Mike Tomlin

[fordfixer]

[url]http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/pereira-breaks-down-all-the-thanksgiving-day-calls-112813[/url]

Mike Pereira

TOMLIN TAKES THE CAKE


It's official. Pittsburgh Coach Mike Tomlin is the winner of my first annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey award.


I don't really have a Turkey award, but if I did, Tomlin would have easily clinched the award Thursday night when his Steelers took on the Ravens in Baltimore.


Here was the situation: Pittsburgh had just scored to cut the Baltimore's lead to 13-7 with 6:26 left in the third quarter. Pittsburgh's Shaun Suisham kicked off and Baltimore's Jacoby Jones received the ball at the goal line.


Jones had a big return going as he headed up the left side of the field. As he was streaking up the Steelers' sideline he approached Tomlin, who was on the sideline. The official who was tracking Jones, had to angle away from Tomlin, who had actually taken a step on the field at the Steelers' 38-yard line. Jones was tackled a few yards later at the 27-yard line.




No foul was called on the play, but there should have been.


There is no question in my mind that Tomlin should have been penalized. Granted, the official didn't run into him, but he was forced to go to the inside and he was hampering his ability to officiate the play.


One might make a case that Jones had to move further in on the field to avoid Tomlin, but I think that's a stretch.


Regardless, Tomlin has to be aware he can't be in the solid, six-foot wide white borders that rim the field when the play is coming that direction. And the fact that he was turned around watching the play on the Jumbotron is no excuse.


A 15-yard penalty should have been called and added on to the end of the play and I wouldn't be surprised if the league looks at this and considers some discipline. I'm not 100 percent sure, because I've never been involved with this situation before.


At the end of the day, my biggest disappointment is that the official didn't buck up and throw the flag.


I bet if you ask Jets coach Rex Ryan, he'd share my opinion. Ryan had a coach penalized against in their game against the Ravens just last week because an official ran into him in the white on the sideline.


So it would have been gravy if I did have Turkey award. Tomlin would have been an easy runaway winner

[Moonie]

What a useless article. All that fake outrage in the beginning, and then he concludes the ref should have called a 15 yard penalty, while admitting Tomlin's actions didn't affect that play. Name drop Ryan and speculate what may be in his head? WTF? This is something I'd write for class presentations in 5th grade.

[fordfixer]

[url]http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24305160/bill-belichick-on-mike-tomlin-that-could-easily-happen-to-any-of-us[/url]

Bill Belichick on Mike Tomlin: 'That could easily happen to any of us'
By Ryan Wilson | CBSSports.com
November 30, 2013 11:03 am ET



Depending on who you ask, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin intentionally positioned himself on the field in an effort to slow the Ravens' Jacoby Jones' clear path to the end zone during a third quarter kick return. Instead of Jones celebrating six, he was tackled by Cortez Allen and the Ravens had to eventually settle for a field goal.
That sequence of events sent Twitter to DEFCON 1, replete with Zapruder-style, frame-by-frame breakdowns divining Tomlin's intentions from grainy television footage.

After the game, Tomlin explained that “I always watch the returns on the JumboTron; it provides a better perspective for me. I lost my placement as he broke free and saw at the last second how close I was to the field of play. ... I do it quite often, like everybody else in the National Football League. I was wrong, I accept responsibility.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh joked afterwards: “I was wondering, ‘Did they credit [Tomlin] with the tackle on that?'" before adding: "That stuff happens.”

And while Jones was surprised to see Tomlin on the field, he didn't blame the coach.

“As soon as I hit the hole and I was running down the sideline, I was looking at him the whole time like, ‘Is he going to move?'” said Jones. “Literally, I was thinking, ‘Is he going to move?' I just weaved out of the way. I broke my stride a little bit but I still should not have gotten caught. I would have done the same thing if I was him. ...

"Before I got to him, he was halfway on the field. He gave me a little juke, and I tried to juke him. It is what it is. He was on the field."

The league will review the matter, but Patriots coach Bill Belichick knows what Tomlin means about losing your "placement" on the field. The Patriots coach said Friday that he had once been "blown up" while not paying attention on the sidelines and ended up under a Gatorade table.

“Obviously we have to give the officials and the players room to play,” Belichick said in comments distributed by the team (via PFT). “Sometimes that just happens where you get guys caught up a little bit on the sideline. But yeah, I saw the play last night. I was like, ‘Oh my God, yeah.' That could easily happen to any of us. It's a good lesson, I have to be careful.”

The NFL will decided whether Tomlin should be punished but there's also this: Why didn't referee Clete Blakeman flag Tomlin for impeding the side judge, who had to run around the coach while following the play downfield?

This is the second time in 10 days that Blakeman has been at the center of a controversial no-call. He was the official who failed to explain in Week 11 why it was legal for the Panthers' Luke Kuechly to bear-hug Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski in the back of the end zone as time expired

[fordfixer]

He looked pretty guilty after they showed the replay.


What do you think?

[kindlecatsb'ng]

Maybe this writer, Mike Pereira, ought to give himself a Turkey Award.

Must be a slow day in the newsroom.

Kindle

[Slapstick]

Mike appeared sheepish to say the least....now, should he be fined?

That's pretty silly...if the red ran into him, okay, I can see it...but, he didn't...

[DukieBoy]

If Harbaugh did that on a Brown return, would you want Harbaugh to be fined?

I'd like for him to be fined anyway, but ...

[flippy]

I voted yes. Tomlin knew exactly what he was doing and it was actually a pretty cool move on his part. At least it shows he cares.

[7 UP]

I voted yes. Tomlin knew exactly what he was doing and it was actually a pretty cool move on his part. At least it shows he cares.

I agree with all of the above.

[bostonsteeler]

I agree with all of the above.

Did you notice how he jumped aside in a startled manner. It wasn't a planned move; it was inadvertent.