Will Mike Tomlin get an extension before the 2019 regular season kicks off?

[RuthlessBurgher]

No “bold predictions” about 2019 season for Mike Tomlin

Posted by Josh Alper on July 17, 2019, 10:27 AM EDT

The end of the 2018 season was not a good one for the Steelers as they missed the playoffs and saw dysfunction take center stage thanks to wide receiver Antonio Brown skipping out on practice during the final week of the year.

Brown is gone in a trade to the Raiders and running back Le'Veon Bell has also moved on after sitting out all of last season, which has led plenty of players to weigh in about how much clearer the air around the team has been this offseason. Head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t join in that chorus, however.

Tomlin said last month that any change in “chemistry or culture” won’t reveal itself until the team faces adversity. In a recent interview with Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, Tomlin said he’s not going to make any pronouncements about how that will play out.

“I acknowledge that there are some significant changes, but talking about it is not going to dictate the outcome,” Tomlin said. “You won’t hear a lot of bold predictions from us. That is not our style; that is not appropriate. We know that we are judged based on performance anyway.”

Should that performance fail to reach expectations, it wouldn’t reflect well on Tomlin and could impact his job security. The coach insists that’s not changing his approach in response to that state of affairs.

“I shaped my reputation in this business and this outlook in this business being singularly focused on the task at hand,” Tomlin said. “So I’d be kidding you if I told you I had a certain edge because of what happened in 2018. I just have a certain edge because I better have a certain edge.”

That edge has worked well for Tomlin in the past and he’ll need it to work well for him again this year to avoid any “bold predictions” about what the Steelers might do in an effort to rediscover their footing.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/07/17/no-bold-predictions-about-2019-season-for-mike-tomlin/

[Eich]

“I shaped my reputation in this business and this outlook in this business being singularly focused on the task at hand,” Tomlin said. “

Well, except that time when he looked ahead to a rematch with the cheaters that never happened because he couldn't get past the Jagoffs.

[Buzz]

Well, except that time when he looked ahead to a rematch with the cheaters that never happened because he couldn't get past the Jagoffs.

+1
hopefully MT has learned his lesson on that

[Oh wow]

Well, except that time when he looked ahead to a rematch with the cheaters that never happened because he couldn't get past the Jagoffs.

Yeah. I’m sure they took the week off and didn’t even game plan for the Jags. Probably just watched movies and Seinfeld reruns.

[Northern_Blitz]

Yeah. I’m sure they took the week off and didn’t even game plan for the Jags. Probably just watched movies and Seinfeld reruns.

Especially because they got blown out earlier in the season with around 5 turnovers.

They probably thought it was going to be easy and decided not to try. That's how guys end up becoming pro athletes (and HCs)...by not giving a **** and only turning it on every once in a while.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Well, except that time when he looked ahead to a rematch with the cheaters that never happened because he couldn't get past the Jagoffs.

This "looking ahead to a rematch" complaint about Tomlin is so overblown.

Folks act as though this happened in January when he should have been preparing to play Jacksonville but Tomlin spent all week talking about New England instead.

The infamous interview with Dungy took place back in November that year. Pittsburgh was in first place in the AFC North and New England was in first place in the AFC East. Both teams obviously had Super Bowl aspirations. Tomlin essentially acknowledged that although that regular season matchup against New England would be important, if we are to get where we really want to go, we'd likely have to face that team a second time. That's all.

Detractors paint it as cockiness and overlooking other opponents, but I see it as him essentially just praising the New England dynasty. His goal is ultimately the Super Bowl, so I think he was saying that you have to beat the best to be the best.

[RuthlessBurgher]

How it started: First jobs in football for all 32 NFL head coaches

8:00 AM ET
NFL Nation

The path to NFL head coach is a unique story for all 32 men in those jobs. But almost all of them started at the bottom, where no task is too menial -- fetch coffee, cut up videotape, paint the end zones, even wash the head coach's car. And all of those experiences helped prepare them to reach the pinnacle of their profession.

Our NFL Nation reporters asked all 32 head coaches about their first jobs and what they learned from the experience.


Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

First football job: Wide receivers coach at Virginia Military Institute in 1995

What he learned: Tomlin joined the VMI staff eager to impart his coaching acumen when he learned what he called a "very vivid" lesson. "Keep my mouth shut," Tomlin said. And he quickly knew why: This was an apprenticeship, and the coaching staff needed dirty work done. "I thought I had pretty good football intellect. I was excited about being able to relate it to people," Tomlin said. "I learned very quickly it was less about that and more about me learning the vocation, the minutiae, the drudgery." After his first and only season with the Keydets, Tomlin, who played wide receiver at William & Mary, was assigned the arduous task of making cut-ups for the staff. Instead of exchanging ideas and building the foundation for the next year, Tomlin was working the triple-stack VHS -- record, pause, next play.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn worked alongside Tomlin until midnight for days to prepare the cut-ups. Tomlin called it a "humbling experience," but as he coaches the Steelers nearly 25 years later, he often recycles a coaching phrase he learned at VMI.

"'We're coaching it or we're allowing it to happen' is a term that stuck out to me," Tomlin said. "It kind of reflects the responsibilities associated with our jobs and something I think about often. Forget your capabilities. It's about what you're willing to do. I apply that to my coaching. I also apply that to my teaching. The same applies to the playing of the game. Talents are less important than what they are willing to do to help us pursue what we're pursuing." -- Jeremy Fowler

Click here for other 31 coaches: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...l-head-coaches

The pictures of some of the older coaches as young men (Andy Reid, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Bruce Arians, etc.) are perhaps more interesting than their stories.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

This "looking ahead to a rematch" complaint about Tomlin is so overblown.

Right up there with the Anthony Smith guaranteed win.

"We're going to win," Smith said. "Yeah, I can guarantee a win. As long as we come out and do what we got to do. Both sides of the ball are rolling, and if our special teams come through for us, we've got a good chance to win."

[Buzz]

From article by Rich Hill, Nov. 28, 2017:

When asked by former Colts head coach Tony Dungy how he stops his players and himself from looking ahead on the schedule to playing the Patriots, Tomlin disagreed with that approach.

Not only is Tomlin already thinking about facing the Patriots in week 15, but he’s also thinking about playing New England in the playoffs.

“Man, I’m going to embrace the elephant in the room, it’s going to be fireworks,” Tomlin said. “It’s probably going to be part one, and that’s going to be a big game. But probably, if we’re both doing what we’re supposed to do, the second one is really going to be big. And what happens in the first is going to set up the second one, and determine the location in the second one.”

Yikes. That’s some serious disrespect to the rest of the AFC (albeit not unfounded) that should only serve to paint a bigger target on the Steelers’ backs. Now it’ll be mighty embarrassing if the Steelers get knocked out during the divisional round against a team that Tomlin was already looking past.

Can you imagine Bill Belichick saying anything other than, “we’re focused on playing the Buffalo Bills” when asked about the Steelers? When given another chance to explain his comments, Tomlin said he stands by the statement.

https://www.patspulpit.com/2017/11/28/16704554/is-mike-tomlin-serious-the-new-england-patriots-are-already-in-the-pittsburgh-steelers-heads

[Eich]

This "looking ahead to a rematch" complaint about Tomlin is so overblown.

It is and was. But I still didn't like it. It just makes us look stupid and opened himself up to unnecessary criticism. And it's still somewhat contrary to him saying that he's always singularly focused.