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Retrospective: The Cowher vs. Donahoe debate had a clear winner

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The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1990s are a team that is often forgotten for how good they were because of the multiple AFC Championship Game losses at home and the failure to win Super Bowl XXX. Two of the key components of that success were directly attributable to Director of Football Operations Tom Donahoe and […]

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What I remember about those teams was that they ran on a budget like some MLB teams. They had to have a perfect storm of talent because so often the guy was allowed to walk. Take Chad Brown as a best example. They simply didn't have the resources. That is what seperates Cowher from Tomlin. Cower did his with mostly hands tied.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but it was Jermaine Stephans that broke the Camels back in Cowher’s favor...

I liked Cowher, and keeping him over Donahoe was correct, but his coaching deficiencies cost the Steelers multiple super bowl opportunities... the one thing he was way better at than Tomlin was building a staff... and a staff that could constantly convert low round picks into contributing players... though the latter part Tomlin has gotten much better at...

I feel like in general, Cowhers teams were always much deeper but tomlins have had better starting talent....
 
madinsomniac said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but it was Jermaine Stephans that broke the Camels back in Cowher’s favor...

I liked Cowher, and keeping him over Donahoe was correct, but his coaching deficiencies cost the Steelers multiple super bowl opportunities... the one thing he was way better at than Tomlin was building a staff... and a staff that could constantly convert low round picks into contributing players... though the latter part Tomlin has gotten much better at...

I feel like in general, Cowhers teams were always much deeper but tomlins have had better starting talent....
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Just curious, what coaching deficiencies? I thought Cowher always got the absolute most out of his teams, they went farther than they should have. IMO Cowher is much better at building a roster, he had to overturn his rosters at least 4 times, look at the number of different starters from the team he took over in 1992 to his Super Bowl team in 1995, then look at the # of different starters just two years later in 1997, then to 2001, then to 2005. Tomlin's team got drastically worse as the players Cowher had in place all started to retire after 2010, and we've had no playoff success since then, even though having a HOF QB and 10 first round picks on defense.

It took a minor miracle to coach teams QB'd by Neil and Kordell to 4 AFCCG and 1 Super Bowl in 10 seasons. Tomlin has had Ben for 14 seasons and only made 3 AFCCG, just points to Cowher being a much better coach.
 
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Cowher definately was by far the better choice. Cowher had to deal with turn over and low $$$$$$$$$ retention of players. One thing I did notice,...... Donahue wasn't fired but his contract expired.......... Sound familar ?

This isn't a Cowher VS Tomlin thread but how about going to a similarity.............

Who is the more credited Tomlin or Colber,,,,,,,,,,,,?




Salute the nation
 
Drink IRON City said:
Cowher definately was by far the better choice. Cowher had to deal with turn over and low $$$$$$$$$ retention of players. One thing I did notice,...... Donahue wasn't fired but his contract expired.......... Sound familar ?

This isn't a Cowher VS Tomlin thread but how about going to a similarity.............

Who is the more credited Tomlin or Colber,,,,,,,,,,,,?




Salute the nation
Click to expand...

With all of it its hard to know without being there. How much influence does Tomlin have on the picks, the FA, the coaching staff. Without knowing this its really hard to say. What I will say is Tomlin has been given EVERY tool he needs to succeed and can NEVER fix a deficiency on the team. If I'm HC and my oline is run blocking as ****** as that (and I end up hiring the assistant anyhow), you can damn well bet what was going to happen there to SWEET FEET. And anyone can say that was hindsight, but C'mon it was a chips in season. You HAD to try that move. So if its actually Colbert gets the talent and Tomlin coaches it. Its hands down Colbert and not even close.
 
Coryea said:
Just curious, what coaching deficiencies? I thought Cowher always got the absolute most out of his teams, they went farther than they should have. IMO Cowher is much better at building a roster, he had to overturn his rosters at least 4 times, look at the number of different starters from the team he took over in 1992 to his Super Bowl team in 1995, then look at the # of different starters just two years later in 1997, then to 2001, then to 2005. Tomlin's team got drastically worse as the players Cowher had in place all started to retire after 2010, and we've had no playoff success since then, even though having a HOF QB and 10 first round picks on defense.

It took a minor miracle to coach teams QB'd by Neil and Kordell to 4 AFCCG and 1 Super Bowl in 10 seasons. Tomlin has had Ben for 14 seasons and only made 3 AFCCG, just points to Cowher being a much better coach.
Click to expand...

My impression is that Tomlin coached teams play coverage. They got a ton of sacks admittedly, but to me that is a lot of coverage happening then Watt, Dupree or Heyward/ Tuitt shedding off blocks. I believe a Cower led team with that kinda talent would have relentlessly attacked defensively. I do not see a ton of confusion created by Tomlin/ Butler defenses. And the way Fitzpatrick was used was almost a joke.
 
SteelerSask said:
My impression is that Tomlin coached teams play coverage. They got a ton of sacks admittedly, but to me that is a lot of coverage happening then Watt, Dupree or Heyward/ Tuitt shedding off blocks. I believe a Cower led team with that kinda talent would have relentlessly attacked defensively. I do not see a ton of confusion created by Tomlin/ Butler defenses. And the way Fitzpatrick was used was almost a joke.
Click to expand...

yeah that's pretty spot on, although Watt is usually right at the top win it comes to 1v1 win %.
 
And to add insult to injury... the Freak went to a division rival.

Edwards was never more than below-average.
 
Do shoe went on to ruin the bills organization too. Total bum, how he was ever in the position he was is beyond me.
 
I hope we find out if it us true that Donahoe changed the draft card.

Kearse and Tait were on the board. Kearse became The Freak and Tait became a long time starter at LT.
 
One of my colleagues is a big Bills Backer. He said Donahoe was considered a real prick. There was a long time security guard who had a tv in the guard house and one of the first things Donahoe did was remove it.
 
Coryea said:
Just curious, what coaching deficiencies? I thought Cowher always got the absolute most out of his teams, they went farther than they should have. IMO Cowher is much better at building a roster, he had to overturn his rosters at least 4 times, look at the number of different starters from the team he took over in 1992 to his Super Bowl team in 1995, then look at the # of different starters just two years later in 1997, then to 2001, then to 2005. Tomlin's team got drastically worse as the players Cowher had in place all started to retire after 2010, and we've had no playoff success since then, even though having a HOF QB and 10 first round picks on defense.

It took a minor miracle to coach teams QB'd by Neil and Kordell to 4 AFCCG and 1 Super Bowl in 10 seasons. Tomlin has had Ben for 14 seasons and only made 3 AFCCG, just points to Cowher being a much better coach.
Click to expand...

Spot on. Cowher revitalized Steeler football and took teams deep in playoffs with inferior qbs. Tomlin with a hof qb deteriorated Steeler football and abandoned the core principles that made Pittsburgh great .


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Tomlin's coaching and on field use of talent tells me he is deficient in talent evaluation which leads me to believe Colber is the dominant one in the talent evaluation. That doesn't mean Coach Tomlinson has no say in the matter but I'd give the nod to Colbert but also realize they, as a team, are pulling pretty good talent.



Salute the nation
 
Coryea said:
Just curious, what coaching deficiencies? I thought Cowher always got the absolute most out of his teams, they went farther than they should have. IMO Cowher is much better at building a roster, he had to overturn his rosters at least 4 times, look at the number of different starters from the team he took over in 1992 to his Super Bowl team in 1995, then look at the # of different starters just two years later in 1997, then to 2001, then to 2005. Tomlin's team got drastically worse as the players Cowher had in place all started to retire after 2010, and we've had no playoff success since then, even though having a HOF QB and 10 first round picks on defense.

It took a minor miracle to coach teams QB'd by Neil and Kordell to 4 AFCCG and 1 Super Bowl in 10 seasons. Tomlin has had Ben for 14 seasons and only made 3 AFCCG, just points to Cowher being a much better coach.
Click to expand...

The philosophies were different back then Tom as well. Chin never wanted a super QB. He wanted his offense to be Rush dominant control the clock and have the QB manage it. While have the Defense set the tone for pressure. Kordell gave Cowher is first real look at diversity in the QB position. Meaning having one that can run like wild in the open field either via RPO or as WR. To bad Kordell didn’t realize he was years ahead of the QB position, but wanted to play like a QB his father watched when Kordell was a kid.

A decade after the Bettis/Parker duo the game moved to a higher scoring philosophy because of rule changes for passing. Therefore a field general is needed at QB. Which all the SB winners had.


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