Intersting take on Tomlin's conservative (and possibly idiotic) play calling

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.co...-management-costing-the-steelers-in-big-games

 

I will not miss him when he is gone,,,I did not like hiring him in the first place

 

Tomlin calls plays?

 

Lol. Exactly what I was thinking. I didn't read article to be fair though. I don't read that kinda crap.

 

Well you probably are going to have to wait awhile. To think the Rooneys would get rid of him over clock management is laughable at best. That's like all the people that wanted Cowher gone for losing AFC championship games. They aren't going to fire a coach that rebuilt the team and didn't have a losing season something Cowher and Noll both did while rebuilding.

 

Yeah but at what point does the end result stop justifying the means? There have been some rather glaring deficiencies that have become prevalent under Tomlin and at a certain point putting together a few barely above .500 seasons isn't going to be covered by the overall record that includes 2 SB appearances

 

No coach is perfect. Cowher was horrible when is came to scouting and selecting QBs and he was forced to take Ben. Every coach has what they are good at and what they are bad at. Bill Bellicheat couldn't draft a WR to save his life. He took a team last year that nobody expected anything from and win the division. As long as the end is the Steelers winning I don't care how they got there. I promise you if we fired him right this minute by the morning another team would have fired their head coach and hired him.

 

I'd assume that if another SB happens they will have taken care of some of those glaring deficiencies. I don't think winning by itself or even winning a SB is a magic wand that makes you not consider all factors when looking at staffing.

 

I have never been in favor of firing anyone out right. I wanted BA gone not because I didn't like him but because when you start looking at the whole body of his work there were things that out weighed the good. Tomlin has his share of problems and you are right so did Cowher but I would look at everything before I made a move either positive or negative.

 

but did they cost the team games that would have led them to the playoffs or a SB?

 

The only thing that has ever bothered me was ending the GB SB with a time out in his pocket when the offense was clearly confused on the last drive but I still wouldn't say that cost them the game.

 

The clock management may not have led to playoff losses but some of Tomlin's other flaws did I know that. The game that springs to mind is the 49er game where Ben was too hurt to move and yet Tomlin made the choice to put him out there. At 85% Ben can win games but that game he was more like 70% with his mobility under 50% and was a liability in that game. Even if Tomlin felt he could go by the end of the 1st quarter it was obvious he wasn't able to do anything more than take snaps in shotgun and try to get rid of the ball before the pressure got there. He didn't pull Ben when winning that game puts the pressure on the Ravens to keep pace for the division and puts them in position to win a home playoff game. They don't win and end up having to play the wildcard in Denver and use a game plan that allows Tim Tebow to look like a HOF QB and he beats them. Lots of blame to go around in those two games but the end of the day it is Tomlin's team and his decisions that they have to live with.

 

You can't blame Tomlin for Denver that was all DL. Tomlin had no say in what the defense did when he was here.

 

I wouldn't dispute that fact, my point was that in order to get to that point the 49ers game looms large and that maybe they don't have to face Denver at Mile High if they had made some tough choices going into that Niners game. Now maybe Charlie Batch still loses that game if they sit Ben or maybe they win and still lose later and don't secure a home playoff game but to me it is one of those calls that makes one scratch their head. Somewhat like trading for Boykin and not even putting him in the game.

 

Yeah I didn't understand throwing Ben out there either I thought Batch could have won us that game.

 

Actually yes they do pull their starters if they are hurt and ineffectual that is a head coaches decision to make. He is hired to win football games not to make sure Ben feels comfortable with never getting the hook. Again at 85% and mobility above 75% then yes Ben is the guy. Not what happened in this case Ben was barely at 75% and his mobility was so severely limited that he could barely move under center. After the first few sacks and QB pressures even the worst coach in the NFL would pull him if only to keep him from being hurt further. Ben's health through out the week should have necessitated Charlie getting more work in a precaution if nothing else and again that is a Head Coaches decision to make. These things impacted the game and should not be ignored because Tomlin has been to two SB and his record is over .500

I'm not focusing on the negative you asked if clock management had ever kept them from winning a playoff game or a SB. I don't think it has but his other deficiencies have impacted whether or not the team made the playoffs and performed well in them. These are things that should be considered when talking about extending him and not glazed over because one time he won a SB and has a positive record. It is the same when they looked at BA's tenure and even DL's. THey have many many pluses on their record but those can not outweigh the importance of recent events when trying to evaluate them from an boss\employee standpoint. I give Mike Tomlin a lot of credit on many levels but he does has areas he could work on such as clock management, player management, ingame situations, and game planning.

 

Like Shanahan keeping RG3 playing??????

(I don't know why the quote is not working but this was for the post 2nd above this one.)

 

That is what the discussion was though TTF speculation. Blast is speculating that if Tomlin has a winning record this season and maybe a SB win no one cares that he is bad at clock management, has bad ingame awareness and tends to rely too heavily on his coordinators for game planning. To me those things don't stop because of winning a Superbowl they just seem less important because the end result is that they have won the ultimate prize, the next season the same problems are there maybe this time they don't win it all maybe they do but the problems are still there.

Now in my example are we sure about anything beyond the facts? Nope we aren't, you are correct. Ben was medically cleared and he is the franchise QB and would put the team in the best position to win. However again to me as a casual student of the game and avid football watcher looking at that game and understanding the stakes I pull Ben after the first because he can barely make it back for a handoff, he shows a great deal of pain when trying to avoid the pressure and can only take snaps out of the shotgun. There is no doubting that Ben has a high pain threshold and is a hell of a competitor but can you tell me keeping him in that game was the right move? I afraid I can't give examples of being medically cleared and still setting them, I do know that I have watched coaches pulling starting QB's for being bad during the course of the game. Blast is right when he says it doesn't happen to franchise QB's but it does happen. The Texans last week, the Browns all last year and they year before, I want to say the 49ers during their SB run or maybe the year the Steelers played the Packers in the SB where they benched a healthy Alex Smith in favor of a more dynamic Kapernick because of his ability to run the ball.