Brandon Walker: Mike Tomlin is the real Steelers MVP this season

WHEN IT WAS ALL SAID AND DONE, the Titans were turned upside down against the Steelers in Pittsburgh’s 19-13 win, Dec. 19. (Photos by Brian Cook Sr.)

by Brandon Walker, For New Pittsburgh Courier

When I look back on the Steelers record through 14 games, I see a team that is a weird team. A team with no true sense of identity. They can’t run the ball well. They have wide receivers that can look like All-Pros one minute and then make bonehead plays the next. An offensive line that is inconsistent in run-blocking and pass protection and a defense that has given up their highest yards per carry in over 30 years.

So why are they staring down a record of 7-6-1 and within a half-game of the AFC North lead with a point differential of minus-42?

Is it because of T.J. Watt, the Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner who set the team’s single-season sack record on Dec. 19 when he took down the Titans’ Ryan Tannehill in the third quarter, and Watt’s fumble recovery on a botched Titans snap that led to a Steelers field goal?

It is Cameron Heyward, the Shaq to Watt’s Kobe who has been a force with 70 tackles, 7 sacks, 7 pass breakups, and defensive grade at a 91.5 according to Pro Football Focus?

Is it Ben Roethlisberger, who has proven in the last two and a half months that he knows how to win games in the fourth quarter and still has the clutch gene of a first ballot Hall of Famer?

MIKE TOMLIN

No. The real most valuable Steeler is head coach Mike Tomlin.

I believe that Tomlin has delivered his best coaching job this season. He is working with four rookies that regularly start on offense as well as a new offensive line coach in Adrian Klemm and a new offensive coordinator in Matt Canada. He is leaning on an aging quarterback on his last legs who is immobile and seems to win games on osmosis. The defense has maybe three players that they can consistently rely on in Watt, Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick. Finally, Tomlin is dealing with a receiver who has “me first” tendencies i.e., Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, who is trying to buck the Steeler Way in a sense by demanding music at practice.

But Tomlin has his team competing for another AFC North championship because he lives breathes and coaches by the mantra, “The Standard Is the Standard.” Coach Tomlin’s program preaches next man up with Chris Wormley and Isaac Buggs filling in and stepping up when Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu went down with injuries. It is Joe Haden a making a stop right before the sticks to preserve the games and save their season. It is the development of rookies Najee Harris, Pat Freiermuth, Dan Moore, Kendrick Green and Tre Norwood, who has the higher ranking among rookie defensive backs.

THE STEELERS’ JOE HADEN with an impressive defensive play against the Tennessee Titans, Dec. 19.

Tomlin has preserved the Steeler Way of competing to win games, winning the AFC North, and winning the Super Bowl each and every year no matter who is wearing that Black and Gold uniform. Tomlin’s ability to coach his players to put his players in the best position to succeed and win games is by few in this era. It seems like the fan base in this town takes him for granted thinking that he has had all this talent and has not won a Super Bowl since 2008. However, I saw this man who coached teams with five-to-six-win talent and willed them to eight, nine and 10 wins. Matter if fact, I can assure you that this iteration of the Steelers is the least talented team that he has coached in his career.

So, the teams that are looking for a new head coach in 2022, you should look for the traits that Michael Pettaway Tomlin has: accountability to himself, his players and his staff, the ability to develop players at any position, and the way he goes about creating a culture of winning and not trying to tank for a better draft pick. Before you go for another hot shot college coach, or a 30-year-old offensive genius who never called a play at the NFL level, or another branch off the Belichick tree, just know that Mike Tomlin was the standard 15 years ago and he is the standard today.

 

About Post Author

Comments

From the Web

Skip to content