I don’t understand your point at all. You haven’t refuted anything I’ve said.
I never said Tomlin wasn’t a good coach. He can’t draft. That’s a big difference. He hasn’t replaced any of the talent he lost over the past 6 years to free agency, retirements or injury. Noll didn’t leave the cupboard bare when he left and either did Cowher. But if Tomlin left tomorrow, do you think there is talent on that team to get to the playoffs? Me either.
And that’s my point. He and Colbert haven’t drafted well in 6 years. Go back and look at Tomlin’s draft picks. If he was any good at drafting and developing talent, we wouldn’t have an offensive line that looks like Swiss cheese. His second round pick of a year ago was Mike Adams. how’s he working out? I’ll tell you. He isn’t. He’s one of the worst O-lineman the Steelers have, and he was supposed to be part of the rebuilding process on the line. Where is Hampton’s replacement? Cut and who knows where.
No one was a bigger fan of Tomlin than I was, and I still maintain that without him, the Steelers would have never won the 6th ring. Tomlin’s coaching was a large part of that. Let’s face it, though. You look at Noll’s record the last 5 seasons, and you are correct. Mediocrity. But that was because of his coaching style, and the fact that his message, or ability to communicate with the newer players, never seemed to catch on. I don’t know why, but every coach has his day, and that includes Tom Landry and Don Shula. Players change, the league changes… But player evaluation doesn’t. That’s why Cowher was able to take Noll’s team and win with them. He was young, aggressive, and was a breath of energy. He pumped that team of Noll’s draft picks full of energy and life and took them to the playoffs.
Same thing when Cowher left. Bill Cowher came from the Marty Schottenheimer coaching tree. See any similarities between the two guys? Marty taught Bill how to coach, and in playoff games, for Marty that meant coaching not to lose, not coaching to win. Cowher’s lone Super Bowl win was a fluke, made possible by a miracle tackle by. Ben running backwards in Indy, and their field goal kicker missing with one of the al-time choke field goal attempts. No one seems to remember that now, but Cowher should have been 0-1 in Super Bowls. And the one he did make, where he lost against the Cowboys, he almost lost that AFC game to the Colts, at Pittsburgh. A Harbaugh Hail Mary in the end zone was dropped, if you remember.
But Cowher’s drafts were good, and he always had players. Tomlin’s coaching style is much better than Cowher’s, and I think that’s been proven by his great results with Cowher’s players.
But now that those players are almost gone, look at the team. You are kidding yourself if you think Tomlin isn’t a big part of this problem. He does the drafting. He does the hiring. Rooney didn’t hire Todd Haley, Tomlin did.
He has had 6 years to put together a young offensive line form the draft, and he has DeCastro (who killed Pouncey by himself this year). That’s it. If Tomlin doesn’t do any of the drafting, then fire Kevin Colbert. But I know Tomlin has input into the players drafted.
We wasted a 1st round pick on Mendenhall, who is now with the Cards. We got nothing for him, but if you want, I guess we got Stephens Howling.
Tomlin cuts the leading rusher from last year, right after signing Felix Jones. The guy didn’t carry a ball once for the Steelers, and Tomlin cuts his leading rusher from a year ago? What kind of decision-making is that, anyway? And he has to sign him back after week one because of the injury to Stephens Howling.
No, Tomlin is not a good judge of talent. I wish I were wrong, but history is on my side, go back and look at his drafts, and then tell me that he’s not a big part of the problem. Maybe the Steelers should hire Cowher and put him in charge of the draft, and let Tomlin coach. And fire Haley. Today.
