OT: How do you rate Mike Tomlin?

[Tyler.Durden]

What your take on him after his first season as a head coach?

 

[tobias funke]

The Steelers lost to the Jaguars at home twice, once with several blunders made by Tomlin himself.

And they lost to the Jets.

I give him a 4 for managing to keep a playoff-caliber team in the postseason and then promptly screwing it up.

 

[patsfaninpa]

What your take on him after his first season as a head coach?

I thought he did a good job of motivating his team. People say Cowher let them get soft after they won the Super Bowl. I think his lack of experience showed at times. But, that can improve if the Steelers stick with him. They have a lot of patience with their coaches.

I think the big test will come when he wants to implement the 4-3 Tampa 2. If he makes that change and it doesn't work. He could be in trouble. Probably a couple of years down the road.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I think he got a little ****y after the team got off to an early start. It will be interesting to see how his relationship with his players develops, particularly with Ben. He seems to be prone to highs and lows as things unfold on the field and that isn't always a good approach. The Steelers need to get back to their roots with a two back system and a complimentary passing game and a stingy defense. Ben got the big deal but not the tall WR or upgraded OL, so we will see if the tail continues to wag the dog as a result. Tomlin did say something interesting this week as his shiny new 1st round RB came up lame in rookie camp. He thinks the focus on the combine and visits and testing sets some of these expensive draft picks up for injury early on. Something Bill has long contended.

 

[ehsaei]

he is an average coach, he will become better as he gets older.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

Tomlin is the most interesting coach in Dungy's coaching tree.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm going to go ahead and concur with the last two posters before me.

 

[JoePats]

Pretty good I thought. If they had beaten Jacksonville, and they were one play away, and then lost to the Pats everyone would have said good or very good. He screwed up the 2s in that game but he was a rookie coach. He'll get better there, unless he is Herm, which he doesn't seem to be.

His best decision was to not immediately implement the Tampa-2 with the 3-4 personell. Along those lines he seems to be more of a manager/motivator type instead of an x/o type, which is fine. That was Mangini's biggest mistake (in reverse).

He seems like he's going to be very good. Plus that of course is an excellent organization and front office.

 

[JoePats]

Ben got the big deal but not the tall WR or upgraded OL

They drafted Limas Sweed late in the 2nd round. That is their new big receiver. How much he will help as a rookie is anyone's guess but they did address the problem. They drafted an OL in the 3rd but that area, esp without Faneca, will be the key to their season.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Incomplete.

Hard to go high or low in scoring a first year coach unless he pulls a Gruden (and, even now, there are those who credit that SB to Dungy). BB went 5--11.

Tomlin's big question is Big Ben. Is he an overpaid guy who was lucky and got a ring (my opinion FWIW) or is he the kind of guy that can keep a team in or near the AFCCG year after year? For 2008, expectations are relatively low and the schedule is tough for the Steelers, so playing deep into January will get Tomlin high grades.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

a smarter herm edwards, but over his head in pitt... Its good he is in pittsburgh since they wont change coaches for another 20 yrs..

 

[maverick4]

It's unfair to evaluate after just a year.
Under Belichick's first year here we were what, 5 and 11?

 

[tobias funke]

Belichick didn't inherit a SB-winning team that perennially made the playoffs.

 

[PonyExpress]

The job Tomlin did coaching the Viking D on MNF in '06 was as embarrassing as any I've seen in years. He refused to play a nickel or dime package even when the Pats went 5 wide. Even after that debacle, he didn't learn his lesson.

Going into the Steeler Pat game in '07, he piped off about his # 1 ranked D: "Noone is going to dictate how we play the game!" he declared. The Pats executed an almost identical game plan as in the '06 Viking blowout and humiliated the outcoached Steelers. Tomlin and the increasingly senile Lebeau failed to adjust their sets.

Before he had served as HC for a month, he was spouting off about LIEgate. Apparently, he worships at the altar of St Dungy and a central tenet of that religion is bitterness toward BB. Despite his tough guy routine, he turtled in the big spot and had Ben run a sweep on 3rd and 6 to win a playoff game, a cowardly call right out of the Schottenheimer playbook.

Tomlin inherited a very talented team, with a franchise QB, and should have advanced at least to the divisional round. IMO he is all style and no substance. No doubt he'll have some success due mainly to the work of an excellent GM in Colbert; maybe he'll bumble his way to a Sb, like Dungy, riding the coattails of his Qb. But he's got alot of room to grow, to put it politely. Lucky for him the Rooneys will give him time.

 

[fair catch fryar]

As much as I hate the Steelers, I'd say he's done a good job taking over that team. IMO, they did pretty good in the draft with Mendenhall and Sweed.

 

[Kontradiction]

As much as I hate the Steelers, I'd say he's done a good job taking over that team. IMO, they did pretty good in the draft with Mendenhall and Sweed.

Yeah, that backfield consisting of Mendenhall and Parker is going to be NASTY. Well, it will be until they run head first into Big Vince, Warren, and Seymour.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Yeah, that backfield consisting of Mendenhall and Parker is going to be NASTY. Well, it will be until they run head first into Big Vince, Warren, and Seymour.

Like I said, I hate the Steelers, but with the team Tomlin inherited, he'd have to be an idiot not to be challenging for a playoff spot every year.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

The Steelers lost to the Jaguars at home twice, once with several blunders made by Tomlin himself.

And they lost to the Jets.

I give him a 4 for managing to keep a playoff-caliber team in the postseason and then promptly screwing it up.

It wasn't his fault they lost to the Jags in the playoffs. Didn't the league later admit that Garrard's 30 yard scramble should have been penalized (against Jacksonville)? He would have lost to us the next round since we own the steelers.

 

[JoeSixPat]

The Steelers lost to the Jaguars at home twice, once with several blunders made by Tomlin himself.

And they lost to the Jets.

I give him a 4 for managing to keep a playoff-caliber team in the postseason and then promptly screwing it up.

Seems typical of a coach with limited experience... will he learn from his mistakes? Or just make new ones.

Jury is still out but he's got a lot of the qualities of a good coach.

 

[Keegs]

Tomlin is the most interesting coach in Dungy's coaching tree.

that is like saying that Billy is the most interesting Baldwin brother.

Nobody really cares about any of them.