Week 14 vs. The Ravens

Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers Week 14 matchup with the Ravens

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bob Labriola. Okay, coach, um, let's start with this.
What are the characteristics of December football in the NFL?
You know, high floor? UM. You know, it's that time
of year where if you're trending in the right direction,
you as an individual or you as a collective. UM.

(00:21):
Mental assignments are the minimum people on top of their
their their assignments from a technical standpoint relative to their positions,
and so plays a more competitive it's varsity on varsity,
and so what determines the outcome of plays competitive spirit, minutia, Uh,
things of that nature. And so it's just a more
entertaining brand of football because the floor is higher UM,

(00:45):
less penalties, cleaner play UM, and guys knowing what it
is they're doing, uh, not only from an assignment standpoint,
but in the bigger scheme of things, what you're trying
to do as a collective. With the win over the
Falcons last Sunday, your team wanted to set it in
a road the first time this season. It is it
has been able to stack wins. What are some of
the specific components that go into the making of a

(01:08):
winning streak, consistent play um, and and that's what I
mean when I was talking about December football. Regardless of circumstance,
game location, opponents and things, there's certain variables that have
to continually be on the rise and gain an acceptable
level of consistency. And I think that those are the
things that allow you to put together win streaks and

(01:29):
be the type of team, uh that's a team on
the rise as the road. As the road gets narrow,
Once a team wins two in a row, does it
become easier to win three in a row or more difficult?
I think it becomes easier. Um. I think a lot
of things are habitual. Winning is habitual. Losing his habitual um,
and so that rhythm um that is putting together a

(01:51):
successful performance at successible successful performance is something that I crave.
The Falcons were and still are one of the top
rushing teams in the end NFL, and the Ravens actually
ranked higher. Is there anything about the experience defending Atlanta's
running game that you can take and apply today to
the Ravens running game? It's probably exact opposite. For us,

(02:11):
we took experiences from from defending the Ravens and applied
it to Atlanta. Um. And so from that perspective, we've
had an opportunity to really focus on the style of
ball that we desire to play versus the style of
offense for consecutive weeks. But UM, if I had to
describe it, I think it's probably the the opposite. Um.
We're very familiar with with the Ravens and how the

(02:33):
how do as they play football, and we were able
to apply some of those familiar lessons to a to
a less familiar opponent last week. Another aspect in which
the Ravens and Falcons seemed to be similar is in
the ability to return punts and kickoffs. Last week we
talked about you, uh, you're saying you're needing guys to
beat blocks and make tackles, and unblocked guys had to

(02:55):
make tackles. Did you see that in Atlanta? I did? Um.
You know, first of all, before you get to all
of that, I gotta compliment Matt right on ball placement
in the kickoff game. We minimize a lot of the
challenges associated with that aspect of the game because he
did a really good job of of ball placement in
the kickoff game. But yes, Um, the first the first

(03:15):
tackle made on kickoff, UM was Derek White. He shed
at the block and make a made a tackle. The
next one was Benny Snell. He came off a block
and made a tackle. And and that's football. You got
a lot of space in the team's game. They got eleven,
we got eleven. They got a ball carrier, we got
a kicker. You can't necessarily count him as a tackler.
And so uh, whooping blocks and making tackles as a

(03:38):
as a component of quality play in that face. Devin
DuVernay is the Ravens primary returner of both punts and kickoffs,
and usually those jobs required different skill sets. Uh. What's
what makes him special as a returner? Top end speed. Um,
he's one of those guys, um, that that's capable of
getting the edge and corner on you. And um, his

(03:59):
speed is legitimate. Uh, it's four or three like um
their sideline return team. Um, you gotta have some speed
to get to the sideline. You put the ball in
the middle of the field, you start running across coverage
lanes like they do, and he does. It's it's a
speed oriented game. They got a speed oriented return game.
And he has the skills to match. During the broadcast
of the game in Atlanta, cameras caught Cam Hayward going

(04:22):
over to where George Pickens was sitting on the bench
and taking time to talk to him one on one.
Was that just an example of the kind of leader
Cam Hayward is every day of the week. Um. And
it's not only defenders, as you mentioned, his offense of
players is this special team as a specialist, Um, he's
he's a real captain. Um. He embraces the responsibility that

(04:43):
comes with leading. He's got experience that that others don't.
He understands the emotions of the game. And he's just
a calming force, Uh for young players on our football team.
Based on your experience with Cam, do you imagine he
took more of a calming, soothing approach or more of
an almost parental knock it off to just depending on
what kind of mood he was in. But Uh, both

(05:07):
are effective, to be quite honest with you. And you
know why both are effective, Um, because it's not about
what he says or the method and with in which
he delivers his message. That's about what he does. UM.
The things that he says carries weight because the guys
see what he does day to day. Um, it doesn't
matter what method he chooses, because his actions day to

(05:27):
day proved that he cares about winning in this football team.
And so guys absorbed whatever it is he says in
the right spirit. And so he may have slapped him
on the back of the neck, he may have hugged
him around the neck. Um, but I'm out imagine regardless
of what method he chose, it was received in the
right spirit because the guys no Cam Heyward. One of
the statistics that CBS kept using during the broadcast last

(05:50):
week in Atlanta was that forty of nausea. Harris's eighty
six yards rushing came after contact. Would it be accurate
to describe him as running angry last week? Be very accurate. Um,
that that's his game. That's always been his game. It
was his game in Tuscaloos, I can I can imagine
it was his game in Antioch as well. He's a

(06:10):
big guy. Uh. He knows that he has a certain
skill set. He weaponizes that he attacks dbs particularly. He
just got a good football mentality and the skill set
the boot. When you see him running like that, does
that show you that he's comfortable or feeling good or
what what do you take from when when he's playing
that way. I don't know that. I don't know that

(06:33):
I focus any energy on him. I just know what
it does for others, UM. And that's what he and
I talked about a lot when in his style of
players inspirational. The bigs get fired up for working for
a guy that plays like that. UM. You can take
the energy out of an arena when you're on the
road when you do some of the things that he does.
I mean that stadium was quiet for about five minutes

(06:55):
when he stiff farmed that guy to the ground and
made that run he made. I mean, it's a it's
a component of a football. He's a he's an atmosphere
changer with how he plays the game. Good for us,
you know, bad for others, UM, and so you respect it.
It's not something that that stats really kind of you know,
indicate the impact of and that I just think that

(07:16):
that's one of the components of football, the physical component
of the game that didn't necessarily measured by stats, but
we all know as a factor in terms of how
games unfold. UM. The style in which he runs the ball,
the manner in which cam Heywood plays defensive line. Uh.
Stats don't always tell the story. But you need been
like that in this game. And speaking about the Ravens defense,

(07:39):
you mentioned that they had to change the coordinator from
Don Martindale to Mike McDonald. But then you said, I
just think Baltimore has got a motive operation or a
business model in terms of how they play. What's the
Ravens mode of operation or business model When it comes
to defense, they're attacking group. Uh, you're not running the
ball on them. They're gonna be multiple fronts, up front, possession,

(08:01):
down ball, situational play. They're gonna come get you. Uh.
They die with their boots on. As we say in
this business, win in doubt. When there's a decision to
be made, they're gonna move forward. Um, that's how they
always been. Harves has been there fifteen years. His first
coordinator was Rex Ryan. Uh, that mentality has prevailed over
the years. Um. Their continuity based group. Most of the time,

(08:24):
when you are send to the coordinator position within that organization,
you've already been a part of the organization, much like us.
And so although the guys that are calling it may change.
They've been a part of their their cultural bill before.
Even in the case of McDonald, he comes from Michigan,
but uh he he went to Michigan from the Baltimore Ravens,

(08:45):
and so, um, there's certain things, um that are gonna
be them. Obviously he's gonna bring his own spinning perspective
on it. But they got a mode operation in it,
and Harves dictates that. And and that's why there's a
consistency throughout their addicts, whether it's Rex Ryan, Dean pas Don,
Martindale McDonald over the years is Ravens du the Ravens defense.

(09:08):
Also sometimes this is described as being ball searchers. What
does that mean? They lead the league and enforced fumbles, um,
since they've got forty four force fumbles. Um. They ball serves,
they chase, they rake, they punch, they aggressively seek possession
of the football and so and it's not just an endorsement, um.

(09:30):
They they've got the statistics and the tape to back
it up. Forty four force fumbles since the beginning of
a remarkable number and that's why they number one in
the league in that area. Today will be the first
exposure for many of your players to this rivalry. How
is Steelers versus Ravens different from other games on the schedule,
maybe even different than other games against division teams. I

(09:52):
don't try to shape it too much for him. Uh,
their perception is their perception. I'll tell you this. Almost
almost everybody at this level has some them to relate
it to. UM and and so it makes the conversations brief.
And so seek If I'm talking to Mason Cole, I say,
it's it's Ohio State Michigan. If I'm talking to Levi Wallace,

(10:13):
I say, get ready, you're in the Iron Bowl this week.
And so I try to relate it to things that
I know that they can relate to based on their
football journeys. And when you do it that way, they go, oh,
I know what this is? LEVI Will you tell him
it's the Iron Bowl? He knows what it is. Mason Cole,
he's new to us. You tell him it's Ohio State Michigan. Oh,

(10:34):
he knows what it is. And so UM. I use
analogies in that way, and I let them absorb it. UM.
But in the process, UM, I give them something that
they can relate it to from the past, and most
guys most guys have that your quarterback is a rookie
and this is also his first exposure to the Ravens.
What what are you telling Kenny Pickett about this coming?

(10:57):
Make quick decisions, man, don't get toted out of there,
his Steelers Ravens man. The quarterback position in this matchup
is what it is. Man. Um, It's been some tough
men that play on the center in this game. Man. Uh,
kudos the big ben Man and Joe Flacco. Uh, two
guys that have that absorbed a lot, man and with
major components of making this thing what it is. And

(11:19):
you know, you don't need to look any further than
those two big time competitors and the toughness that they
displayed over the years. If you're a young quarterback, UM,
if you hunt lee, if you're you pick it. You're
trying to figure out how this game is played. UM.
Watch Ben, watch Joe Flacco. UM watch how they competed?
Whych some of the adversity did they faced over the years? Um?

(11:39):
In this matchup? What kind of player is linebacker Rocan Smith?
And what is what has his addition done for the
Ravens defense? He see ball, get ball? What what I mean?
By that is there's not a play that he can't make. Um,
you know, sideline, the sideline, or vertically. Um. You see
the impact of him, um instantly. He's one of those
second level eyes that you put in the middle of defenses,

(12:02):
and they're instinctual and fast and combative, and so they
get to a lot of things. In the way that
Ryan Shay's year had that straight line speed and that
instinctual component of play that allowed him to get to
a lot of things. Smith is very similar and UM,
it's no secret while they were attracted to them, I'd
imagine that anybody would be interested in putting a guy

(12:22):
like that in the military defense. That's the Mike Tomlin
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