Art Rooney Says Mike Tomlin Is The Steelers’ Coach Of The Future

[hawaiiansteel]

Rooney Jr. has turned out to be a man with no innovation of his own; just a guy who’s trying to copy his daddy but his daddy was a better owner .. a man who’d adopt to the times. These current ways are not building a championship winning team. And if Dan senior were alive in his prime right now, he’d update his philosophies , get with the times and Tomlin would be fired.

[NJ-STEELER]

Like I said before, I’m all in favor of seeing Tomlin here for several more seasons.
It will interesting to watch him run the team with his own players.
According to some, Ben has been holding this team back.
I am excited to see Tomlin have full control over this team.
And obviously, there are more important things than winning in Rooney’s eyes.

don't yinz know, tomlin would be challenging vince lombardi if he didn't have ben as his qb

[hawaiiansteel]

[Steel Maniac]

Like I said before, I’m all in favor of seeing Tomlin here for several more seasons.
It will interesting to watch him run the team with his own players.
According to some, Ben has been holding this team back.
I am excited to see Tomlin have full control over this team.
And obviously, there are more important things than winning in Rooney’s eyes.

Because of the facts of the playoffs the last decade, I’m being forced to have to agree with you about Rooney Jr not caring about championships anymore. He’s very content just to win 8 games a year and that’s enough to satisfy the masses. I hate saying it but I can’t argue with the playoff facts. Tomlin has as much control as Jr. wants him to have.

[NorthCoast]

1st. I think Rooney is being honest here, but let's wait until Tomlin's contract gets extended to come to any conclusions.

It will be interesting to see Tomlin coach a younger team IMO.

I think it will also be interesting to see him decoupled from Ben.

My guess is that it will be much easier to enforce a culture / norms without a big time QB. Part of the Brady magic is that he seems to be the one enforcing norms.

But it's mostly talent that wins and loses games IMO. So his record will likely take a dive.

Although QBs have been more available than ever in the last 2 years.

I wonder if there will be a correction in QB salaries (or at least contract structures) moving forward. If so, I hope it comes after QBs in our division get signed.

This was written two years ago, but I think it's even valid today;

The draft, free agency and the trade market were all overflowing with options, and the stage was set for several months of action at the most important position in all of professional sports. There would be multiple trades involving playoff passers (Alex Smith and Tyrod Taylor) and a record, fully-guaranteed contract coming for Kirk Cousins and shuffling around some other high-priced QBs (Sam Bradford), and a signing of -- and then, in the summer, a trade of -- a recent first-round QB (Teddy Bridgewater) and a record-tying five rookie QBs were selected in the first round of the draft that spring. Oh, and a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback (Drew Brees) was also an unrestricted free agent and without a team for a little while, although it was viewed as a near certainty he would re-sign with the Saints (as he did).

So, yeah, it was dizzying and all encompassing and, by its very nature, rendered this upcoming offseason boring by comparison regarding quarterbacks. So many teams invested so much time, money, draft capital, and energy into addressing the position a year ago that it only made sense that far fewer would be willing, able and needing to one year later. Sure, many of the gambles made a year ago won't pay off (the Jags extending the contract of Blake Bortles, for starters), but very few of those teams will be ready to admit it so soon. And this time around there may be more veteran quarterbacks available than there are teams ready to embrace acquiring a new starting QB.

The cycling of QBs used to be about 5 yrs. I think the window now is maybe 3 yrs. Teams are not going to wait a half decade for a QB to develop and with more NFL ready QBs entering the league they won't have to.

[Northern_Blitz]

This was written two years ago, but I think it's even valid today;

The draft, free agency and the trade market were all overflowing with options, and the stage was set for several months of action at the most important position in all of professional sports. There would be multiple trades involving playoff passers (Alex Smith and Tyrod Taylor) and a record, fully-guaranteed contract coming for Kirk Cousins and shuffling around some other high-priced QBs (Sam Bradford), and a signing of -- and then, in the summer, a trade of -- a recent first-round QB (Teddy Bridgewater) and a record-tying five rookie QBs were selected in the first round of the draft that spring. Oh, and a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback (Drew Brees) was also an unrestricted free agent and without a team for a little while, although it was viewed as a near certainty he would re-sign with the Saints (as he did).

So, yeah, it was dizzying and all encompassing and, by its very nature, rendered this upcoming offseason boring by comparison regarding quarterbacks. So many teams invested so much time, money, draft capital, and energy into addressing the position a year ago that it only made sense that far fewer would be willing, able and needing to one year later. Sure, many of the gambles made a year ago won't pay off (the Jags extending the contract of Blake Bortles, for starters), but very few of those teams will be ready to admit it so soon. And this time around there may be more veteran quarterbacks available than there are teams ready to embrace acquiring a new starting QB.

The cycling of QBs used to be about 5 yrs. I think the window now is maybe 3 yrs. Teams are not going to wait a half decade for a QB to develop and with more NFL ready QBs entering the league they won't have to.

It sounds like the beginning of the position being devalued a bit.

I think that's what needs to happen because they make such a big percentage of the cap and the rookie contract advantage is so big.

Hopefully the young QBs in our division all sign highest ever deals though.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Rooney Jr. has turned out to be a man with no innovation of his own; just a guy who’s trying to copy his daddy but his daddy was a better owner .. a man who’d adopt to the times. These current ways are not building a championship winning team. And if Dan senior were alive in his prime right now, he’d update his philosophies , get with the times and Tomlin would be fired.

I think Art should get a pass for at least this week. He just lost his mother.

As for Cowher, one thing that really impressed me abut his coaching was he had to play with quarterbacks starting like Tomzak, Graham, and Miller, who were not very good at all. O'Donnell, Stewart, and Maddox, we're not much better. At one point I think O'Donell was decent, then we lost him and had to play Stewart who was young and raw. Yet he had the team in contention and won playoff games with this crew , going 13-3 to 9-7 nine times. These QB's were not easy to win with, yet he did it. Other coaches would have been fired.

Yeah he had one really bad 6-10 season with Maddox, but that enables us to get Ben, and we rebounded to a 15-1 and 11-5 seasons eventually winning a super bowl.

Just imagine Cowher's record if he had Ben his entire coaching career. He'd be right up there with Walsh, Lombardi, Shula, and Johnson.

Having Ben makes it easy on a head coach, Indeed, Cowher was 5-1 in the playoffs with him.

[feltdizz]

I think Art should get a pass for at least this week. He just lost his mother.

As for Cowher, one thing that really impressed me abut his coaching was he had to play with quarterbacks starting like Tomzak, Graham, and Miller, who were not very good at all. O'Donnell, Stewart, and Maddox, we're not much better. At one point I think O'Donell was decent, then we lost him and had to play Stewart who was young and raw. Yet he had the team in contention and won playoff games with this crew , going 13-3 to 9-7 nine times. These QB's were not easy to win with, yet he did it. Other coaches would have been fired.

Yeah he had one really bad 6-10 season with Maddox, but that enables us to get Ben, and we rebounded to a 15-1 and 11-5 seasons eventually winning a super bowl.

Just imagine Cowher's record if he had Ben his entire coaching career. He'd be right up there with Walsh, Lombardi, Shula, and Johnson.

Having Ben makes it easy on a head coach, Indeed, Cowher was 5-1 in the playoffs with him.

Bill went 8- with Ben in 2006. Partially because Ben refused to listen to Cowher, Bradshaw and others who recommended he wear a helmet or stop riding the motorcycle. Makes you wonder how often Ben and Cowher would’ve butted heads since Cowher didn’t want Ben and forced him to be a game manager.

Also, part of the reason Cowher had those QB’s is because he was a Schotty guy. QB isn’t high on their list when it comes to building a team. This is why he wanted to pass on Ben.

Its real easy to say Cowher would have a ton of success but as we see, most HC’s with great QB’s who win a SB struggle to make another SB let alone win won. We would probably have similar success with Cowher or maybe Ben decides to move on because we are a run heavy team and he feels handcuffed by Bill’s philosophy once we have a lead.

and Bill had two 6-10 seasons. In 2000 we didnt draft a franchise QB, we drafted Plaxico Burress and he left because we didn’t throw the ball enough and won a SB with a game winning TD a few years later. Then he shot himself.

[whatever]

I think Art should get a pass for at least this week. He just lost his mother.

As for Cowher, one thing that really impressed me abut his coaching was he had to play with quarterbacks starting like Tomzak, Graham, and Miller, who were not very good at all. O'Donnell, Stewart, and Maddox, we're not much better. At one point I think O'Donell was decent, then we lost him and had to play Stewart who was young and raw. Yet he had the team in contention and won playoff games with this crew , going 13-3 to 9-7 nine times. These QB's were not easy to win with, yet he did it. Other coaches would have been fired.

Yeah he had one really bad 6-10 season with Maddox, but that enables us to get Ben, and we rebounded to a 15-1 and 11-5 seasons eventually winning a super bowl.

Just imagine Cowher's record if he had Ben his entire coaching career. He'd be right up there with Walsh, Lombardi, Shula, and Johnson.

Having Ben makes it easy on a head coach, Indeed, Cowher was 5-1 in the playoffs with him.

The biggest difference was building his own super bowl winning team, not being given one.

[feltdizz]

The biggest difference was building his own super bowl winning team, not being given one.

well, we were lucky Cowher didn’t get to choose the first pick in 2004 because it surely wouldn’t have been Ben.

Also lucky Maddox got hurt or Ben probably holds a clip board most of his rookie year.

but I’m also anxious to see Tomlin once he has a young franchise QB of his own. Our teams always performed better than folks predicted without Ben.

[Steel Maniac]

I think Art should get a pass for at least this week. He just lost his mother.

As for Cowher, one thing that really impressed me abut his coaching was he had to play with quarterbacks starting like Tomzak, Graham, and Miller, who were not very good at all. O'Donnell, Stewart, and Maddox, we're not much better. At one point I think O'Donell was decent, then we lost him and had to play Stewart who was young and raw. Yet he had the team in contention and won playoff games with this crew , going 13-3 to 9-7 nine times. These QB's were not easy to win with, yet he did it. Other coaches would have been fired.

Yeah he had one really bad 6-10 season with Maddox, but that enables us to get Ben, and we rebounded to a 15-1 and 11-5 seasons eventually winning a super bowl.

Just imagine Cowher's record if he had Ben his entire coaching career. He'd be right up there with Walsh, Lombardi, Shula, and Johnson.

Having Ben makes it easy on a head coach, Indeed, Cowher was 5-1 in the playoffs with him.

Cowher was clearly a superior coach then Tomlin. Not saying he was perfect but better than what we’ve got. He knew how to build a team ; but he did need Mr. Rooney to force Ben on him. But he got to numerous AFC championship games without a legit QB. Very impressive.

[feltdizz]

so now losing championship games at home when favored is considered success? interesting.

[whatever]

Cowher was clearly a superior coach then Tomlin. Not saying he was perfect but better than what we’ve got. He knew how to build a team ; but he did need Mr. Rooney to force Ben on him. But he got to numerous AFC championship games without a legit QB. Very impressive.

Absolutely.
Looking at the overall talent each coach has had, it isn’t even close which one got the most out of their teams.

[hawaiiansteel]

Because of the facts of the playoffs the last decade, I’m being forced to have to agree with you about Rooney Jr not caring about championships anymore. He’s very content just to win 8 games a year and that’s enough to satisfy the masses.

once again, you're as wrong as wrong can be.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Cowher was clearly a superior coach then Tomlin. Not saying he was perfect but better than what we’ve got. He knew how to build a team ; but he did need Mr. Rooney to force Ben on him. But he got to numerous AFC championship games without a legit QB. Very impressive.

Agreed. Cowher was the better coach, and basically handed off a super bowl team to Tomlin.

On Dan Rooney, I think fans really underestimated his worth. I certainly did. Maybe he did recommend Ben to Cowher, but if Cowher was not on board with this type of stragetic pick, Ben would have played elsewhere.