New Respect for Tomlin

I just saw a bit of Sound FX on NFL Network. It was the St. Louis game, week 16.

Brandon Lloyd made a nice sideline catch, tiptoes in bounds. It was a difficult call. All the Steelers nearby, coaches and players, rush forward waving their arms incomplete, but Tomlin just stands there. He says to himself (or maybe into his headset) "It was a catch." As the Steelers go back to their places, he looks at them and says, "What the hell y'all lookin' at?" I love that. That's beautiful to me. Honesty in sports is something I was raised with, so much so that as a kid I was often looked at as a referee as well as a player if there was a close call. I find it so depressing that 99% of guys out there will get away with whatever they can without regard to the integrity of the game. That probably sounds super lame I guess, and I'm as competitive as anyone, but I like the game more than winning.

The next thing Tomlin said was, "Are you the same group of guys be tellin' me to challenge?"

Obviously it's not their eyes that are the issue so it shouldn't affect challenges, but it was funny anyway.

 

there is a fine line though, even with MT. if everyone does it , is it really cheating?

 

Uh-huh. Yep.

I'm not claiming he's never tried to push the refs the wrong way before (although I've never seen it). This is just one thing I saw that I liked.

 

it's like every lineman is taught to hold. every DB is taught to get an arm bar. every team runs picks. his team does too. it's kinda like the little white lie thing. it's still a lie.

i've always told my players to not yell at a ref, nor do i. they are not going to change their call. only bad things can happen after that. treating them with respect, even if you need to let them know you think it was the wrong call, and praising them when it is the right call, can usually get you one later on. i like this approach much better then the constant screamer.

 

yea i agree TTF, and snack sorry to hijack your thread about MT, some of the things they call and when they call them in all pro sports is iffy at times. holding on JH. i know they see it, teams know they see it, but it's just not called very often. traveling in basketball is another that kills me in the pros. like they say holding could be called on every play in football. then why isn't it? as MT says, it is what it is. yea, i like those sound bites too. MT remains a cool customer.

 

I like honesty in sports, but the reality is IT DOES WORK sometimes. Sometimes you can sway a refs decision.

 

Snack...I have to agree with you (as I often do). I love the game because of the game. This is a reason I resent the term "Homer". Yes, I love the Steelers -good, bad or indifferent... they are my team! However, when I see someone from another team make a move, out-leap a defender, bury one of our running backs or make an outstanding move to get to our quarterback I have no problem giving that player or team credit. I don't expect us to win every game or every battle on the field and there are some awsome players in the NFL that are not Steelers. You can't sit there and tell me it isn't fun to watch highlight reels of someone like Howe Long. Anyhow, I like your point to this thread and I love the fact that there are some honest moments out there.

 

I agree with both of you. At the same time, I applaud innovation that finds new ways to get an upper hand within the existing rules. And in that sense, some innovation is always going to tread a fine line. But that's different to appealing every decision the refs make just for the sake of appealing. That gets very annoying after a bit.

 

Yeah, I am all about doing anything you can do to get an upper hand as long as it's within the rules. When I was a coach, I did everything possible. Most notably, I designed crazy plays that were technically legal (I carried the rules around in my pocket in case anyone challenged me), but hard to see coming. The biggest controversy revolved around a play I ran that was based off of what I saw the Steelers run over 10 years ago. Kordell tries to send a WR in motion, he doesn't go, Kordell walks out to him like he's going to talk to him, they snap the ball to Jerome who ran for a 7 yard gain. I ran one sort of like that that on 4th and 1 and actually got a TD, and when the other coach complained that it wasn't legal, and I asked them to show me where in the rules packet that I was holding it said it wasn't legal. The refs decided to "compromise" and have me re-run the 4th and 1 play. Their official reasoning? The "misdirection" was not allowed (needless to say, this was not in the rules). I asked if play-action was still okay, and they said yes. I asked if running backs trying to fake out defenders was still okay, and I don't think they got the joke. I was accused of poor sportsmanship a number of times, which I found ironic since sportsmanship was so important to me and I considered myself a better sport than the coaches accusing me of being a bad sport. I guess because we had different criteria.

As to TTF's point, I would agree that it's bad sportsmanship if it's not really warranted. If you're stretching to make a case that shouldn't be made (say, telling them to call Troy offsides when he does those insane blitzes), then you're unfairly trying to influence the refs. Trying to trick them into seeing something that isn't there. But if there's a problem out there that no one seems to know about (I come back to this all the time, but JH has a terrible reputation and Terrell Suggs does not, despite his repeated filthy plays), then I don't really have a problem with it. I would gladly compile a video all of Harrison's hits that he was flagged/fined for, most of which were legal hits on the field, and then compile a video of the same number of plays in which Suggs did something far worse and was not flagged or fined. At the bare minimum, it would get them to realize that Harrison's reputation is not deserved.

And while fighting with the ref or flat out lying to him to get him to change his mind might not be against the rules, I think it's terrible sportsmanship. Can you imagine how much better the game would be if everyone was honest all the time? It might make no difference either way to a lot of people, but I would have a much easier time watching. I wouldn't have to cringe every play.

 

When ever there is talk about a coach, I think about a quote the famous Italian soccer coach Giovanni Trapattoni said.
The quote was repeated recently by the German coach:

And from my point of view that is absolutly correct. Few of us are close to the team and know about the condition of the players like a coach does.