Has Tomlin put his stamp on this team?

By watching games, reading player comments, and reading the insightful posts on this (and the original) board, I have come to wonder if Tomlin has put the stamp of his football philosophy on this team. There are some overall changes I think have happened that may be due to other factors (age of players, injury, talent, etc.), but also may be due to the head coach's overall philosophy about how football is played. The changes I have observed are:

On defense - going from an attacking "Blitzburgh" style of defense, where the defense gambles on aggressive plays to create opportunities, to a passive, "bend, don't break" style of defense where the philosophy is to prevent big plays by the opponent. This has the effect of limiting big plays on defense, too, but still creates an effective defense overall (often ranked #1, though those rankings don't mean much, really). Interceptions for two seasons have been close to non-existent. An effective, but low risk defense.

On offense - fired a big-play, throw it down the field, offensive coordinator (though we will never know if Tomlin was behind this), and hired an OC who implements a dink-and-dunk, low risk, long drive offense, which for a few weeks mid-season hit its stride and was successful. Seems to have limited the long throws and quick strikes that characterized the offense and played to Big Ben's preferences. A potentially effective, but low risk offense.

So is Tomlin's football philosophy low risk, low gamble, and generally conservative? Sure he has done a few crazy things (attempted low probability long field goals, going for it of 4th in risky situations), but overall the team seems to plays a low risk style. Again, this could be by necessity due to injury and talent, but I wonder if that also is not consistent with Tomlin's philosophy.

And, I wonder if this style (if true) contributes to the lack of fire our team seems to have. It may be hard to get as enthusiastic as player if you know you are playing a conservative style, and not going to try for the high risk/high reward kind of splash plays that probably excite you. Does Harrison want to drop into coverage, or try to smack into a QB? Does Troy want to play center field, or blitz? Do Wallace and Brown want to run crossing patterns and screens, or go streaking down the field for big plays? Does Ben want to dump off to a running back, or scramble around to hit a receiver deep after coverage breaks down? (We know the answer to this one). Maybe the reason the players lack fire is they are unenthused with the conservative game plans.

All speculation, of course. It is what we do. I could be way off base.

 

interesting thoughts I hadnt thought much about what you said but now that you mention it......i think you make some good points

 

As good of theory as any out there! I for one have noticed the lack of "fire" from our players and maybe the conservative style has something to do with it.

 

YEP.. You just might be onto something there...
I wouldn`t have thought of Tomlin as " conservative", based on his speeches/press conferences...
But when you look at his reluctance to change the game plan, during the game, etc...
His completeley random choices of when to challenge plays, or bench players that fumble, instead of showing confidence in them, and giving them a chance to redeem themselves, just to show that he is the "man in charge",...
As well, as his poor clock management skills, and I have to start to wonder...
Were the Rooney`s suckers for his outstanding verbal skills???
I have not doubted him before, but, now I truly am starting to wonder if I was wrong.
You could also make the case that Cowher was extremely conservative..
Once he got the lead... he just "took the air out of the ball"... And crushed you with the running game.
Of course, he had a decent O-line, and Jerome Bettis...
I`m not yet ready to run Tomlin out of town, But, I am starting to question where the words end, and the actions begin...
Not just the ones to show he is "in charge"... But the ones that lead to us WINNING GAMES WE SHOULD WIN, And Competing, at a CONSISTENT level!!!

 

Nothing will suck the life out of a team faster than them playing scared to make a mistake, like fumbling, and knowing they will get benched if they do so. Our D in particular seems afraid to make a mistake and will "bend, not break", but will also "go for the tackle, not the interception". The benching of the running backs sure didn't seem to work, either. And wasn't Brown scared on that last punt he chose not to return? The more I think about it, the risk avoidance is obvious, and I think this makes for uninspired play.

I Cowher's case, he got conservative after he had a big lead. Under Tomlin, the team never seems to get many big leads on which to sit. Sure, when you screwed up you got spit on while he yelled at you, but that is different from being benched. I think it was almost a sign of honor.

Let's hope "do or die" this Sunday puts some fire in the belly, and they can execute well, too.

 

does colbert have to come into this conversation too? just a question? we seemed to have missed on one full draft with these two together. the development of the line under their watch. i know they seem pretty good at hitting first rounders, but after that we have found most guys are not ready to step in and step up, OR they are no longer here already. now i know we have hit a few, but slim pickins mostly. even down to choices of assistants. i think if we are even going to start the talk of MT, the two could go hand in hand.

 

I live locally, the majority of the people in Western Pa,
does not like Mike Tomlin. For what it is worth?

 

I think the influences that Cowher had and left with the Steelers slowy erroded away from the physical tough get a quick lead the run the clock out to Tomlins ho hum approach that we need one more point than they do to win. This team has no fire or emotion like is now head coach. I love Tomlin the man but as a haed coach I think with respect to the Rooney's past head coaching decissions this experiment is a bust.

 

This says it all for me^^^^

 

This team has major flaws in almost every area of the game, and yet somehow if we win out we make the playoffs. We have won games this year we had NO business winning and lost games that shouldn't even have been close. At the moment, I have no idea if that is coaching....or lack of execution. We have more problems than I care to list, but I am willing to give it a shot if you want me to....

 

Injuries
Turnovers
Mental mistakes
Penalties
Players complaining to the media
Players complaining to each other
Losses to bad teams

I sure hope this isn't a stamp.

 

there approximately 13 million people that live in Western Pa. that must of been a hell of a survey you took to come to that conclusion.

how about we all stop assuming things around here.

people love to complain about all the local sports writers that write stuff without facts, but there are a lot of people around here that have no problem doing it.

 

Seems to me that is the Rooney's job to control that situation. Nothing we say on this board will change that.

 

Does anyone think the dink&dunk offense helps our aging defense(when the o is flowing) and controls the clock?

 

Boy you ain't kidding!

 

Well since there are not 13 million in the whole state of Pennsylvania,
Who is blowing smoke? Let me set the record straight,
in my little corner of the world. MT has lots of flaws, and the people here are smart enough to figure it out and the majority of them in my little world do not like MT. Their you go smart ass.(For WHAT ITS WORTH ?)

 

I think at least half of those are applicable to most teams, to be honest. In particular, players getting vocal is something that is a direct consequence of the rise of social media, which has taken off in the last five years massively. Tomlin is the first coach we've had in that kind of wider forum of social communication (and expectation - I think there's a perception from sponsors etc. that fans want their players to be using the media).

We are in a new era where the idea of what 'discipline' means doesn't necessarily match on to what it meant before. That's not an excuse for Tomlin - certain coaches seem to handle this well - but more that we need to be careful about holding him to account for wider social trends.

 

Not always. It's true that Cowher could kill a game well; but he was conservative when we were playing catch up as well - I well remember screaming at the telly when we went for FGs rather than a 4th down go at a TD.

My personal view is that we will see Tomlin's 'stamp' only when Lebeau retires.

 

I think we already are seeing Tomlins stamp on this defense. I have said for years that Tomlin has forced the cover 2 on Lebeau which limits him in his attacking style of defense. Its no coincidence that since Tomlin has been here our turnover rate from the defense has diminished. Sack totals and turnovers have gone down under Tomlin.....coincidence or what?

 

ok maybe theres not 13 million people their, but i still find it to be a huge stretch to say most people in Western Pa dont like him.

how about you say most of the people you know that are sports fans dont like him. that i can believe, but not that most of Pa. doesnt like him.

like most sports writers you are stretching the facts to try and make your point.

 

I grew up in the burgh and by no means am I saying I am or all of western PA is but Pittsburgh was recently voted most racist city in the united states. Just saying.

 

we can just make a pull here . do you like tomlin as a pittsburgh head coach ? yes or not . very simple