Oh the Scott Sheilds, I'd ate a crow sandwich on that one. I fully agree on Colbert being underrated. If not for Colbert, Tomlin would be in big trouble.
Ike, if you have time could you surmise Tomlin era.
Thanks for the great post(s).
Salute the nation
Oh I’ll be crucified by those who want Tomlin gone probably, but the Rooney‘s (since Dan) are the smartest organization in the football business. No one can deny it, and no, Kraft/Belichick aren’t even close. In fact, if anything the New England franchise has put a stain on Goodell’s shield for League integrity that rivals what the MLBPA did for the MLB lockout in the mid 1990’s. It still hasn't recovered.
Tomlin has carried on the franchise’s success since free agency was introduced. I’m perfectly fine with him as the HC at this time. I absolutely loved Bill Cowher and his coaching style. It was change from the later Chuck Noll years than the first 12-14 years, whom I revered alongside Lombardi and Shula as for coaching greatness. For comparison purposes Tomlin and Chin’s statistics are very close. Actually Tomlin’s W/L average is better than Cowher and has coached one year less. No losing seasons mantra is constantly harped about, but it’s fact. Cowher has had 3 losing seasons. In fact I remember the board wanting him gone after the 99 season with back to back losing seasons. Some folks were having conniptions when Mr. Rooney kept him after that season. Yeah, Tomlin hasn‘t won a playoff game since 2016, but had Cowher not won SBXL he would have had a lot similar playoff record than Tomlin. The end product has been the same 2 SB appearances, one championship. Chin has a COTY award (rookie season?) but that’s a popularity award not production.
This whole argument regarding Ben and Tomlin riding his coat tails, along with Cowher’s players is IMO ridiculous. Sure if Tomlin was a 2-3 year coach I’d buy that argument (a’la Barry Switzer), but Tomlin has won a lot of games with turnover at all positions for over a decade, except Ben. Cowher had chances to get franchise QBs, but didn’t because his strategy didn’t rely on a franchise QB, only a tremendous defense and brutal running game. He wanted a game manager at QB and had a good one with O’Donnell. Had he stayed in PIT who knows what happens. Tomlin shouldn’t be considered less for his achievements because he had a QB. What was he supposed to do trade him? Even with Kordell, Chin didn’t really know how to use him, because Stewart’s abilities were about a decade ahead of his time. So Cowher’s scheme always followed Defense first, ball control offense second, which is what he learned from Marty Schottenheimer. Even WHEN they drafted Ben, they didn’t expect a franchise type QB to fall into their lap, and game planned for Defense and Bettis. Ben just happened to be the X factor teams couldn’t prepare for. So, if it wasn’t for Mr Rooney, Maddox or Batch would have been the starter going forward and possibly having Cowher retiring even earlier.
One more thing regarding arguments…..Challenges. It’s been pretty well documented that the Challenge rule is a facade and is more subjective than the actual call made on the field. Hell, I saw a report about challenge reviews being 50/50% on corrections. That basically makes the challenge useless. It shouldn’t be even a measurement of coaching because even now, there are reviews not called by coaches that are being called wrong. It SHOULD be better this year, but I still don’t think it will be even 80% correct.
Woud’ve/should’ve/could’ve moment to mention. The 2017 season. The loss to NE that should have been a win (Jesse James catch), but ended up putting PIT as the second seed. Had they won they would gone on to be the 1st seed, and JAX would have played NE. PIT would have the game against TEN (for which PIT had already blown out in a regular season game). No telling what would have happened if Al Riveron or even Goodell been held accountable. One, two playoff wins or maybe another Championship? Then what would the opinion be?
In any case, to compare Tomlin to any other coach I would say Andy Reid is the closest. Been coaching longer, but their stats are comparable except in playoff games. Until the last three years in KC Andy has a 11-13 W/L record. In fact at one time between PHI and KC Andy didn't win a playoff game 8 out of nine years (including 6 straight). That would never happen, even with the Rooney’s way of stability at coaching.
In summation, Tomlin is an exemplary HC, if he was fired right now he would have a job offer seconds after it hit the wire. I’m sure Art2 has had discussions about this needs to be a year any playoff run leads to a championship game, because of Ben age. I’m behind him as I was with Cowher. The players know to buy into the team philosophy, and Tomlin gives his veterans the ability to lead in the locker room while Tomlin keeps the distractions on him. Something every player wants…no distractions from the media.
We are a spoiled fan base, and demand excellence regardless of any circumstance. I’ll admit it too. However, there is no other coach out there that would replace Tomlin’s success right now. If he retired or couldn’t coach any longer the closest coach I am aware of now who I’d want to replace him would be either Vrabel or maybe Rivera, who was a finalist to begin with after Cowher.
Folks are going to sound off and go all Coach on this post. That’s fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. In mine, I feel we have a better chance to win a championship now with Tomlin, than without. Same with having Ben or without. Basically, we are back to after Cowher’s 2004 season on QBs. One thing for sure it will be an interesting 2022 off season.