December 21, 2024 • 12 mins
Steelers Historian, Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers' Week 16 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin King Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bob Labriola. Okay, coach, what did you learn about
your team during the last Sunday's game in Philadelphia and
its immediate aftermath?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, it's interesting sometimes when you when you don't
play as well if you as you'd like, or you
coach as well as you'd like. I don't know that
you learn new lessons. I think sometimes it dis fortifies
some things that you already believe in, whether it's you
as a coach or you as an individual player. It's
the minutia. It always is. It's the fundamental things. It's tackling,
(00:38):
it's ball possession, of ball security, it's capitalizing on moments
on short fields and situational ball. And I think that
when looking back at it through that sober lens, is
is the affirmation of what we already know about how
significant situational play is and how significant fundamental football is.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But what about learning about your players, your team, how
they respond to something like that, how they were and
then rebound or whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think we're in the process of writing that story.
You know, I never look, you know, to the next practice.
It's about the next opportunity, how you position yourself, how
you how you rise up in those moments, and so
you know, I don't know that I was looking for
any you know, quote unquote growth in the process of
preparing for this next one. I think those answers lie
(01:27):
in the quality of our play in execution this time around.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm not going to ask you to critique the officiating,
and I don't have enough money to help you pay
the fine if I if you did. But do you
address controversial calls with your players in game, if such
things happen, if for no other reason than to talk
to them about overcoming things like that to keep them
focused on the game.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
You know, actually we do that in team development. That's
one of the reasons why it's so important to have
NFL officials in our training camp like settings. To me,
when when you're when you're teaching those lessons on site,
you're late. It's my job to see around corners. It's
my job to prepare our team for circumstances such as that.
(02:09):
The lessons are easily learned in non competitive situations, and
so you put them in situations and team development, sometimes
you wrong them and force them to overcome it. It's
not about being fair all the time in team development,
but you do so with a purpose to educate, and
(02:29):
that's the general tenor that we take and approach it
that we take regarding those things. If I'm teaching those
lessons on site, I'm late.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And reviewing the performance against the Eagles. You talked about
mistackles and how that impacted the flow of the game.
You did live tackling every day during training camp, and
obviously you're not going to start doing live tackling now,
so how can you work on being better at that?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The approach, the technique, the long stride, short stride, to
the point of confrontation, how square you are, the fundamental
things there. We do sled tackles, you know, big pop up,
dummy tackles, and so we do a lot of fundamental
skill development around tackling that better positions us to be
the functional tacklers that we need to be.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And giving the injury report during your news conference, you said,
rest assured the healthy people are going to play in
this game in December of an NFL regular season. What
does healthy mean?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
The guys that got a clean bill of health and
are ready to go and a clean bill of health
is a slippery slope, okay, But the guys that are
healthy enough and ready to go, that's the point I
was making. I guess, more than anything this time of year,
particularly when you're facing sixty or sixty plus minutes of
really competitive football, you better start with the healthiest of people.
(03:48):
You start compromising health, you end up a quarter or
two quarters into the game playing a man or two
or three men short. You know, I gotta feel good
about the potential of guys that we suit up being
able to play start to finish.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
When we were talking about Russell Wilson back when he
had his CAF situation, you said you wanted it. He
had to be medically cleared and then you wanted to
see him on the practice field doing the things that
he needs to do to be effective for things like
a hamstring injury or a sprained ankle. Is there some
medical tests that can be done that say, okay, this
(04:25):
guy is now he's healthy.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
There there's so many There's so many technological advancements that
that aid us in that decision making. All of these
guys got GPS monitors on them, and you know, your
ability to produce top speed, your ability to produce work
output similar to that that you produce when you were
healthy as a great indicator of readiness, and so it's
(04:50):
not only top speed, but but its speed, endurance, it's workload.
We have metrices now that just really aid us and
minimize some of the guess work in terms of player
health and availability around some of those things.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So far this season, Calvin Austin, he has nine catches
of twenty plus yards. What about him and his skill
set makes him effective as that kind of wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
He's both quick and fast, and so his quickness allows
him to get releases at the line of scrimmage, and
he has the type of long speed that allows him
to create separation whether it's across the field or down
the field. And when you're quick and fast, usually you
position yourself to have the type of stats that you outline.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Dean Peas was a linebackers coach and then a defensive
coordinator with the Ravens before he retired, and he was
brought out of retirement in October this season to be
a special advisor to defensive coordinator Zach Orr. What's different
about the Ravens defense since John Harbaugh brought Peas back.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know, I just see some real fundamental DEMPS, like
things umbrella structure that mimizes the potential for big plays.
Prior to our last game, I think they were, you know,
thirty second in the league in pass defense, and they'd
given up some big plays. And really it was kind
of outlined by some explosion plays, particularly in the Cincinnati
Bengals games, with Chase scoring five touchdowns in two games
(06:17):
against them. When I look at them more recent tape,
I really see the DMP's influence in terms of umbrella
defense minimizing big plays. And I think they're statistics since
since the last time we played them. Bear that out.
Since the last time we played them, for example, they're
second in the league and pass defense. You don't see
it in totality because it's tracked over the full course
(06:38):
of the season, but since the last time we played them,
they're second in the league, and what they've done is
minimize big plays, and really that's quintessential DPS. Not only
was he employed in Baltimore, as you mentioned, but more
recently he was a defensive coordinator for Arthur Smith in
Atlanta as well, and I have a real familiarity with
(06:58):
his work. Arthur has a real familiarity with his work
and what we're looking at more recently looks very similar
to D Andp's type work.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, I looked it up. Since the last or the
first Steelers Ravens game, the Ravens have only given up
one pass play of twenty or more yards. You mentioned
umbrella coverage. What can you detail that a little bit?
What that means?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, they play, they play we is referred to globally
as Tampa too, in a variety of forms. They'll bogus Tampa,
they'll play traditional Tampa, they'll zone exchange and play Tampa.
All is done to make the quarterback, you know, diagnose
post snap and while also at the same time rerouting
the potential of vertical receivers outside. And when you do
(07:43):
those things, man, you really position yourself to minimize big plays. Obviously,
I grew up in that school of thought from my
time as a position coach years ago down in Tampa,
and understand it in great detail.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
A daufe o Way had two and a half sacks
and four quarterback hits in the first meeting. Is he
now their primary pass rusher?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You know, he's a talented young guy, but they got
a lot of guys that you know are really good
in that area. They play a bunch of people. He's
a guy that might be ascending or emerging from the group, certainly,
But I think the strength of their pack from a
pass rush standpoint is the pack itself. They play a
(08:28):
lot of people and have all year.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
In the first meeting, Patrick Recard played twenty two snaps.
Dereck Henry had thirteen carries. Do you expect those numbers
to be hired today?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
You know, it depends on whether or not they're winning
possession downs. You know, the last time around, we were
winning possession downs and that minimizes the totality of a
lot of discussions. I'm sure that'll be their agenda for
those numbers to be more, But oftentimes your agenda in
reality are dictated by your ability to win the possession
(09:01):
downs and thus produce additional downs or no.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Does the venue have any impact on how much a
team might want to run the ball?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You know it does at times, you know, particularly when
you're working on a silent count, the offense loses his
ability to beat the defense to the punch. But you know,
I believe and still do over the course of my
career that legitimate dominant running games are are weather proof
(09:28):
or environment proof and defense proof. If you're if you're
really good at running the football, you run the football
in all circumstances.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
What can your edge rushman absolutely not do or not
try to do when putting pressure on Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
We can't have multiple people behind him. Those vertical holes
create turn a four man rush into a three man
rush or a four man rush into a two man rush.
When you give vertical holes where he can step up
and run horizontal to get back vertical. The athletic guy,
as to make no mistake, Lamar is a quintessential athletic guy.
(10:04):
Rushers behind him are negative. You got a worse to
contain them, and a major component of containing them is
keeping them inside and in front, and that vertical rush component.
Ending up with guys behind them has been catastrophic for
a lot of defenses trying to minimize Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I mean, would you go so far as to say,
don't try any spin moves.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I don't put limits. I don't put limits on our
guys in that way, because then you quell their natural
instincts and the skills that they have developed. But you
do make them cognizant of certain major coaching points or
bullet points. And so I talk more broadly. If we
got a four man rush, you know, we need to
(10:48):
have four guys in front of them. If we have
a five man rush, we need to have five guys
in front of them. Guys behind mobile quarterbacks really are
the catalyst for a lot of issues for defenses. If
a guy is a mobile, then you can circle them
and end up behind them and retrace. But the mobile ones, man,
they find those vertical escape lanes, man, and then it
(11:09):
creates problems for you.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
What do you need to get from your team today,
and specifically from Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
From our team, we need to play hard and smart.
And I can say the same thing about Russell Wilson. Man,
all the marbles are on the table, if you will.
We're competing for a AFC North Championship and that requires
a certain mindset. While at the same time, man, we
got to be we gotta be sharp, We got to
display awareness, We got to play within the rules of
(11:36):
the game. We can't allow our motions to to get
away from us. You know, the Baltimore Ravens are the
most penalized team in the National Football League, and if
that is them, we need to let that be them
and not us. A component of us positioning ourselves to
win is staying on schedule, not giving them free real estate.
(11:56):
And whether whatever side of the ball you're on, that's
what penalties do you get? Offensive penalties that push you
behind the change, You're not gonna win possessions You give
them free real estate and chunks of ground you canna
produce scoring drives on the other side, and that cannot
be us.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe and download
new episodes every week and check out all of the
other shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast
Network that's available on the Steelers Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
He's the Mike Tomlin King Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bob Labriola. Okay, coach, what did you learn about
your team during the last Sunday's game in Philadelphia and
its immediate aftermath?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, it's interesting sometimes when you when you don't
play as well if you as you'd like, or you
coach as well as you'd like. I don't know that
you learn new lessons. I think sometimes it dis fortifies
some things that you already believe in, whether it's you
as a coach or you as an individual player. It's
the minutia. It always is. It's the fundamental things. It's tackling,
(00:38):
it's ball possession, of ball security, it's capitalizing on moments
on short fields and situational ball. And I think that
when looking back at it through that sober lens, is
is the affirmation of what we already know about how
significant situational play is and how significant fundamental football is.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But what about learning about your players, your team, how
they respond to something like that, how they were and
then rebound or whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think we're in the process of writing that story.
You know, I never look, you know, to the next practice.
It's about the next opportunity, how you position yourself, how
you how you rise up in those moments, and so
you know, I don't know that I was looking for
any you know, quote unquote growth in the process of
preparing for this next one. I think those answers lie
(01:27):
in the quality of our play in execution this time around.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm not going to ask you to critique the officiating,
and I don't have enough money to help you pay
the fine if I if you did. But do you
address controversial calls with your players in game, if such
things happen, if for no other reason than to talk
to them about overcoming things like that to keep them
focused on the game.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
You know, actually we do that in team development. That's
one of the reasons why it's so important to have
NFL officials in our training camp like settings. To me,
when when you're when you're teaching those lessons on site,
you're late. It's my job to see around corners. It's
my job to prepare our team for circumstances such as that.
(02:09):
The lessons are easily learned in non competitive situations, and
so you put them in situations and team development, sometimes
you wrong them and force them to overcome it. It's
not about being fair all the time in team development,
but you do so with a purpose to educate, and
(02:29):
that's the general tenor that we take and approach it
that we take regarding those things. If I'm teaching those
lessons on site, I'm late.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And reviewing the performance against the Eagles. You talked about
mistackles and how that impacted the flow of the game.
You did live tackling every day during training camp, and
obviously you're not going to start doing live tackling now,
so how can you work on being better at that?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The approach, the technique, the long stride, short stride, to
the point of confrontation, how square you are, the fundamental
things there. We do sled tackles, you know, big pop up,
dummy tackles, and so we do a lot of fundamental
skill development around tackling that better positions us to be
the functional tacklers that we need to be.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And giving the injury report during your news conference, you said,
rest assured the healthy people are going to play in
this game in December of an NFL regular season. What
does healthy mean?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
The guys that got a clean bill of health and
are ready to go and a clean bill of health
is a slippery slope, okay, But the guys that are
healthy enough and ready to go, that's the point I
was making. I guess, more than anything this time of year,
particularly when you're facing sixty or sixty plus minutes of
really competitive football, you better start with the healthiest of people.
(03:48):
You start compromising health, you end up a quarter or
two quarters into the game playing a man or two
or three men short. You know, I gotta feel good
about the potential of guys that we suit up being
able to play start to finish.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
When we were talking about Russell Wilson back when he
had his CAF situation, you said you wanted it. He
had to be medically cleared and then you wanted to
see him on the practice field doing the things that
he needs to do to be effective for things like
a hamstring injury or a sprained ankle. Is there some
medical tests that can be done that say, okay, this
(04:25):
guy is now he's healthy.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
There there's so many There's so many technological advancements that
that aid us in that decision making. All of these
guys got GPS monitors on them, and you know, your
ability to produce top speed, your ability to produce work
output similar to that that you produce when you were
healthy as a great indicator of readiness, and so it's
(04:50):
not only top speed, but but its speed, endurance, it's workload.
We have metrices now that just really aid us and
minimize some of the guess work in terms of player
health and availability around some of those things.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So far this season, Calvin Austin, he has nine catches
of twenty plus yards. What about him and his skill
set makes him effective as that kind of wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
He's both quick and fast, and so his quickness allows
him to get releases at the line of scrimmage, and
he has the type of long speed that allows him
to create separation whether it's across the field or down
the field. And when you're quick and fast, usually you
position yourself to have the type of stats that you outline.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Dean Peas was a linebackers coach and then a defensive
coordinator with the Ravens before he retired, and he was
brought out of retirement in October this season to be
a special advisor to defensive coordinator Zach Orr. What's different
about the Ravens defense since John Harbaugh brought Peas back.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know, I just see some real fundamental DEMPS, like
things umbrella structure that mimizes the potential for big plays.
Prior to our last game, I think they were, you know,
thirty second in the league in pass defense, and they'd
given up some big plays. And really it was kind
of outlined by some explosion plays, particularly in the Cincinnati
Bengals games, with Chase scoring five touchdowns in two games
(06:17):
against them. When I look at them more recent tape,
I really see the DMP's influence in terms of umbrella
defense minimizing big plays. And I think they're statistics since
since the last time we played them. Bear that out.
Since the last time we played them, for example, they're
second in the league and pass defense. You don't see
it in totality because it's tracked over the full course
(06:38):
of the season, but since the last time we played them,
they're second in the league, and what they've done is
minimize big plays, and really that's quintessential DPS. Not only
was he employed in Baltimore, as you mentioned, but more
recently he was a defensive coordinator for Arthur Smith in
Atlanta as well, and I have a real familiarity with
(06:58):
his work. Arthur has a real familiarity with his work
and what we're looking at more recently looks very similar
to D Andp's type work.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, I looked it up. Since the last or the
first Steelers Ravens game, the Ravens have only given up
one pass play of twenty or more yards. You mentioned
umbrella coverage. What can you detail that a little bit?
What that means?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, they play, they play we is referred to globally
as Tampa too, in a variety of forms. They'll bogus Tampa,
they'll play traditional Tampa, they'll zone exchange and play Tampa.
All is done to make the quarterback, you know, diagnose
post snap and while also at the same time rerouting
the potential of vertical receivers outside. And when you do
(07:43):
those things, man, you really position yourself to minimize big plays. Obviously,
I grew up in that school of thought from my
time as a position coach years ago down in Tampa,
and understand it in great detail.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
A daufe o Way had two and a half sacks
and four quarterback hits in the first meeting. Is he
now their primary pass rusher?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You know, he's a talented young guy, but they got
a lot of guys that you know are really good
in that area. They play a bunch of people. He's
a guy that might be ascending or emerging from the group, certainly,
But I think the strength of their pack from a
pass rush standpoint is the pack itself. They play a
(08:28):
lot of people and have all year.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
In the first meeting, Patrick Recard played twenty two snaps.
Dereck Henry had thirteen carries. Do you expect those numbers
to be hired today?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
You know, it depends on whether or not they're winning
possession downs. You know, the last time around, we were
winning possession downs and that minimizes the totality of a
lot of discussions. I'm sure that'll be their agenda for
those numbers to be more, But oftentimes your agenda in
reality are dictated by your ability to win the possession
(09:01):
downs and thus produce additional downs or no.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Does the venue have any impact on how much a
team might want to run the ball?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You know it does at times, you know, particularly when
you're working on a silent count, the offense loses his
ability to beat the defense to the punch. But you know,
I believe and still do over the course of my
career that legitimate dominant running games are are weather proof
(09:28):
or environment proof and defense proof. If you're if you're
really good at running the football, you run the football
in all circumstances.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
What can your edge rushman absolutely not do or not
try to do when putting pressure on Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
We can't have multiple people behind him. Those vertical holes
create turn a four man rush into a three man
rush or a four man rush into a two man rush.
When you give vertical holes where he can step up
and run horizontal to get back vertical. The athletic guy,
as to make no mistake, Lamar is a quintessential athletic guy.
(10:04):
Rushers behind him are negative. You got a worse to
contain them, and a major component of containing them is
keeping them inside and in front, and that vertical rush component.
Ending up with guys behind them has been catastrophic for
a lot of defenses trying to minimize Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I mean, would you go so far as to say,
don't try any spin moves.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I don't put limits. I don't put limits on our
guys in that way, because then you quell their natural
instincts and the skills that they have developed. But you
do make them cognizant of certain major coaching points or
bullet points. And so I talk more broadly. If we
got a four man rush, you know, we need to
(10:48):
have four guys in front of them. If we have
a five man rush, we need to have five guys
in front of them. Guys behind mobile quarterbacks really are
the catalyst for a lot of issues for defenses. If
a guy is a mobile, then you can circle them
and end up behind them and retrace. But the mobile ones, man,
they find those vertical escape lanes, man, and then it
(11:09):
creates problems for you.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
What do you need to get from your team today,
and specifically from Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
From our team, we need to play hard and smart.
And I can say the same thing about Russell Wilson. Man,
all the marbles are on the table, if you will.
We're competing for a AFC North Championship and that requires
a certain mindset. While at the same time, man, we
got to be we gotta be sharp, We got to
display awareness, We got to play within the rules of
(11:36):
the game. We can't allow our motions to to get
away from us. You know, the Baltimore Ravens are the
most penalized team in the National Football League, and if
that is them, we need to let that be them
and not us. A component of us positioning ourselves to
win is staying on schedule, not giving them free real estate.
(11:56):
And whether whatever side of the ball you're on, that's
what penalties do you get? Offensive penalties that push you
behind the change, You're not gonna win possessions You give
them free real estate and chunks of ground you canna
produce scoring drives on the other side, and that cannot
be us.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe and download
new episodes every week and check out all of the
other shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast
Network that's available on the Steelers Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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