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MT Word of the Week 6

Ron Burgundy

Ron Burgundy

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The MT Word of the Week for Week 6 is:
"Above the line."

The "obviously" over/under is 11.

The Week 6 bonus word is:
"minimize".
 
I'm taking the over and both the word and the bonus will appear.
I will throw in "Idiotic" as in my decision to go for two was idiotic.
and incomprehensible as in my use of the clock right before half was incomprehensible.
 
I still like "next man up". Obviously the players buy into it even if some fans laugh at it. Wonder if either of the erudite coaches at NE or GB would have won those 2 without Brady or Rodgers?
 
W.O.W.= 5
Im gonna take the over on "obviously".

I look for coach cool shades to maximize the minimize.

I have a good feeling about "i would be remiss . . ."
 
Didn't get home from school until 8:00pm but I DVR'd it. Did my first embalming today.

I got two "above the lines".

"Obviously" turned in a below the line performance with nine.

I got four "minimizes".

"Style points" made a surprise appearance after a long absence.
 
Steelerfan81 said:
Working with dead bodies wouldn't be for me, ron
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Need a more recession-proof job. Back when I was laid up in my living room with nothing to do for five months I looked for jobs that 1) you need to be licensed or certified and 2) not many people do. I wanted a (more) marketable skill in order that I could get a job in Florida. Didn't want to move there and then move back six months later like my neighbor did when he couldn't find a decent job.
 
http://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/1...-think-his-management-principles-are-cliches/

MIKE TOMLIN DOESN’T CARE IF YOU THINK HIS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES ARE CLICHÉS
Posted on October 20, 2015 by Rebecca 4 comments

Post-Gazette/Andrew Rush photo
by Adrian Rollett

It’s been nearly a decade since Mike Tomlin became the head coach of our Pittsburgh Steelers. Since then, nearly everyone in the Steeler blogosphere has made a habit of pointing out various of his pithy sayings, calling them Tomlinisms, or more generally, clichés.

Depending on the standpoint of the individual repeating the phrases, they are used as anything from a signifier of affection all the way down to an indictment of a supposedly vapid person, or at least persona.

After watching the men in black and gold this season and most particularly after the Arizona game, I believe that their meaning has been hiding in plain sight.

I refuse to live in my fears
I believe Tomlin invests full meaning in the things he says, and more importantly, so do the men who work for him. When I look at the Steelers this year, I see an organization which is committed to winning, top to bottom. They are not only committed to winning, they expect to do so.

This is evident even in Antonio Brown’s “tirade that wasn’t” on the sidelines last Sunday. I haven’t trawled the depths of the internet to confirm this, but I suspect that there is no shortage of shallow thinkers calling him out for a supposed me-first attitude. The fact is, you don’t bother saying anything to the fourth-string (2) quarterback if you’ve decided to mail it in.

And speaking of Mr. Jones—I think we all expected what Troy Aikman did from the booth when Landry Jones came in—three hand-offs and a punt directly to Pittsburgh West, licking its chops in anticipation. According to Dale Lolley, the knock on Jones in practice has been that he likes to throw to the guys in the wrong color shirts just as much as his own team.

However, Tomlin refused to live in his fears, setting Landry loose to play his own game and give the Steelers the best chance to win. Combined with an Arizona defense that looked somewhat as if it had just witnessed the invention of the forward pass (3) and some Martavis Bryant heroics, he carried the day.

Next Man Up
I would suggest that you read what “Next Man Up” means to Mike Tomlin in his own words, but here’s the heart of what he’s saying:

To discount those backups as anything less but capable, I think you’re selling them short. […] I sell that to the guys. I want them to know that not only do I expect them to excel and play winning football, but they should expect that of themselves.
Here’s another way to say what he’s saying, in my own words this time: Every one of the men that puts on an NFL uniform is supremely talented, and if the game plan doesn’t play to their strengths, that’s on the coaches, not on the men. What I am seeing is that Tomlin has his coaches fully on board with this philosophy.

For my evidence, I submit:

Exhibit A: Defense (from a great article on Keith Butler by Dejan Kovacevic)


Watch the whole (short) interview, but here’s the money quote: “I don’t want to be a guy who interjects myself into the game when they can handle it themselves.” A lot of coaches will tell you they design game plans to their player’s strengths, but coaches are most lionized for clever designs or their “coaching trees”. Simply as a matter of human nature, most coaches are probably more interested in being known as, say, the inventor of the Air Raid offense than as coaches who coached great players.

Exhibit B: Offense

Go back and watch Landry Jones—in every play, he is looking at only one side of the field. Todd Haley did not say “you’ve been here three years, use Ben’s game plan and good luck to you.” He spent the time to design a game plan to Jones’ strengths, giving him easy reads and recognizing how best to use his abilities.

Now, I won’t say that I’m not a bit scared about next week, assuming he plays. I hope he spends some time practicing at least pretending to look the other way once in a while, or it could be a long game! But with a week to prepare, Haley will have even more time to come up with a plan which gives Jones a chance to succeed.

I believe Mike Tomlin is that rare thing in head coaches and other public personas—someone who says what he believes and believes what he says. Gregg Easterbrook of Tuesday Morning Quarterback recently wrote the following:

In N.F.L. sociology, players are labor and coaches are management. Network announcers side psychologically with management. The booth guys scoff at dropped passes or missed tackles, criticizing labor, but back up tactical decisions, validating management.
This season the Steelers are providing a nice counterpoint, with management putting labor in a position to succeed. Most importantly, the players are then trusted to do their job and not thrown under the bus if they are unable to execute that particular week. It’s quite refreshing to watch.

yes, really!
behind Roethlisberger, Gradkowski and Vick
to be fair, compared to game planning for Vick, they nearly did!
Obviously, there are a great many more Tomlinisms out there. I would love for the author of this post to explain “thoughtfully non-rhythmic.” I’ve always wondered how that works. But I like the theory…
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Ron Burgundy said:
S'all good, we just have fun with it like we did with the wild sweaters that Cowher would wear. Used to need sunglasses to watch his pressers.
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I just thought it was interesting. Think Tomlin reads this page?
 
Djfan said:
I just thought it was interesting. Think Tomlin reads this page?
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Probably not but last year it did seem that if I posted the MT WoW too soon he would obviously try to avoid it, if you will, obviously. Unless I'm just being paranoid.
 
I was just kidding. Couldn't find the "stir the pot" smiley.
 
Djfan said:
I was just kidding. Couldn't find the "stir the pot" smiley.
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Actually I have a quote from early in his time here as the quote on my Facebook profile.

"Head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers is what I do, it's not who I am." A man who keeps thing in perspective.

Yeah he sometimes does boneheaded **** that makes us yell at the TV but there are at least 20 other NFL head coaches who do boneheaded **** more often than Cool Shades does.

Do you want Pete Carroll? Do you want Chuck Pagano? Do you want Rex Ryan? 'Cause that's what's out there.
 
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Id like for him to add Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to his vocabulary... it would please me greatly

"Obviously, we ran the ball Supercalifragilisticexpialidociously today. It was above the line play."
 
I just loved this line from this week's conference:

“I appreciate the quality of his play last week – it got us out of the stadium – but it’s reasonable for us to expect him to be better prepared with physical, in-helmet repetitions in preparation for this one,”
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I will forever no longer refer to it as "practice." It will always be, "physical, in-helmet repetitions."
 
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