September 21, 2022 • 13 mins
Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down with Steelers' Head Coach Mike Tomlin to discuss the matchup against the Browns in Week 3
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Game Day podcast with steelers digest
editor bottom Labriola. Okay, coach, if my accounting is correct,
playing on a Thursday night cuts preparation time for the
game almost in half. One thing that's always a part
of your work week is coming through the previous game.
So has that come through with the whole team? Something
that has to be sacrificed? No doubt. Um, you know,
(00:23):
it's important within the smaller groups within the unit that
that you address any issues that need to be corrected
that could impact this next performance, things that could be
used as development of a plan, Um, and so it
you know, the meaty things, the significant things, are addressed
and adjustments made, but it's not combed through in the way, Um,
(00:47):
that you would particularly combed through a second game of
the season. Um In a short week. Time is just
not afforded in that area and so you gotta make some, Um,
major sacrifices and obviously um preparation things relative to the
next one go to the top of the line. So
then generally, in terms of the workflow in a short
week like this one, your procedure would be to eliminate
(01:11):
some things rather than try and do everything, but shorten
at all? Yeah, and then not necessarily eliminate Um things
in terms of menu things. But boy, you better. you
better weigh certain things more than others and make sure
those things get addressed appropriately. Um, like situational plays, red zone,
short yard is, possession, down plays, planning in those areas. Um,
(01:35):
you don't get a chance to do everything, and particularly
you don't get a chance to do everything, uh, in
the manner which makes us all comfortable, coaches and players,
in terms of preparedness and having that feel of being
able to go in and play fast. But you better
have those things, those boxes checked relative to the significant plays,
the weighty plays, the weighty moments. So some of the
(01:56):
repetitions might have to be shortened. It's not the mite
about it, Um, you know they are Um and so
much of the physical work that you do in a
short week. Our situational moments during the game, when a
past play is sent to the quarterback, does the play
call itself dictate where the ball should go or the
quarterbacks should first be looking to throw the ball, or
(02:18):
is it a situation where the quarterback first has to
read the coverage and then make his decisions? It's all
of the above. Um, their complexities to the discussion. Um.
Sometimes you could have an alert within the concept, saying
if you see a certain look, the ball goes here.
Sometimes there's a natural progression within the concept and obviously
what the defense is doing oftentimes dictates the progression, the
(02:42):
side of the field that you're work in, et Cetera,
and so um. It sounds complex, but it all comes together.
There's a Mirrord of variables, but usually it pushes you
through a process that's pretty fluid. Okay, little football, one,
oh one. When the defense is said to be in
single high, what's that mean? It means that they got
one high safety and they get another safety allocated towards
(03:04):
the run game or closer to the line of scrimmage. Um.
And so oftentimes that's associated with with run stopping structure.
And when you have two safeties high with both safeties
back deep, Um, oftentimes that's two deep or quarters, and
that's associated with past dominant structures. Okay, single high, what
can an offense do to take advantage of that defensive alignment? Everything,
(03:28):
I mean, you're not reduced in any way in terms
of what you're capable of doing. offensively. Obviously, Um, there's
a structure that makes it more difficult to run the football,
but their their mechanisms that the offense has in place
to minimize that. You run the ball one direction, you
block the guy furthest away from the ball on the
(03:48):
other side and things of that nature if you want
to run the ball into that structure. And so in
today's game I'm not gonna pretend like that structure can
dictate to offenses what they do. Um, it just requires
some co ordination and planning. When, when running on the beach,
as we say, meaning throwing the ball into too high
(04:08):
or running the ball into one high but flipping around.
I mean when an offense sees that, do they lick
their chops and say we can do this against this?
Not necessarily so, because, by the same token, on defenses,
defenses know when they're in a single high they're subject
to get passing game and so there's adjustments in those
single highs. It's just so many complexities in the game
(04:30):
at this level. Maybe if you were watching a little
league football game you would see that level of purity
in that discussion, but at this level, Um, it's so
many complexities to it in your review of the game
against New England at your news conference you said I
thought we had one on one playmaking opportunities, particularly an
open space with some of our receivers against defensive backs.
(04:51):
We didn't get that done. What were you referring to?
Their Um, just when you get you know, they're a
man dominant team. They're a single high team. Accordis in
the middle of the field. We talked about it going
into the game and so Um, there were gonna be
someone on one opportunities and we didn't get enough of them.
We didn't take enough of them, and so that's what
I was simply referring to. Is Not in any particular moment.
(05:12):
I just note that under those circumstances, oftentimes chunk players,
which flip field positions, which produce scoring drives and things
of that nature, are often comprised of of drives that
have those type that plays in it. Usually in the
NFL there's not a whole lot of instances of receivers
running by defensive backs because you know, everybody has speed
(05:33):
in the league. So how did receivers get open deep
in this league? They run by defensive backs. Now, UM,
they run by them in different ways. Um. It's not always,
you know, pedigree versus pedigree. Sometimes it's, you know, it's intellect,
it's Um, it's stemming, it's stuttering, it's Um, how they
run their route. Sometimes it's looks Um that the offenses
(05:57):
provide Um, that that are dominant in one the area
and then Um, the vertical route concept is a change up.
Sometimes it's circumstantial. Um. You run the ball repeatedly on
third down in one and people are ready for running.
You have a hardcore play pass and you end up
behind people, and so Um. Receivers do routinely run by
(06:19):
DBS UM weekend and week out in the national football league.
But it's not that pure pedigree foot race that you
think it is. It's involving some other variables. Mitch Drobiski
said that he could look to throw to George Pickens
Moore uh in the first two games of the season.
How the Bengals are patriots done anything specifically to minimize
pickens as a down the field option? No, no, Um.
(06:42):
They've they've done what they do um, particularly if you're
talking about a particular receiver getting attention. Deonte is the
guy over the course of the first couple of games.
That's probably got an additional attention based on the fact
that he's a hundred plus catch guy a year ago. Um,
and that's usually how things going in the national football league.
PICKENS IS gonna have to put some players on tape
the garder that type of attention, and not in preseason football.
(07:06):
At one point during your news conference you said in
an answer to a question related to the performance of
the offense, I don't know if significant changes are what's required.
What would you have to be seeing that might convince
you to consider significant changes? When we're not in the
right neighborhood, you know we're in the right neighborhood, we
might be knocking on the wrong doors. What I mean
is Um, the difference between success and failure or small
(07:29):
things and and it's understanding, it's cohesion, Um, it's playmaking Um.
When it's things of that nature, when it's a small
number of tangible things that you can point to, Um,
then you proceed and you continue to grow and develop.
When it's multiple things, when it's popcorn, um, then that's
(07:49):
a different suggestion or a different story. What I'm seeing
to this point are singular, tangible um minute things, and
so that just tells you to keep your head down,
have a certain collective resolve about your approach to business,
in spite of outcome, in spite of outside noise or
(08:09):
what have you, and get better. What does the use
of tempo do to help an offense? Um, it does
a lot of things. That quells the crowd. Um, it
catches a defense off balance, maybe lacking snap readiness, and
so it could be something that reduces a rush and
for Defensive Lineman in coiled and ready for action. Uh.
It limits communication, which which is a result of collective understanding.
(08:34):
Oftentimes one guy could recognize a formation structure if he's
afforded an opportunity. Hey, watch this, watch that, and so
down the defense is collectively ready. Uh. Pace reduces those things. Um,
pace between plays, meaning Um keeping a unit on the
field from like second to third down, can reduce defensive specialization. UH,
(08:56):
certain personnel packages, which makes a defense more diverse. So
you can minimize that by pacing from second to third down,
which is a common occurrence in the NFL these days.
You have said that the use of tempo is scheduled
into the game plan. What factors are in play when
deciding tempo within the game just the things we were
just talking about. It's a myriad of factors and a
(09:17):
myriad of different circumstances and it's utilized in different ways.
It's a it's a versatile tool, um, and so, you know,
in a game like this, obviously it could be used
to quell the crowd. Uh. That's why, oftentimes, visiting teams
working no huddle, Um, you know, it kind of you know,
when you break the huddle, it kind of signals the
crowd to to pick it up. And so, uh, that's why, oftentimes,
(09:41):
you know, visiting teams working no huddle, for instance, Um,
there's just so many, so many Um components of that discussion.
It can be it can be Um. There's just there's
a myriad of of ways that that pace or the
use of paces a discussion in today's game. What did
you see in the Marvel Yale, either during training camp
(10:02):
or the preseason, that led you to give him a
chance as a rush end following the injury to t
j watt? You know, much like uh, much like Kenny
Pickett man once we start getting into stadiums, you just
saw a rapid growth and development, UM, in his in
his play and his understanding oftentimes these guys just need
to get it in stadium, taste of NFL and like
(10:25):
Oh yeah, I belong here, oh it's, it's it's like
they said it was in practice or you know, Um,
those two guys in particular, Um, you felt an increase
match racing and increased development, UH, in their games and
a more consistency in their games once we started stepping
into stadiums. Jacoby Brissett will start up tonight for the
(10:49):
BROWNS H at quarterback. He's not with his fourth different team,
which could indicate he's lacking some important ingredients to be
his starting quarterback in the league. But the fact he's
not on his seventh NFL's season indicates teams believe he
has attributes. What are Brissetts attributes? You know, he has
unbelievable and tangibles. Anybody has ever been around him, Um,
(11:10):
says that about him. He's an unbelievably hard worker, he's
a smart guy, he's a natural leader. Um. That was
said about him when he came out of college. Um,
like Ryan Fitzpatrick, is another example of a guy that
played for a lot of teams, maybe seven or eight
teams over the course of his career. Um said similar
things about him. This is a highly competitive business and
game and and oftentimes a guy working for multiple teams
(11:34):
is viewed as a negative and I just don't necessarily
view it as such. This is a highly competitive league. Uh.
The fact that multiple teams want to do business with
him oftentimes means that the guy has some really good
qualities about him beyond what you see on tape, Um,
and so I think he falls into that category. I
think tyrod Taylor falls into that category. There are a
(11:55):
lot of quarterbacks, Um, who have made a career of
and a guy that that there's a bridge guy in
some form of fashion for organization. I think Cleveland browns
thoughtfully went out and selected him, knowing that they were
looking at some some petie issues as they moved forward
with Watson and so forth. and Um, I know that
(12:16):
he has the type of intangibles. Brian Flores is on
our staff. Um. He was a member of the Miami
Dolphins and and that was a first hand accounting of
some of some of the things that he brings to
the table. Um, and that's why guys like him are
are doing business with people and people are are glad
to do business with him. In terms of their running styles.
Did Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt Compliment each other or
(12:37):
they just two of the same guys that they alternate? UH,
there one in one day. Um, they, they, they have
their own styles. There's some differences but um, I don't
know that the place selection changes. Um, you know, Nick
Chubb's got seventy six players. I think on the season
hunt's got seventy four. Um, that probably just reflects Um, uh,
(12:58):
their usage and and and how both are a significant
component of what they do. Man, that's the most important
position on their football team and then that's probably the
best running back tandem in the national football league. That's
the Mike Tomlin Game Day podcast. Subscribe in download new
episodes every week and check out all of the other
shows we have to offer on the steelers podcast network.
(13:21):
That's available on the steelers mobile APP, the I heart
radio APP or wherever you get your podcasts.
He's the Mike Tomlin Game Day podcast with steelers digest
editor bottom Labriola. Okay, coach, if my accounting is correct,
playing on a Thursday night cuts preparation time for the
game almost in half. One thing that's always a part
of your work week is coming through the previous game.
So has that come through with the whole team? Something
that has to be sacrificed? No doubt. Um, you know,
(00:23):
it's important within the smaller groups within the unit that
that you address any issues that need to be corrected
that could impact this next performance, things that could be
used as development of a plan, Um, and so it
you know, the meaty things, the significant things, are addressed
and adjustments made, but it's not combed through in the way, Um,
(00:47):
that you would particularly combed through a second game of
the season. Um In a short week. Time is just
not afforded in that area and so you gotta make some, Um,
major sacrifices and obviously um preparation things relative to the
next one go to the top of the line. So
then generally, in terms of the workflow in a short
week like this one, your procedure would be to eliminate
(01:11):
some things rather than try and do everything, but shorten
at all? Yeah, and then not necessarily eliminate Um things
in terms of menu things. But boy, you better. you
better weigh certain things more than others and make sure
those things get addressed appropriately. Um, like situational plays, red zone,
short yard is, possession, down plays, planning in those areas. Um,
(01:35):
you don't get a chance to do everything, and particularly
you don't get a chance to do everything, uh, in
the manner which makes us all comfortable, coaches and players,
in terms of preparedness and having that feel of being
able to go in and play fast. But you better
have those things, those boxes checked relative to the significant plays,
the weighty plays, the weighty moments. So some of the
(01:56):
repetitions might have to be shortened. It's not the mite
about it, Um, you know they are Um and so
much of the physical work that you do in a
short week. Our situational moments during the game, when a
past play is sent to the quarterback, does the play
call itself dictate where the ball should go or the
quarterbacks should first be looking to throw the ball, or
(02:18):
is it a situation where the quarterback first has to
read the coverage and then make his decisions? It's all
of the above. Um, their complexities to the discussion. Um.
Sometimes you could have an alert within the concept, saying
if you see a certain look, the ball goes here.
Sometimes there's a natural progression within the concept and obviously
what the defense is doing oftentimes dictates the progression, the
(02:42):
side of the field that you're work in, et Cetera,
and so um. It sounds complex, but it all comes together.
There's a Mirrord of variables, but usually it pushes you
through a process that's pretty fluid. Okay, little football, one,
oh one. When the defense is said to be in
single high, what's that mean? It means that they got
one high safety and they get another safety allocated towards
(03:04):
the run game or closer to the line of scrimmage. Um.
And so oftentimes that's associated with with run stopping structure.
And when you have two safeties high with both safeties
back deep, Um, oftentimes that's two deep or quarters, and
that's associated with past dominant structures. Okay, single high, what
can an offense do to take advantage of that defensive alignment? Everything,
(03:28):
I mean, you're not reduced in any way in terms
of what you're capable of doing. offensively. Obviously, Um, there's
a structure that makes it more difficult to run the football,
but their their mechanisms that the offense has in place
to minimize that. You run the ball one direction, you
block the guy furthest away from the ball on the
(03:48):
other side and things of that nature if you want
to run the ball into that structure. And so in
today's game I'm not gonna pretend like that structure can
dictate to offenses what they do. Um, it just requires
some co ordination and planning. When, when running on the beach,
as we say, meaning throwing the ball into too high
(04:08):
or running the ball into one high but flipping around.
I mean when an offense sees that, do they lick
their chops and say we can do this against this?
Not necessarily so, because, by the same token, on defenses,
defenses know when they're in a single high they're subject
to get passing game and so there's adjustments in those
single highs. It's just so many complexities in the game
(04:30):
at this level. Maybe if you were watching a little
league football game you would see that level of purity
in that discussion, but at this level, Um, it's so
many complexities to it in your review of the game
against New England at your news conference you said I
thought we had one on one playmaking opportunities, particularly an
open space with some of our receivers against defensive backs.
(04:51):
We didn't get that done. What were you referring to?
Their Um, just when you get you know, they're a
man dominant team. They're a single high team. Accordis in
the middle of the field. We talked about it going
into the game and so Um, there were gonna be
someone on one opportunities and we didn't get enough of them.
We didn't take enough of them, and so that's what
I was simply referring to. Is Not in any particular moment.
(05:12):
I just note that under those circumstances, oftentimes chunk players,
which flip field positions, which produce scoring drives and things
of that nature, are often comprised of of drives that
have those type that plays in it. Usually in the
NFL there's not a whole lot of instances of receivers
running by defensive backs because you know, everybody has speed
(05:33):
in the league. So how did receivers get open deep
in this league? They run by defensive backs. Now, UM,
they run by them in different ways. Um. It's not always,
you know, pedigree versus pedigree. Sometimes it's, you know, it's intellect,
it's Um, it's stemming, it's stuttering, it's Um, how they
run their route. Sometimes it's looks Um that the offenses
(05:57):
provide Um, that that are dominant in one the area
and then Um, the vertical route concept is a change up.
Sometimes it's circumstantial. Um. You run the ball repeatedly on
third down in one and people are ready for running.
You have a hardcore play pass and you end up
behind people, and so Um. Receivers do routinely run by
(06:19):
DBS UM weekend and week out in the national football league.
But it's not that pure pedigree foot race that you
think it is. It's involving some other variables. Mitch Drobiski
said that he could look to throw to George Pickens
Moore uh in the first two games of the season.
How the Bengals are patriots done anything specifically to minimize
pickens as a down the field option? No, no, Um.
(06:42):
They've they've done what they do um, particularly if you're
talking about a particular receiver getting attention. Deonte is the
guy over the course of the first couple of games.
That's probably got an additional attention based on the fact
that he's a hundred plus catch guy a year ago. Um,
and that's usually how things going in the national football league.
PICKENS IS gonna have to put some players on tape
the garder that type of attention, and not in preseason football.
(07:06):
At one point during your news conference you said in
an answer to a question related to the performance of
the offense, I don't know if significant changes are what's required.
What would you have to be seeing that might convince
you to consider significant changes? When we're not in the
right neighborhood, you know we're in the right neighborhood, we
might be knocking on the wrong doors. What I mean
is Um, the difference between success and failure or small
(07:29):
things and and it's understanding, it's cohesion, Um, it's playmaking Um.
When it's things of that nature, when it's a small
number of tangible things that you can point to, Um,
then you proceed and you continue to grow and develop.
When it's multiple things, when it's popcorn, um, then that's
(07:49):
a different suggestion or a different story. What I'm seeing
to this point are singular, tangible um minute things, and
so that just tells you to keep your head down,
have a certain collective resolve about your approach to business,
in spite of outcome, in spite of outside noise or
(08:09):
what have you, and get better. What does the use
of tempo do to help an offense? Um, it does
a lot of things. That quells the crowd. Um, it
catches a defense off balance, maybe lacking snap readiness, and
so it could be something that reduces a rush and
for Defensive Lineman in coiled and ready for action. Uh.
It limits communication, which which is a result of collective understanding.
(08:34):
Oftentimes one guy could recognize a formation structure if he's
afforded an opportunity. Hey, watch this, watch that, and so
down the defense is collectively ready. Uh. Pace reduces those things. Um,
pace between plays, meaning Um keeping a unit on the
field from like second to third down, can reduce defensive specialization. UH,
(08:56):
certain personnel packages, which makes a defense more diverse. So
you can minimize that by pacing from second to third down,
which is a common occurrence in the NFL these days.
You have said that the use of tempo is scheduled
into the game plan. What factors are in play when
deciding tempo within the game just the things we were
just talking about. It's a myriad of factors and a
(09:17):
myriad of different circumstances and it's utilized in different ways.
It's a it's a versatile tool, um, and so, you know,
in a game like this, obviously it could be used
to quell the crowd. Uh. That's why, oftentimes, visiting teams
working no huddle, Um, you know, it kind of you know,
when you break the huddle, it kind of signals the
crowd to to pick it up. And so, uh, that's why, oftentimes,
(09:41):
you know, visiting teams working no huddle, for instance, Um,
there's just so many, so many Um components of that discussion.
It can be it can be Um. There's just there's
a myriad of of ways that that pace or the
use of paces a discussion in today's game. What did
you see in the Marvel Yale, either during training camp
(10:02):
or the preseason, that led you to give him a
chance as a rush end following the injury to t
j watt? You know, much like uh, much like Kenny
Pickett man once we start getting into stadiums, you just
saw a rapid growth and development, UM, in his in
his play and his understanding oftentimes these guys just need
to get it in stadium, taste of NFL and like
(10:25):
Oh yeah, I belong here, oh it's, it's it's like
they said it was in practice or you know, Um,
those two guys in particular, Um, you felt an increase
match racing and increased development, UH, in their games and
a more consistency in their games once we started stepping
into stadiums. Jacoby Brissett will start up tonight for the
(10:49):
BROWNS H at quarterback. He's not with his fourth different team,
which could indicate he's lacking some important ingredients to be
his starting quarterback in the league. But the fact he's
not on his seventh NFL's season indicates teams believe he
has attributes. What are Brissetts attributes? You know, he has
unbelievable and tangibles. Anybody has ever been around him, Um,
(11:10):
says that about him. He's an unbelievably hard worker, he's
a smart guy, he's a natural leader. Um. That was
said about him when he came out of college. Um,
like Ryan Fitzpatrick, is another example of a guy that
played for a lot of teams, maybe seven or eight
teams over the course of his career. Um said similar
things about him. This is a highly competitive business and
game and and oftentimes a guy working for multiple teams
(11:34):
is viewed as a negative and I just don't necessarily
view it as such. This is a highly competitive league. Uh.
The fact that multiple teams want to do business with
him oftentimes means that the guy has some really good
qualities about him beyond what you see on tape, Um,
and so I think he falls into that category. I
think tyrod Taylor falls into that category. There are a
(11:55):
lot of quarterbacks, Um, who have made a career of
and a guy that that there's a bridge guy in
some form of fashion for organization. I think Cleveland browns
thoughtfully went out and selected him, knowing that they were
looking at some some petie issues as they moved forward
with Watson and so forth. and Um, I know that
(12:16):
he has the type of intangibles. Brian Flores is on
our staff. Um. He was a member of the Miami
Dolphins and and that was a first hand accounting of
some of some of the things that he brings to
the table. Um, and that's why guys like him are
are doing business with people and people are are glad
to do business with him. In terms of their running styles.
Did Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt Compliment each other or
(12:37):
they just two of the same guys that they alternate? UH,
there one in one day. Um, they, they, they have
their own styles. There's some differences but um, I don't
know that the place selection changes. Um, you know, Nick
Chubb's got seventy six players. I think on the season
hunt's got seventy four. Um, that probably just reflects Um, uh,
(12:58):
their usage and and and how both are a significant
component of what they do. Man, that's the most important
position on their football team and then that's probably the
best running back tandem in the national football league. That's
the Mike Tomlin Game Day podcast. Subscribe in download new
episodes every week and check out all of the other
shows we have to offer on the steelers podcast network.
(13:21):
That's available on the steelers mobile APP, the I heart
radio APP or wherever you get your podcasts.
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