schedule in the league, Tomlin has too many good players and can’t win COY.
As for the genius who opined that Tomlin should be fired, please inform him to turn in his Steelers fan card. Roethlisberger absolutely needed to play in the final game against the Browns. He has been lackluster at best aside from the drive in Baltimore. It’s not like the Steelers were sharp in the first half this past Sunday either.
Tomlin is the exact kind of hard nosed coach this team needs. I’m glad I got my “Yes We Can” shirt before the playoffs began. Here’s to a Steelers/Giants Super Bowl.
Ya know
We have a moron person on this site as well who started saying that Tomlin should be fired too as soon as Ben got hurt. He wrote it on the game day blog as soon as it happened, and repeated it later. I won’t say who it was, but I was pretty well stunned that anyone would think that. Oh, and he also thinks Tomlin is fat, and keeps stressing that point for some reason.
Coach of the Year means...."You will be fired someday".......
………and that won’t be happening here. Tomlin will be around for a LOOOONGGGGG time, and that’s great news for us as Steelers fans. Amazing isn’t it that Tomlin always says the exact right thing? Not so amazing when you consider what a character individual he is. He sets the tone, he sets the example, and frankly, he’s the kind of coach who players want to play for.
Funny that Tom Coughlin, coaching the Super Bowl champs, didn’t bench his starters until the 2nd half of Sunday’s game and never heard one peep from anyone. I think Tomlin would have escaped all criticism if only Ben had not been injured and the boys won 31-0. I, for one, don’t have to look for reasons to second guess Mike Tomlin. The same set of expectations from the coach exists with the current champs…….you show up, you put on your work boots, and your work hat, and you go to work.
I agree with the other posts here….Tomlin won’t have a great opportunity to win COY because he likely won’t have to bring the Steelers back from the dead………..unless the salary cap era ends and then we can all become poker fans.
Let’s not second guess Tomlin for this decision. I’d be thinking about second guessing him if he had benched everyone for this game, because that would be out of character for him.
You bench people when you have to play a January game with no week of rest to heal the aches and pains that accumulate from a killer schedule like the one the Men of Steel faced this year. You keep them battle ready and then take the rest that you earned in our current situation.
Happy New Year’s everyone, and let’s start filling the other hand with SB rings!!!!!
by SteelerNorth on Dec 31, 2008 10:12 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Ill rec that comment from SteelerNorth
Good stuff. Agreed all around.
by Michael Bean on Jan 2, 2009 12:51 AM EST up reply actions
I was with you till
you put Bilicheat in the discussion. Now I need a new mouse for my pc :(
You should have to do 10 push ups or something for posting that ;)
That Bit About Cowher a Shoe-In for HOF
Go look at the coaches in (and not in) the HOF – the only guarantee is that if you get 2 rings, then you are in. For me, Cowher was great, but he may not make it regardless of whether you or I think he should or not.
by rushthequarterback on Dec 31, 2008 10:45 PM EST reply actions
Fair enough
I’d agree if I thought he wouldn’t coach – or succeed – again. Either way, seven division titles, a career winning percentage of .660 and two AFC championships along with a ring is a pretty damn good resume.*
*stats may not be accurate, but they’re pretty close.
by Neal Coolong on Jan 1, 2009 12:03 PM EST up reply actions
Nah
AFC championships shouldn’t matter if you ask me – especially as they lost them at home, which is damning. Cowher has a .616 winning percentage which is not stellar. He’s very Bud Grant-like, in my view (and Bud is in), but Grant did coach to 4 Super Bowls. One more ring and the chin is in, but until then he is marginal.
Look at the list – only 21 coaches in the history of football are in. In my view, the selection of Belicheck from this era will hurt Cowher’s chances a lot. There is going to have to be some soul searching by the committee given the rank and foul cheating that may have hurt Cowher.
One more ring and he’d be a shoe-in.
by rushthequarterback on Jan 1, 2009 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
Not stellar?
.616 is not stellar? Do you realize that puts him in the top ten all time? Please. He may not have won a ton of SBs, but lets not diminish the fact that he just plain won.
Not only that
but Coach Cowher is only nine wins away from cracking the top 10 for total wins and 50 wins away from cracking the top five. He has 161. Chuck Noll is currently 5th with 209, so if and when Cowher does come back, even if he enjoys only moderate success, he will be a future HOFer.
Cowher coached for 15 years
And during that time, the Steelers had the best record in the NFL. If that doesn’t get you in the Hall of Fame, with a Super Bowl cherry on top, then I have no use for the Hall of Fame.
Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history
Agreed.
He is in alreadyor should be. Bud Grant is a good benchmark. They have almost identical coaching records. He is in and he doesn’t have a ring. I’m just saying once Cowher comes back and by the time his career is all said and done, there will be no debate at all.
COMPLETELY AGREE...
rather than rewrite my rationale…here’s what I wrote about 2 weeks ago:
http://5goldenrings.net/2008/12/18/coach-of-the-yearwhy-not/
good article
Thanks for sharing. Email me when you have posts you like. I just don’t make the rounds to the sites I like to read hardly at all. Thanks.
by Michael Bean on Jan 2, 2009 12:53 AM EST up reply actions
Coach of the Year
isnt even a NFL award. It’s a media award and there are about five different media outlets that hand out such an award. But for arguments sake lets stick with the AP Coach of the Year.
This is an award Tomlin will eventually get. It just isn’t his turn yet. Cowher won it in his first season, but didn’t win it after that. There aren’t too many caoches who have won multiple times, none more than twice. Lombardi, Landry, and Shula all won just once despite lengthy and successful coaching careers. Chuck Noll never won the award and neither did Mike Shanahan.
In short, this an award that just gets past around from year to year. I’m sure Tomlin’s turn will be coming, but if it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world. If you actually look at the list of previous winners, there are some prettying underwhelming names on it. The important thing is we know what we have in our HC and so do the Rooneys.
by Jonny B. on Jan 1, 2009 1:47 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
ill rec that.
Good point. The award too often goes to the teams that had such low expectations, perhaps too low really, which gives the coaches more credit than they perhaps deserve.
by Michael Bean on Jan 2, 2009 12:55 AM EST up reply actions
True. HC is really a rather thankless job.
If the team does better than expected, they give you Coach of the Year, maybe, but if the team does worse than expected, you get fired, likely.
He could be, but won't be.
I think Tomlin could be the COY. But he won’t because it goes to coaches with greatly improved teams that went from bad to good.
I think that’s a farce. Why shouldn’t Tomlin get it? Yeah the D is super awesome and has carried the team. BUT this team on O has has TONS of injuries. He motivates this team and keep everyone on the same page. He keeps them focused in games such as the last one vs the Browns and doesn’t let them slow down. He relates to the players excitement and the players certainly feed off that. I could probably think of more reasons…but really….the team finshed last season in a terrible way. Tomlin never let that effect the way this season started and he’s kept it up the whole year and IMPROVED the teams as it’s gone done the road, despite injuries and despite not so good players on the O line. Tomlin doesn’t play on the O line, but he has helped them get better, which they have!
Maybe he won’t be the COY and others are just as deserving….but I think he deserves just as much as anyone.
LET’S GO STEELERS!!!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
"Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history."
Art Rooney Jr.
"Level-headed thinking." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
