One of these is not like the others...
Tomlin Deserves Credit
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One of these is not like the others...
Maybe Heath Miller never excited you, but he was a better player than Vance McDonald currently is. Of course I do like McDonald. I also realize that Tomlin had heavy input into the decision to trade for Vance McDonald. Tomlin and Colbert work seamlessly together --- Colbert does not go out and make trades on his own and then say "here you go Coach, I got you a new tight end, good luck on Sunday."
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I agree that Heath Miller was better overall. So was his predecessor, Mark Bruener. But they were both great blockers, and good "possession receivers". There were points in time that both of them were arguably the best offensive linemen on the team! But neither of them were ever mistaken for a guy who could straight-arm somebody after a catch and run for a long gain. They caught the ball, they went down immediately. Kinda like Jesse James, but Jesse isn't in their class as a blocker. Maybe in time....
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As much as Tomlin gets dragged through the mud around here, he deserved all the praise and accolades we can heap on him.
I see a team focused and playing with good energy. Five game win streaks don't grow on trees.
But there are too many games left to start patting anyone on the back. Let's see them keep it up and finish strong. Yes, Mike Tomlin - and the whole staff - has done an excellent job, that's undeniable. Now comes the hard part.
I see a team focused and playing with good energy. Five game win streaks don't grow on trees.
But there are too many games left to start patting anyone on the back. Let's see them keep it up and finish strong. Yes, Mike Tomlin - and the whole staff - has done an excellent job, that's undeniable. Now comes the hard part.
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We might need to credit Bell, it seems to me his staying away has led to a team with some chemistry and on a mission.
I thought it would be appropriate to bring this thread back up. I’m not making excuses for his mismanagement of timeouts or losing to an obviously inferior opponent in the Raiders but he consistently faces adversity and with all our short comings we are still in position to make the playoffs once again. I realize the expectation for this team is to win the Super Bowl every year but in this day and age it just isn’t possible. Our defense really took a major hit with Shazier last year and haven’t been able to recover. I’m still a believer and I realize I’m probably in the minority but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Also, why doesn’t Colbert blamed more than Tomlin? He’s been the one who at the end of the day has put together this team and made really bad calls on bringing in free agents who are injury prone and can’t produce on the field.
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I think that there is plenty of blame to go around between Colbert and Tomlin. How much input does Tomlin have in the draft? Are the players we're bringing in on defense simply not good enough? If they are, does Tomlin and Butler not coach them up good enough? Are Tomlin and Butler playing to their strengths and putting them in the best situations to succeed?
Simply put imo who the hell really knows whats going on over there. Many have speculated that Tomlin has his hands in the defense entirely to much and if thats the case, there is part of the problem.
Simply put imo who the hell really knows whats going on over there. Many have speculated that Tomlin has his hands in the defense entirely to much and if thats the case, there is part of the problem.
The short comings and adversity and drama is a direct reflection of the coach.
We had a great defense when Tomlin took over, the players were in place, the DC was in place. The defensive scheme and talent has gotten progressively worse under Tomlin, who was a defensive coach.
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We had a great defense when Tomlin took over, the players were in place, the DC was in place. The defensive scheme and talent has gotten progressively worse under Tomlin, who was a defensive coach.
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I would say Tomlin took over a defense at the tail end of their careers and relied on an aging Dick LeBeau who’s scheme was becoming outdated and then hired a LeBeau disciple who hasn’t shown he’s capable of making the proper adjustments. I know obviously he should take some of the blame because he’s the head coach. BUT this team is void of the talent we once had and I don’t think this falls on Tomlin but think it falls on Colbert.
I’m sure it’s a collective decision and not just one person. BUT I believe Colbert has the final say and he is the GM. Colbert has been around forever and has done a great job in the past. I just think it would be good to shake things up at the top with fresh ideas and ability to analyze talent.
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You're wrong. The SB team that lost to GB had a ton of Cowher players on it. That was 4 years after Tomlin took over. Which is longer than the average player stays in the NFL. They were hardly near the tail end. Hell just look at the name: Harrison, Farrior, McFadden, Polamalu, Keisel, Taylor, Clark, Hampton, Aaron Smith, Foote. 10 players from Cowher still on Tomlin's defense 4 years after. Many of them played even longer. Harrison just left last year.
The scheme was not outdated. Hell the 08' defense is one of the greatest of all time. Outdated? **** me. The 2010 SB was very good as well. Of course you don't think if falls on Tomlin because he is never responsible for anything. He isn't in charge of the offense, defense, STs, drafting, ETC... He's in the most powerful position on the team but he has no power... so of course he is great at his job. Seriously?
Colbert has been around forever and has a proven track record, at what point do you hold the coaching staff accountable for not developing players? Did our scouting department and Colbert just forget how to draft defensive players? Maybe the shake up needs to be the coach and the staff that is overseeing this cluster.
Facts and the roster doesn't even come close to that assessment. Not even close.
Sorry but you are wrong and we could back and forth all day. Nobody runs a real 3-4 anymore. The game has changed so much even within the past 5 years and the famous zone blitz became dated as well. If you can’t see it then you’re blind. He took over in 2007 and we lost the Super Bowl in 2011. Troy’s last season was 2014 and should have been 2013, Keisels last real season was 2013, Ryan Clark’s last season was 2014, Hampton’s last season was 2012, Aaron Smith’s last season was 2011 and played in only a combined 14 games in 3 years leading up to 2011. Farriors last season was 2011. So in a matter of 3 years after we lost the super bowl all these players were not playing for the team. That’s a lot of players to lose at once and had no depth to replace most of those positions. I also never said he shouldn’t take responsibility but to place all the blame on him isn’t fair as well. By the way we all look back and say how great Cowher is now and how he left the team with so much talent but completely forget all the years his teams choked and came up short. Hell he didn’t even win a super bowl until 14 years on the job. Our past isn’t necessarily any better under Cowher. Some would say the most powerful person in the team is GM.
What? Over 50% of teams run the 3-4 as their base defense.
So Tomlin still had most of Cowher's defense for 5 years and you are claiming they were on their last leg in 2007 when Tomlin took over? You can't make this **** up.
So I guess you were ok with them drafting Edmunds, Burns, Jones, Dupree, Davis, Hood, Golson, Worilds within the past 9 years. All on the defensive side of the ball and all within the first 2 picks. Also, we picked a total of 12 players on the defensive side and out of those picks 8 of those are busts and obviously the jury is still out on Edmunds. I guess Tomlin deserves to take the blame for this as well right? Just so we are clear the issue isn’t with the offense but defense. Also, we are not even talking about other busts along the line and offense that have been drafted. But Tomlin should have developed them better. Yea that’s it.
So in plain words, Tomlin has NO RESPONSIBILITY to find a way to get the most out of his players, or to develop his players, and has NO say what so ever in who the Steelers draft. What exactly does Tomlin do?
Well considering most guys didn’t even play 4-5 years after he took over and only a handful players played for 6 more years yea. My point is we draft and develop any guys after them and still ran the same broken defense for too long. Why do you think they forced LeBeau to leave? I also remember so many people on this board and fans in general crying for a change. Tomlin deserves blame for sure but so does Colbert.
Plain and simple most of those couldn’t be developed into game changers in my opinion. They were bad draft choices. I believe we maxed out the potential those guys had. Three of those guys don’t play in the NFL anymore and I would say in another 3-4 years neither will the rest of them.
Please name them because you have zero facts to back up anything you say. Also, of those teams they don’t run a traditional 3-4 defense like we ran under LeBeau.
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The defense was consistently a top 10 defense up until 2012. The more we morphed out of LeBeau's defense and more into Tomlin's Tampa-2 is when our defense started blowing leads and getting toasted. If LeBeau's defense was the issues, why have we gotten worse every year since he was not retained in 2014?
You have NOTHING to back up any of your bullshit. Hence why you claim Tomlin inherited an over the hill defense but facts show that Tomlin had the same defense for almost 6 years.
http://fantasysportdrs.com/nfl-base-defenses-by-team/
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If someone is defending Tomlin after the clusterfuck Sunday he is just a moron. Arguing about Cowhers players is beyond dumb at this point. Tomlin is a **** coach with a franchise QB. Without him he is a poor man's Rich Kotite