Because the Pittsburgh Steelers get additional away from their final playoff win, extra questions are requested about head coach Mike Tomlin. After the Steelers completed the 2024 season on a four-game shedding streak earlier than bowing out of the playoffs in humiliating style to the Baltimore Ravens, the large storyline was whether or not Tomlin’s message had gotten stale.
Whereas it looks like a sound query, as Pittsburgh had no combat of their final 5 video games, gamers within the locker room, like WR Calvin Austin III, say Tomlin nonetheless captures the locker room like it’s his first day.
“I really feel like Coach T. has form of defied that [growing stale in the locker room] simply because at any time when he speaks, I really feel like we’re at like a present that we pay tickets for as a result of it’s an honor for us to listen to him speak,” mentioned Austin on Movin’ the Chains on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Tomlin is coming into his nineteenth season as head coach of the Steelers and is the longest-tenured head coach in American professional sports activities. The technology of athletes Tomlin leads now could be fully completely different than when he first took the Steelers’ job in 2007. It might make sense for Tomlin’s message to not resonate with gamers in 2025, nevertheless it does.
One cause Tomlin is ready to captivate his viewers is that he’s a talented orator. His talking type is telling the reality, utilizing his trademark Tomlinisms to get the reality throughout. Critics of Tomlin say his Tomlinisms are him talking in empty cliches, however the gamers don’t really feel that means.
There are many causes to be crucial of Tomlin. Not having a playoff win for the reason that 2016 season is unacceptable. However the criticism shouldn’t be about him rising stale within the locker room. As a substitute, it needs to be about expertise analysis or scheme.
It’s clear that the gamers nonetheless love Tomlin. They view it as a present they’ve tickets for. Hopefully, Austin’s phrases can lastly put the foolish dialogue round Tomlin’s messaging within the locker room to mattress.
