Tomlin intended to retain Amos Jones. No really, I'm serious.

According to this article, Mike Tomlin intended to retain Amos Jones for the 2013 season, but Jones opted to join his buddy BA in Arizona. First of all, I find it absolutely unbelievable that Tomlin was planning to keep Jones given the pathetic performance of the special teams unit under his watch. The fact is that the offensive line has been underperforming as well under Kugler but had he not left to accept the head coaching position at UTEP, it would have been status quo there as well. Oh, and by the way, the S&C coordinator is still kicked back raking in his salary as well.

I've stated before that I'm not on the fire Tomlin bandwagon (yet), but it's stuff like this that really makes me question whether or not he has the intestinal fortitude to do what's necessary to keep the team from falling into mediocrity. Being a head coach is not an easy job, I fully understand that. Anytime you are responsible for a group of individuals whose performance determines the success of a larger organization, you have to make decisions that are best for the organization and not necessarily for the individual that may be underperforming. Allowing underperforming coaches or players to retain positions because of friendships, blind loyalties, comfort level, etc. is a recipe for disaster, especially in the N(ot) F(or) L(ong) where there is a win now mentality. When I read stuff like this it just makes me wonder what Tomlin's standard really is.

Tomlin intended to retain Jones for the 2013 season, but Jones opted to become special teams coordinator in Arizona because of his friendship with new Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, a former Steelers offensive coordinator.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories...-position-with-steelers-672662/#ixzz2JZ3MGQ3P​

 

You might want to ask yourself if it was scheme or execution that caused the ST gaffs. Coaches have very little affect on execution. They can coach a player until the cows come home, but if the player doens't do what they're taught then that's on the player. Regarding Kugler you don't have to look any further than injuries. The fact that he had us in the superbowl with 12 or 14 different line combinations should speak volumes about his ability. Of course a bunch of people on the internet want to ***** and moan about not seeing any improvement. This strength and conditioning coach stuff is beyond absurd. They don't have anythng to do with 300lb linemen rolling up on your legs and ankles or broken legs, knees getting caught in the turf etc.

 

I thought replacing the ST coach was a no-brainer. I am stunned that there was even the slightest possibility that he was going to stay.

 

2 ways of looking at it too. yea we got to the SB once under him with alot of different lines, in his first year and lost and nothing since.


the same players that keep making mistakes on ST's after beating technique into them and they still get it wrong should replace that player instead of letting it go on.

you also have to question why a 330 lb. and 355 lb. lineman gets pushed around in the first place to fall on knees and ankles. they should be stronger then that. i look at several of our linemen last year and they are not very strong for some reason.

the owner had to come in and fire (retire) the OC and not the coach on his own.

yea, i'd say there are alot of questions about his leadership role and his ability to do what's needed.

 

It's quite obvious that Mike Tomlin does not, can not, and will not make tough personnel decisions.

 

Tomlin hired Danny Smith, a Pittsburgh guy? ...no way... Rooney's Colbert are pulling the strings...

 

it seems to me they have to. amos has been here through 2 subpar ST's coordinators and then a years stint on his own. someone with enough smarts had to finally make a decision for the betterment of this situation before it continued. they give MT alot of rope but they won't sit by and let him hang himself with it.

 

I think what they are saying in this post is that, if it wasn't for Arians luring away Amos Jones, that Jones would still be the ST coach for the steelers. Meaning Tomlin was not going to make a change, nor were the steelers. Jones left on his own, and was not fired, and probably would not have been this year (even though he should have been).

 

But after a while do you think the Rooneys will grow tired of having to make decisions that Tomlin should be making or of him not making decisions when it seems apparent that a change needs to be made?

And it still baffles me that there are those who find the performance of our S&C coordinator acceptable. Woodley's hammies and Troy's pot belly and nagging injuries are telling me that his performance is unacceptable. You brought up a great point mac about our offensive line and how it seems they do get pushed around at times. They don't seem to have the strength they need in certain situations and are often out-muscled or out-leveraged (or both) in crucial situations. That's why they're landing on knees and ankles and putting their teammates out for the season.

Now ultimately the players are responsible for being in shape, I understand that. But don't you think a message has to be sent to the players that their underperformance and lack of conditioning has repercussions? The best way to do that is to hold the guy responsible for that accountable. Tomlin just seems unwilling to do that.

 

My point is is doesn't seem the Rooney's let Tomlin make any decisions, they told him he had to keep Lebeau and Arians...

Then they hire 2 pittsburgh guys in Danny Smith and Todd Haley...

It seems clear Tomlin was just hired as a figure head with the owners making the real decisions in the background

 

Oh yea, i got that part of what you meant. I didn't mean to quote you too in my previous reply. I was explaining what the original thread starter meant.

 

so is not the right guy for the position

 

no, i don't think they micro manage him as jerry jones or al davis did. remember he's only been a head coach for 5 seasons. he was only a DC for two or three prior to that. he's young and the rooneys have been around it all their lives. these guys grew up involved in this team. now they have other investors too involved in this thing. it's probably pretty hard for a guy in his 30's to tell long time nfl coaches i don't like what your doing and your fired. maybe thats not his strong suite, but he's good with players and other things. he's not the GM. that should be the guy the rooneys are leaning on when things like this happen and maybe they do. hey colbert fix it. we are not happy with these results. this is what we recommend you do.

 

You're right in that Tomlin has a reputation for being a "player's coach", but is that necessarily a good thing? I'm really starting to question his handling of players after this season. I think he was very inconsistent in his disciplinary measures, i.e. sitting Dwyer down TWO GAMES FOR ONE FUMBLE but seemingly giving Wallace, Brown and Sanders (the young money hungry crew) a pass. I never quite understood that. Why did he seem to want to show the RBs who the boss was, many times to the detriment of the team, but never seemed to take that approach with other underperformers. I think he screwed the RBs up mentally this year. When you are playing so uptight that you feel you can't make ANY mistakes or you'll face the wrath of Tomlin, that will be detrimental to performance. So I'm not sure that Tomlin is that great at handling players.

 

I just thought he was very inconsistent this year in how he handled the team in general. The RBBC approach all season had to affect the RBs mentality as they tried to prepare. And in the Cleveland game, I'm still not sure what Tomlin was trying to do. I guess he wanted to show all 3 of the RBs who the boss was so he let Rainey have the bulk of the carries that game, which I think contributed greatly to the loss. If he wanted to take that approach, why didn't he just bring a WR up from the practice squad and give them the start instead of Wallace or Brown since they had a bad case of fumbleitis and the dropsies themselves this year, along with several other mental errors on the field.

 

I disagree that sticking with Rainey in the Stains game was the right thing to do. We stood a much better chance of winning that game with Mendenhall or Dwyer carrying the load. It's okay if you want to let the guy get some splinters in his butt for a series or two, but to sit all 3 of your best running backs on the bench for the remainder of the game while an unproven and lightweight rookie carries the load was an overreaction at best and pure stupidity at worst don't you think? And as for the RBBC thing being Haley's MO, you may be right, but who is the head coach? I think at times the head coach has to go the coordinator and say this is the direction I want you to go and in this case, Tomlin should have gone to Haley and said we need to make a commitment to one of these guys. Incidentally I also think Tomlin should have gone to LeBeau and told him he wanted McClendon to get more snaps! The head coach is the HEAD COACH for a reason, right, TE???

 

If Tomlin was intending to retain Amos, than we are in deeper hole than I thought we were. A change had to be made with the special teams. This makes me think we don't have the leadership needed at the top..

 

I am glad people are finally starting to realize what we have
in Coach T. Its time to sink or SWIM coach T. He is over his head.

 

Yeah no way a young inexperienced HC like this could lead us to a SB, especially 2 SB's. Oh wait........

 

With a Franchise QB and loads of talent left in the cupboard,he inherited a Ferrari,
now lets see what he does with watered down talent.

 

he did go back to mendy in that browns game and he fumbled again. i also don't think the benchings were to punish guys as much as it was to motivate someone to step up their game and seize the position. nobody did. alot of the reason i think we will see a RB in the draft and several udfa's brought in, and possibly a FA too. i'm not sure it will be a top FA but someones backup that showed they are hungry for a starting spot and they have a starter in front of them. maybe a 3rd on the depth chart guy with upside.