Earlier this month, Mike Tomlin was requested what he had discovered about his receivers within the absence of the group’s star, George Pickens, by damage. It was not the primary time Tomlin’s workforce 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 consider in our group. I’ve mentioned that repeatedly and perhaps you’ll begin believing me,” he replied.
“We’ve got 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 may 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 best 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. Should you be 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 an absence 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 rather than the injured Wilson.
In any case, 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 effectively earlier than the Steelers,” Butler says, leaping on the probability to share his historical past together with his nice pal. “Once I obtained out of enjoying with the Seahawks I didn’t need to transfer my household round all around the nation to educate. So my ideas had been to attempt 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 employees, as they’re making an attempt to get within the enterprise, as graduate assistants. Mike did that with us and at the same time as a [graduate assistant] I believed he did a superb job of studying from the employees. He was keen to be taught.”
Even in his first steps in teaching, Tomlin marked himself out as a frontrunner. 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 recreation, 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 all people on the roster. When you realize the coach has confidence and perception in you that goes a extremely great 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 completely different yearly. It’s completely different on a person foundation. He’s a extremely good individuals individual, so he can get to know guys and know what buttons would possibly 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 actually been completely different this yr in Pittsburgh. A number of seasons of soul looking out 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 usually 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 fairly 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 score of 78.7 whereas additionally producing six fourth-quarter comeback wins whereas recording a 14-10 file in Pittsburgh. These unusual figures communicate of Pickett holding unimaginable self-belief regardless of a clearly restricted capability to throw the ball.
The person who helped instil that perception and squeeze out each drop of Pickett’s expertise was absolutely Tomlin. The thought he may do the identical for Wilson, a pale Tremendous Bowl successful quarterback who nonetheless has bucketloads of throwing energy, turns into much less unusual when seen by the lens of Pickett’s usually technically grim play that additionally, sometimes, reached unlikely glory.
You possibly can 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 usually lately – their final postseason victory got here in 2017 in opposition to the Chiefs, when Alex Smith was nonetheless the Kansas Metropolis quarterback, and Pittsburgh have misplaced 5 straight postseason video games since then. Tomlin’s tender defense-first reset and the return of Pickens to appropriate current struggles in scoring will probably be essential as they bid to clinch the AFC North title on Saturday. A win over Baltimore would let that confidence bubble up somewhat additional with, as Miller places it, the workforce “battle-tested and prepared” for the postseason.
