Alright…which one of you pissed off ryan clark?

[Confluence]

Rooney Rule worked out ...made two more appearances in the SB, won 4 more division titles and winning almost 65% of our games over an 8 yr stretch......it was the right hire. Can't argue much with it, but folks sure will try......**** em....let em seeth and stew over it.

Or you could argue Franchise QB.

The Rooney Rule is a protocol for interviewing coaches. The Steelers followed that, and then hired the man they thought best.

I would hope that they didn't hire anyone because of the color of their skin. Rather, Tomlin was their first choice. Anything different than that and they made a racially motivated decision....makes no sense.

Tomlin has been often criticized for clock management, poor use of TOs, and some strategic blunders. Myabe unfairly, maybe not.

But this past week was clearly one of the worst, or the very worst of his games in terms of coaches decision-making having a negative effect on the outcome.

And if it is the only one this season, it will be forgotten. But if it is not, then lookout for the

 

[jitter77]

I think they had someone picked before Tomlin was hired. I do not believe Tomlin was hired due to the Rooney rule, but it maybe why he is sticking around. I think that Tomlin was young, showed a lot of confidence, and gave a great interview. I think he gave a great impression and changed their minds to hire him. I can not really blame them for that. They took a chance with Cowher who was just a special teams coach and it worked out and they tried to goto the well again. I think its good to go outside the box, but now its time to move on.

 

[Vader]

I think they had someone picked before Tomlin was hired. I do not believe Tomlin was hired due to the Rooney rule, but it maybe why he is sticking around. I think that Tomlin was young, showed a lot of confidence, and gave a great interview. I think he gave a great impression and changed their minds to hire him. I can not really blame them for that. They took a chance with Cowher who was just a special teams coach and it worked out and they tried to goto the well again. I think its good to go outside the box, but now its time to move on.

Cowher wasn't just a special teams coach. He was the DC for KC for 3 years before he was the HC. He was also the DB coach before that. Rooney was not going to look like an *** by bitching about minority candidates for years and even having a rule named after him and then him not hire a minority. I knew the second Cowher left they were going to hire a minority coach. Whiz was the obvious choice and much more qualified than Tomlin. He was in the organization (like Butler) and was familiar with Ben and the offense. Tomlin was hired over Rivera probably because of him being young and the Rooney's like to groom their HCs. But it was never going to be Whiz because he was the wrong color. He knew it which is why he left.

 

[madinsomniac]

The stories I heard from the Latrobe rumor mills back in the day was simply that Whiz had a deadline for the Arizona job and he thought his relationship with Ben would put him behind a candidate or two... and that he was probably mistaken in that thought......

The Grimm stuff is more wild... supposedly he thought he nailed it down, was out drinking with Prisuta and blabbed about it... got real drunk and blew the interview the next day...How he did that exactly I have heard a few different stories, none that I particularly believe over the others, but everything I had heard about his HC chances going down the drain then and even afterwards had something to do with drinking too much... I think when those two basically took themselves out of the picture it was between Rivera and Tomlin and frankly Tomlin is night and day better than Rivera

 

[Ron Burgundy]

The stories I heard from the Latrobe rumor mills back in the day was simply that Whiz had a deadline for the Arizona job and he thought his relationship with Ben would put him behind a candidate or two... and that he was probably mistaken in that thought......

The Grimm stuff is more wild... supposedly he thought he nailed it down, was out drinking with Prisuta and blabbed about it... got real drunk and blew the interview the next day...How he did that exactly I have heard a few different stories, none that I particularly believe over the others, but everything I had heard about his HC chances going down the drain then and even afterwards had something to do with drinking too much... I think when those two basically took themselves out of the picture it was between Rivera and Tomlin and frankly Tomlin is night and day better than Rivera

It's like I said with Whiz, he had to decide to take the sure thing by a certain time or wait on another job that he may or may not get. I don't blame him for going to the Cards, I'd have done the same thing. Grimmy is still not a head coach anywhere else. I agree that Shades is still a better head coach than Rivera. Looking back I think Whiz would have been a better hire but realistically who in the NFL is a better coach than Shades? Maybe ten or so guys. Then there are twenty who are demonstrably worse. Do we WANT Rex Ryan? Do we WANT Ron Rivera? Do we WANT Mike Singletary, a Hairball brother, The Bruce, Jay Gruden, or Lovie Smith?

 

[insaniti]

I don't know if there are 10 better...

 

[insaniti]

Whiz wasn't going to get the job. It was going to be Tomlin or Ron Rivera. The namesakes of the Rooney Rule were going to hire a minority HC, period. No ands, ifs, or buts about it.


I mostly bring up defensive draft picks. Offensive players they draft just fine. Can't draft defense for ****. Woodley was often injured because he got fat and out of shape and they let him do it, hasn't done jack since he left and may not even be playing this year. A QB of Landry's caliber you can find all day as UDFA's, no need to spend a draft pick.


I pay very little attention to other teams.

If you pay very little attention to other teams, you probably shouldn't make claims about the Steelers when in comparison ALL teams have draft picks that don't pan out. The 2008/09 drafts were horrendous though out the entire league. This is no different than 98-01, have to reload, some players took longer to develop, some players are a lot harder to replace, etc.

 

[Djfan]

I seem to remember the Rooney's saying that when the interview process started, that Tomlin stood out so much that the choice was all but made at the very beginning of the whole process. Can't site a source for that.

Tomlin is an anomaly. I just can't get both feet on the Tomlin train, but I don't dislike him. His game management is baffling at times, too many times. His stoic, Art Shell like sideline presence is annoying. He seems to not be the guy to get the players motivated, and I can't think of one example of his grooming the team leaders.

Still, the W/L ratio and the AFCN and AFC championship runs are really there. I'm not and NFL pro, so my opinion is probably as important as Kent Graham's career, but he just doesn't seem to have that second level. Not against him.

Whoever said that he is good and bad, but he is clearly replacable, said it correctly, IMO.

BTW, this is the best Tomlin thread yet, out of the 12,459 Tomlin threads we have had here.

 

[madinsomniac]

It's like I said with Whiz, he had to decide to take the sure thing by a certain time or wait on another job that he may or may not get. I don't blame him for going to the Cards, I'd have done the same thing. Grimmy is still not a head coach anywhere else. I agree that Shades is still a better head coach than Rivera. Looking back I think Whiz would have been a better hire but realistically who in the NFL is a better coach than Shades? Maybe ten or so guys. Then there are twenty who are demonstrably worse. Do we WANT Rex Ryan? Do we WANT Ron Rivera? Do we WANT Mike Singletary, a Hairball brother, The Bruce, Jay Gruden, or Lovie Smith?

That is just it... the quality of NFL coaches may be the worse in memory... save for Cheatriot land, Im not sure there is one fanbase totally happy with theirs right now

 

[Vader]

It's like I said with Whiz, he had to decide to take the sure thing by a certain time or wait on another job that he may or may not get. I don't blame him for going to the Cards, I'd have done the same thing. Grimmy is still not a head coach anywhere else. I agree that Shades is still a better head coach than Rivera. Looking back I think Whiz would have been a better hire but realistically who in the NFL is a better coach than Shades? Maybe ten or so guys. Then there are twenty who are demonstrably worse. Do we WANT Rex Ryan? Do we WANT Ron Rivera? Do we WANT Mike Singletary, a Hairball brother, The Bruce, Jay Gruden, or Lovie Smith?

Whiz had been working for the Rooney's for years. Butler knew he was going to get the DC job when DL left. They don't let people dangle. I'm pretty sure Whiz knew he wasn't going to get it or he would have waited. AZ at the time sucked balls. I'm sure the Rooney's let him know which way things were headed.

I think Grimm is just a fat drunk. I remember when the reports came out that he got the job. I thought the writers were stoned.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

If you pay very little attention to other teams, you probably shouldn't make claims about the Steelers when in comparison ALL teams have draft picks that don't pan out. The 2008/09 drafts were horrendous though out the entire league. This is no different than 98-01, have to reload, some players took longer to develop, some players are a lot harder to replace, etc.

I don't care what other teams do. I care about whether my team ***** up or not. Your first three picks in every draft should be starters within three years or you ****** up.

That is just it... the quality of NFL coaches may be the worse in memory... save for Cheatriot land, Im not sure there is one fanbase totally happy with theirs right now

I check in on a Seahawks board once in a while for ***** and giggles. Yeah, they're still not happy with Pete Carroll for passing on the last play of the SB when they have the best RB in the league.

Realistically, what current head coaches are as good or better than Shades? My list:
Belicheat, The Bruce (it hurts to say that), Hairball, Marvin Lewis (who might do better with the Steelers talent and FO), Mike McCarthy, Chuck Pagano, Sean Peyton, Tom Coughlin, and Pete Carroll. That's nine, so call Shades ten. Meaning that 22 other coaches are worse.

 

[Vader]

I check in on a Seahawks board once in a while for ***** and giggles. Yeah, they're still not happy with Pete Carroll for passing on the last play of the SB when they have the best RB in the league.

Somebody should tell them that it isn't the coaches fault and that the players are responsible.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Somebody should tell them that it isn't the coaches fault and that the players are responsible.

True, but that was still a bad call. Trying to be too smart by half. Even left me scratching my head. Shades does the same thing. 75% of the time I think he runs a game just fine but 25% of the time he does boneheaded **** that leaves me, a non-SB winning coach but in high school we could have won state if coach had put me in fourth quarter, saying "WTF is he thinking?" and throwing couch pillows at the TV.

Again, what coach does less boneheaded ****? Belicheat, Sean Peyton, Mike McCarthy maybe, that's about it. I don't know that Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, and Vince Lombardi ever made stupid decisions. Maybe they called a play that didn't work but they didn't do boneheaded ****.

 

[FordFairLane]

My problem with Tomlin is piss poor game preparation, god awful game time adjustments, horse **** player development, and retarded game clock management. Besides that he's an awesome coach.

 

[insaniti]

My problem with Tomlin is piss poor game preparation, god awful game time adjustments, horse **** player development, and retarded game clock management. Besides that he's an awesome coach.

IF any of these statements were even remotely true, let alone all of them, he wouldn't still be winning games

 

[Punxsutawney]

IF any of these statements were even remotely true, let alone all of them, he wouldn't still be winning games

They're largely true.

In today's NFL, a top 10 QB can mask a lot of stink.

 

[FordFairLane]

Like the game preparation against the Patriots? You know when we had too many or too few players on the field time and time again. Or the fabulous adjustments made against the Ravens allowing it to go to OT and us to eventually lose. Or the great clock management at the end of that game that really sealed the deal for our eventual loss. Player development...

2008 1 1 23 23 Rashard Mendenhall RB Illinois
2 2 22 53 Limas Sweed WR Texas
3 3 25 88 Bruce Davis LB UCLA
4 4 31 130 Tony Hills T Texas
5 5 21 156 Dennis Dixon QB Oregon
6 6 22 188 Mike Humpal LB Iowa
7 6 28 194 Ryan Mundy DB West Virginia

 

[insaniti]

Keep pick and choosing, I went thru this with Bermuda already, we can go thru and show the players that DID develop, then we can go to other teams and we can point out how many players DIDN'T develop as well. Players picked MUCH higher than any of our picks, like Eric Fisher, OT for KC...looks like Mike Adams. Or Dion Jordan, or Trent Richardson, etc...

 

[Bigappleyinzer]

I don't care what other teams do. I care about whether my team ***** up or not. Your first three picks in every draft should be starters within three years or you ****** up.



I check in on a Seahawks board once in a while for ***** and giggles. Yeah, they're still not happy with Pete Carroll for passing on the last play of the SB when they have the best RB in the league.

Realistically, what current head coaches are as good or better than Shades? My list:
Belicheat, The Bruce (it hurts to say that), Hairball, Marvin Lewis (who might do better with the Steelers talent and FO), Mike McCarthy, Chuck Pagano, Sean Peyton, Tom Coughlin, and Pete Carroll. That's nine, so call Shades ten. Meaning that 22 other coaches are worse.

Lol Chuck Pagano? Stop.

Also- People on here love to comment that Tomlin looks better because he has a HOF QB. Fair argument. Mike McCarthy, on the other hand, may have one of the most talented QB's to have ever thrown a pigskin- but his record is only slightly better than Tomlin's (64 vs. 65%). Do you really believe he is that much of a better coach then Tomlin?

 

[antdrewjosh]

I remember when the Texans coach and former Penn State coach Bill O'Brien was being touted as guy the Steelers should fire Tomlin for.

 

[Bigappleyinzer]

I remember when the Texans coach and former Penn State coach Bill O'Brien was being touted as guy the Steelers should fire Tomlin for.

Wasn't Bill O'Brien being touted as the 'QB whisperer'?

When Cleveland's QB situation looks better than your own's, you know you have a serious problem

 

[steelhurt]

I do believe you DID mention Cowhers name in your post....don't believe it, go back and re-read your post.

The original post by me only mentions Cowher's name when I said that the team largely unerachieved under Cowher the previous year. Why are you taking what I said out of context? You absolutely made it sound like I was doing a comparison to Cowher which I was not.

 

[blitzburghv5]

They're largely true.

In today's NFL, a top 10 QB can mask a lot of stink.

So that list Burgundy just posted about the coaches he feels are better than Tomlin...what do they all have in common ? TOP 10 QBs...

Belicheat, - Hes got Marsha, one of the best ever in the history of the league, but hes also cheating. Also helps to play in one of the worst divisions in the league with no rival QB to provide stern competition.
The Bruce - the wisest decision he EVER made was trading for Carson Palmer...he owes his extension to Carson who was left to die in Oakland,
Hairball - hes got Flacco who never misses a single game...dude is the ****** ironman of QBs if there ever was one.... I don't think hes better than Mike.....hes been fortunate that in the last couple of head to heads vs Steelers that we were without key starter (pro bowl starters). He does have a better GM in Ozzie...one of the best in the league
Marvin Lewis - (Dalton) Hes close to Mike but not better.....hasn't won a single playoff game (.000 winning pctg)
Mike McCarthy- hes got arguably the top pass thrower in the game in Rodgers...If anyone is a better coach it might be this guy..id give him a spot over Tomlin..,
Chuck Pagano - (Luck) benefits from playing in a ****** division with bad coaches and no rival quality QBs,
Sean Peyton - (Brees) hes right on par with Mike, maybe a tad better IMO....helps that he has a real pupil of the game in Brees but plays in a weak division...
Tom Coughlin - (Manning) ....this ************ is too emotional and I think the game has passed him by....hes been fired by the media and fans too many times to count but just when you think hes dead the team responds with some life....they will benefit from the ineptitude in Philly and injuries in Dallas
Pete Carroll--(Wilson) I don't know what to make of Pete...Wilson fell into his lap..... but Matt Flynn was his guy....had they rolled with Flynn instead of Wilson he doesn't sniff two SBs...Good coach...not sure where he stands compared to Mike

Head Coach/QB quality do make the impact as for success in this league. Tomlin is fortunate to have inherited Ben...but the same can be said about the other coaches and their franchise QBs.

On that list id say maybe 4 are better than what we have --McCarthy, Darth-Cheater, Peyton and Coughlin....maybe...maybe Pete. 5th or 6th best aint bad. Like I said, if Tomlin is a product of the Rooney Rule, then it worked out well. He was the best candidate available at the time and the results prove such.

 

[blitzburghv5]

I remember when the Texans coach and former Penn State coach Bill O'Brien was being touted as guy the Steelers should fire Tomlin for.

Shhhh...you bring up treasure finds my friend....I know EGG-Zacklee who said it too....I wonder if he will hop his *** on forum stage and own it.....I recall someone mentioning how Tomlin was too player friendly and not a strict disciplinarian and that they felt if we hired *ahem, GREG SCHIANO, the team would be much better. Schiano cant even score a collegiate gig right now after Tampa ran his *** outta Florida.

 

[FordFairLane]

Wasn't Bill O'Brien being touted as the 'QB whisperer'?

When Cleveland's QB situation looks better than your own's, you know you have a serious problem

If you look at Penn State since BOB left he definitely did a much better job. Hackenberg looked like the next Collins and eventual #1 overall pick and now he'd be a day two pick. Bill O'Brien biggest mistake is in his first draft when he had Derek Carr rated at the top QB in the draft and he fell to him in the second round but because his brother was a bust for Houston decided not to draft him. Instead they took a backup guard. You gotta go with your gut on things like that and if Derek couldn't handle the pressure of playing in Houston then so be it but you at least call him and see if he wants to be drafted by you and see what he says. If he says no you don't want him anyways.