The Good and the Bad for Mike Tomlin this year

What was for you the good and the bad about Tomlin's job this year?

And what is your overall grade for Tomlin in the 2022 season?

 

Solid B.

Now he needs to fire 2 or 3 coaches starting with Canada. We simply cannot continue handcuffing this offense. WR Coach needs to be shown the door as well. None of our players can get much separation.

 

One thing that was bad: The slow start. I think he could have done a better job of evaluations. I know his plan was to not have to turn to Kenny Pickett so soon. But Mitch was awful.

One thing that was good: The 7-2 run was good.

Something I was wrong about: The Defense. I was skeptical on Austin, but it takes time to get everyone on the same page.

And what do the refs have against Hayward?

 

Keep in mind that Vegas had this team at 5.5 wins. The start was as predicted based on the offensive talent and age (young).

 

As I posted in another thread, A players hire A players, B players hire C players. Tomlin needs "help" with his next hires.

 

I am not big on Vegas Odds - though in this case, I kind of agree with them.
Let's face it, losing a Franchise QB is huge.
Losing your GM and the roster turnover has added so much to those odds.

I know I didn't have high expectations. I dinged them because I think he stuck with Mitch too long. I think that probably the win over the Bengals gave Mitch a little too much rope. The loss to NE should have been the end of him. That's really the only reason I ding him.

 

The good 9 wins

The bad 8 losses

 

It was 7.5 the over and under for the steelers,not 5.5

 

I give him a C+ overall mainly because of the 7-2 finish after being 2-6. But I can’t go any higher then that. I can’t just dismiss and ignore the 2-6 start and all the bad decisions Tomlin made to start the year such as botching the QB situation. And I won’t go any higher because they missed the playoffs as well. When will Tomlin finally be held accountable for no playoffs wins?? It’s been 6 years now and at some point this has to matter. Nobody wants to hear about the non losing season streak and all this other crap. Win a playoff game, quit relying on other teams to get in the playoffs the last week of the season, and get this team back to competing for Super Bowls.

 

Context matters. The Steelers were 9-8 in a rebuilding year. Their franchise quarterback retired. They dealt with the offseason death of Dwayne Haskins. Mental health issues ended the career of Stephon Tuitt, which didn't become official until after the draft. T.J. Watt was injured in the opener and really didn't look like himself until the last couple of games. Najee Harris was slowed by a foot injury for half the season. They ended up relying heavily on rookies, including at quarterback. All of those things contributed heavily to the 2-6 start.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not happy. Tomlin takes a big part of the blame for missed opportunities when they still had Roethlisberger, Brown, and Bell. He put together a subpar coaching staff, especially Matt Canada as offensive coordinator. He made mistakes in the 2-6 start, including not going to Pickett sooner. But this was a solid job of coaching, one that not many coaches could have pulled off, so give some credit where it is due. I'd grade him a B, but the standard next season is going to be a hell of a lot higher.

 

I actually believe Tomlin did a good job with what he had this year and could get a B. The shortcomings, however, push me down to a C grade because they were so detrimental. First, as bad as Canada was, Tomlin must shoulder the blame because he hired him and didn't cut bait. Second, while the 7-2 for the second half of the season was excellent, a couple of things to remember. He put himself in a 2-6 hole and we saw some really bad football by this team. Also, the 7 wins down the stretch were against teams we should beat. We only played 2 teams with winning records out of the last 9 games (Cin & Bal) and we lost to both of them. Only 1 win down the stretch against a team with a winning record - balt week 17.

 

Tomlin gets a D in the beginning of the season and a B in the second half of the season. Average for the year a C.

ist half of the season:

1. Too slow in replacing Bush, especially against good running teams.
2. Not using Warren more, especially with Harris injury and how he was running
3. Not using young Heywood more. Every time he touched the ball good things happen.
4. Letting the OC call some crazy plays are wrong times.
5. Not making an effort to target Pickens more.
6. Not more blitzing packages when Watt was hurt and out. QB's had too much time to throw. Hence third string QB's beating us.

2nd half of the season:

1. Fixed a lot of negative stuff that we did in the 1st half. Warren got used more, Watt and Harris got better from injuries, OC with better, not great play calling, Pickens had more targets, young Heywood used more. Pickets with no interceptions.

 

The Bad:
I would say to the handling of the QB situation wasn't too great. To start the year. But, think had the Steelers knew they could of drafted Kenny Pickett with their pick, they may of not even signed Mitch. Then could of started Rudolph and gave way to Pickett is a similar way. Any way I think Mitch still returns to his back up roll. It seems that him and Kenny get along well.

The bad was using Najee too much with an injury that wasn't healed. Also not getting enough out of his defense the 1st half of the season when it was minus TJ Watt. I know TJ is crucial, but you go to win games when he is out especially against the Jets, Patriots, and a Browns team (game 1)

The good:

He didn't lose his team. The Steelers could of packed it in and he didn't allow them to do that. He didn't go into panic mode. Whatever they did during the bye week it helped.

The team found a recipe to win games. Run the ball better. Stop the Run Better. Take care of the football. Then try to win the games at the end of them.
It wasn't pretty but it worked. It would beat average to below average teams. It probably won't be enough to beat the best teams.

Overall I give him a B- because the teams started bad but ended much better.

He's still not going any where, but he has to find a way to extend the strong finish of 2022 into next year, where the Steelers just don't qualify for the playoffs but can actually make noise and do something in them.

 

First half of the season D-
Second half of the season B+
Average C

Tomlin deserves credit for keeping the team together after a terrible first half of the season and he deserves blame for the first half half. That's the life of an NFL coach.

I thought Joe Starkey summed it up pretty well.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...tomlin-nfl-kenny-pickett/stories/202301080109

 

Please name the third-string quarterbacks that beat the Steelers this season. Once you have done that, what were their passing statistics?

 

Great: The key to job security is to set low expectations, then exceed them. Tomlin did a great job first half of the season lowering expectations, then he did a great job exceeding them in the second half. A lot of people are giving him excuses for the first half, and praising him for the second half. Meanwhile a pile of first half issues were self inflicted.

Bad: another year where I have no stories to tell my grand kids about Steelers glory seasons.

 

I think he talk about Zach Wilson of the Jets.He was their QB number 1 of course but he was so bad this year,outside of the fourth quarter vs steelers

 

This is a C and not a high C....closer to D in my opinion. I am not giving credit for him being able to beat the NFC South. If we played any other conference, we are sub 500. Oh yeah, one more thing, the never having a losing record is not a measuring stick for success, the only successful coaches hoist trophies.

 

I gave Tomlin a C+. After the 2-6 record he was around a D but they rallied to finish 7-2 over the last 9 games. What kept me from giving him a B was he still has no concept about when to make a challenge or not. I can think of a few times this year when Pickens caught passes that were called incomplete and the replay showed that they were completions but he didn't challenge. Then yesterday when Harris clearly scored he had the team rush up and quickly run another play instead of throwing the challenge flag. That poor decision cost the team 7 points. Overall though on a scale of 1-100, I give Tomlin a 77.

 

Yeah I'm the F, and proud of it.

 

nobody else gives an F

 

17 games so if there is an A++ and F - -

Then 9-8 is a C+

Considering injuries and a rookie quarterback I’m willing to bump to B-

 

Tissue?

 

The Good: The season is over.

The Bad: The same garbage will happen again next year, and the year after that, until Rooney grows a brain and realizes that Tomlin is the problem.

If Tomlin was a coach anywhere else, he would've been fired 4 times by now.

 

Congrats on another 9 win season, you must feel like you're riding on a cloud.