Week 2 vs. Seahawks

Steelers historian Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers Week 2 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Gen Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bob Labriola. Okay, coach. In talking at your news
conference about the win in the opener against the Jets
last Sunday, you went over some of the things you
liked about the performance, some of the things about the
performance you said needed to improve and that there's an
expectation for the team to make improvements from game one

(00:23):
to game two. How was all of that handled during
the days between the opener and today?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
You know, I don't know that you do anything dramatically
different procedurally or the process of readiness. I just think
that the mystique of, you know, preparation to play is
now lost once you've been in the stadium, and so
there's more teeth in the work that you do during
the course of the week. They know where it's going
to lead. The same plays that we ran during the

(00:50):
week last week we wrapped in game and they get
the field a result of that work. I think you
approached it next week with a different spirit having been
through that cycle, and so it's not like we make
dramatic adjustments or the procedure itself is dramatically different. I
just think that we all grow from experience and the
mystique is lost once you've been in a stadium individually

(01:13):
and collectively.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
In terms of improvement from game one to game two,
what might that look like for this team today?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
You know, it better be in the form of general
production to minimizing of negativity. You know, more fluidity in
terms of assignments, getting hats on hats in the run
game and so forth, coming off blocks and making tackles
in the run game on defense. Fluidity is what I
would like to feel.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
When it comes to individual players performances. What are some
of the things that make regular season football so much
different and difficult than what they've just gone through during
training camp? In the preseason, it's all varsity. You know,
there's no third team in the regular season. It's a
lot of third teamers playing in preseason. You look at

(02:01):
NFL depth charts, there is no third team, and so
it's all varsity. Work is good on good. The conditioning
component of it, particularly in September, is a factor because
obviously the lines are shorter and guys are playing sixty
minutes of football for the first time. Over the course of.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
The next few weeks, they smooth that out and get
their in game conditioning solid. But certainly it's an issue
potentially early on, particularly if you're absorbing a lot of snaps.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
For whatever reason, you often use the phrase it's not checkers,
it's chess. Would I be correct in assuming you're referring
to a difference in complexity, And if that's correct, how
is it more complex?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
It certainly is. You know, in the preseason, man, you're
trying to evaluate talent, and oftentimes assignments get in the
way of talent evaluation, and so it's less about what
we do and more about putting these guys in position
to see what they're capable of doing. It is a
different agenda in the regular season. You have to have
enough vallume in all three phases to play the strategy game,

(03:03):
and certainly intellect as a component of it, in people's
ability to absorb large menus and execute large menus, larger menus,
significantly larger menus than the preseason.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
As an example, and run defense, how complex is an
inside linebacker's assignment.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know, in the preseason we might have two or
three base calls in non situational moments. In a regular
season based on any game plan, It could be much
much more than that, and so certainly the more assignments
you have, the more complex your job is. In some assignments,
in some calls, the assignments are the same, your visual

(03:42):
keys are the same, and so it's capable of being repetitive,
but it's also capable of not and so just to
share volume changes the nature of that discussion.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
So the call comes in from the sideline, the defensive call,
so that gives the inside linebacker that we were just
referring to his assignment. Does that then sometimes change at
the snap of the ball, And if it does, what
happened to make a change.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
It could be a myriad of things we could be making,
you know, check calls based on offensive formation, structure, Situationally,
we could alter calls. A lot of it has to
do with what we see at the line of scrimmage
prior to the snap, but it really varies depending on
game plan. Some weeks, man, you want to minimize that

(04:29):
as much as possible. Some weeks you're not afforded the
opportunity to do so, based on the schematics of your opponent,
and so it is subject to change in things that
your opponents do have a lot to do with it.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
As an NFL head coach, do you find yourself more
pleased that the offense was perfect in the red zone
and finished with thirty plus points or annoyed that the
defense allowed one hundred and eighty two yards rushing, four
point seven yards per attempt and three touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Certainly are more pleased with the production of the offense.
The name of the game is scoring, particularly in the
red area, and to check those boxes and be proficient
in that area, you got a chance to win football games.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Mike McDonald is in his third season as an NFL
head coach, and before that he was a defensive assistant
with the Ravens from twenty to fifteen to twenty twenty,
and then after a year at Michigan as a defensive
coordinator in twenty twenty one, he became the Ravens defensive
coordinator in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. In
all of those nine seasons, McDonald was working for a

(05:35):
head coach named Harbaugh. How has the Harbaugh influence shown
up in McDonald's Seahawks teams.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
You know, a lot of what they do defensively is
very similar to things that the Ravens do, and so
it's probably more Dean pas influenced than actually Harp's, you know,
from the defensive perspective, and that's where his experience is
and that's his area of expertise. And so when I
view some of those things, I view it more through

(06:04):
a Dean P's lens. But certainly, Uh, he worked for
the Harvard Brothers and came up in that system, as
did Jesse Mentor, who who I see very similar things
schematically run by the Chargers. But that happens a lot,
you know in the NFL. Man there's schools or approaches
to business. There's a Sean McVay school or the you know,

(06:28):
Kyle Shanahan school of offensive players, and and certainly there's
a school of guys that that that play Baltimore style
defense and a lot of that, you know, permeates from
from Dan Psh, guys like Jesse Mentor and guys like
Mike McDonald uh.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
And talking about Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker, you referred
to his run posture. What is run posture?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
He has an awesome Ford body lean, he has a
small hit surface, if you will, he has good pad level,
and guys that run like that man, the power usually
falls in their favor. He's got good body, lean, he's
got strong, powerful lowers. All of those things make him

(07:11):
a tough tackle. What kind of running plays do they
use with him? You know, just general running plays. It's
not anything unique from a schematic standpoint. They got some
zones game plays inside outside zone, stretch, and some gaps
game stuff as well, traps powers. I don't know that
there's anything unique about the schematic component of what they do,
but they have two really good, complimentary runners with different

(07:35):
traits that make it a challenge.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold entered the league as the third
overall pick of the twenty eighteen NFL Draft. Now he's
in his eighth season and he's with his fifth different team.
He's thirty five and thirty nine as a starter, including
one on one against the Steelers, and in those two games,
he completed sixty one point two percent, four hundred and
eight yards, two touchdowns, snow interset and a rating of

(08:01):
one oh one point four. What's the book on Sam Darnold.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
You know, he's been through a lot, but not unlike
a lot of guys. Sometimes when it doesn't work out
with your original draft team, you move around a little
bit until you can find some footing. I think he's
been an example of that, and what he was able
to do last year in Minnesota. I think certainly Baker
Mayfield is an example of that. And so I don't

(08:26):
know if there's a book, per se. I think those
guys spend a period of time trying to shake, you know,
that that initial experience off of them, and if they're
mentally tough, they generally have an opportunity to do that.
Geno Smith is an example of that. He is playing
really good ball in Vegas right now, but he played

(08:46):
on several teams and moved around after his initial draft experience,
and so I just think it's indicative of how competitive
this business is, and particularly at the quarterback position, and
that if they're mentally tough, eventually and they stay in
the fight, eventually their talent's all show. And certainly he's
talented enough. That's why he was taking third overall in

(09:08):
some subsequent stops in recent years, he's proven that to
be true.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
You know, five different teams in eight seasons would indicate
that a bunch of teams looked at him and didn't
think that there was enough there to that he's worth keeping.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Is that accurate. That's not always the case. You know,
sometimes the commitments to other players contractually will control whether
or not business is short term business or long term business.
I think Baker was in Carolina. I think Baker was
in la I'm sure that you know, they probably liked
some of the things that they saw from him, but
they had relationships with others Matt Stafford, for example, and

(09:47):
so I just think that's a component of it. When
you have a position available, you want the very best
of talent that you can acquire, but sometimes you do
so knowing that it's short term business because their long
term futures and opportunities are elsewhere for him because of
just that opportunity, and so the number of stops that

(10:08):
don't necessarily making an indictment on his talents or the
fact or the experience, to be quite honest with you,
that he had with other teams, he might have been
the right guy at the right time to feel a
temporary void and it was good business for all parties involved.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
When Deshaun Elliott injured a knee, you signed veteran Jabriel Peppers.
When Peppers was coming out for the twenty seventeen NFL Draft,
he was being projected as a top ten pick, but
he ended up going twenty fifth overall. That twenty seventeen
draft was the one where you picked TJ. Watt thirtieth overall.
What were the pre draft conversations like about those two guys?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
You know, I don't know that we looked at him
as comparables, To be quite honest with you, Pep's draft
reads and you know, speculation was he was gonna go
much earlier than that, and so we certainly did our
due diligence on him, but we didn't, you know, get
carried away in terms of making comparisons and so forth.

(11:11):
We felt really comfortable about the potential availability of TJ
around our draft position, and so certainly we had more
extended conversations about him. I don't remember it as an
apples and apples like discussion. Certainly was appreciative of Pep's
talents and his career at Michigan, but I don't remember
us evaluating it in that way.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Okay, But talking about Peppers, what stood out to you
during the pre draft process about him as an individual?

Speaker 2 (11:38):
He was a football player. First, he did a myriad
of things at Michigan. He was a kick returner, a safety,
he played linebacker in some circumstances. I think they even
messed around with him some on offense during his career there.
He was a football player first. His game was not
defined by a position. He was good with the ball

(11:58):
in his hands, he was a good tackler, just an
overall really good football player.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
How does a kicker like Chris Boswell, with his leg
strength and accuracy impact the game beyond the scoreboard?

Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know, certainly it changes schematics. The field goal line,
of the anticipated field goal line oftentimes dictates strategy. And
when you knowing, when you know you're planning against somebody
that's good for midfield, it certainly changes how you call defenses,
particularly in situational moments. I'm sure that was the case

(12:32):
for the Jets in our last possession. Offensively, if they've
done their homework, they noted that guy is good and
capable once across the fifty and he proved it.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
What about for the offense? You have that guy? So
how does that change your offensive approach or doesn't?

Speaker 2 (12:48):
You know? I think it's less urgent in terms of
the change it can change or it cannot change. It
just depends on what mood or level of aggression you're in.
From a schematics standpoint, I think more of the analysis
of kicker talent and leg strength and so forth becomes
a component of defensive strategy.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe and download
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