Week 5 vs. The Bills

Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers' week 5 matchup against the Bills.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomline Day podcast with Steelers Digest editor
Bob Labriola, Okay coach and assessing the performance against the Jets.
One of the points you made was that quote, I
think that we've that we're all motivated to continue to
work to do some of the things that we need
to do to change the outcome of these games. What
are some of the things that need to be done?

(00:21):
Singular focus, UM, detail and understanding that allows concepts to
stand up in weighty moments. UM. Playmaking. Um, you know
we're down to field one on one in a couple
of instances, UM with with with some dB some safeties
last week to some of our most dangerous guys, and
you know, we don't make the plays, and the plays
don't get made for a merre the reasons, but from

(00:45):
a big picture perspective, that's what we want. We want
our playmakers down the grass and one on one circumstances,
and we got to take those shots and and we'll
continue to take those shots, but we gotta make the plays.
And so, UM, it's not just playmaking. This detailed coaching
is creating an atmosphere where we got an understanding what
everyone is playing fast, and more importantly, we're playing collectively fast,

(01:05):
we're making good decisions on our feet. That's fluidity to
the collective. And so that's what I mean when I'm
talking about it. We're we're not getting the plays that
we desire to change the outcome of the game. But
it doesn't mean we're not in the right neighborhood knocking
on the right doors. We just gotta continue to elevate
um in terms of execution and understanding and and and
thus the outcome of plays will change. Do you try

(01:28):
and figure out why these things aren't happening? Does that
help if you figure out why they aren't happening in
terms of turning it around. No, it's it's not hard
to figure out why they're not happening. And it's about
developing the cultural routines day to day where we have
a high level of preparedness and we make routine plays routinely. Um.

(01:48):
I think that's a signature of professionalism, whether we're talking
about football or anything else. You make the difficult look easy,
you make routine plays routinely. It's not about the spectacle aller,
It's about how elevated your floory is, how consistently you
deliver performance and as a collective, that's what we're that's
the balance with trying to strike. During training camp, you

(02:10):
talked about having an expectation for this defense to be
dominant in terms of meeting that expectation is the ability
to close out games with your defense at the top
of the list. Certainly it's at the top, if not
the top. You want to put an exclamation point on
your work. You're finished. Oftentimes define you whatever it is
you're talking about. And so those waning moments of the

(02:32):
game are the weightiest moments of the game and and
thus um ultimately those are the ones that kind of
define us the most. Is there something uh extra or
special that needs to happen or needs to be done
in order to UH function uh in those weighty moments. Well,
in the games are differently uh way unfold differently each
and every week. UH. Sometimes the nutrition oriented that that

(02:55):
requires the adjustment. You lose guys in game, you're elevating backups,
you have to adjust your schematics. They have to adjust
uh their communication and understanding. Sometimes it's what's going on
in game, UH that requires adjustments. But the bottom down,
the bottom line is at the end of games. Usually
it's going to require some subtle adjustments, not only by us,

(03:17):
but by everyone those that we compete against, and ultimately
how those games unfold depends on our ability to adjust
appropriately and our guys ability to execute those adjustments. You
partially explain the decision to make the change to go
with Kenny Pickett for the second half last Sunday as
quote looking for a spark. How does pick it specifically
provide a spark? Points? UM, you know, the fluid movement

(03:41):
of the ball, Uh, the winning of possession downs, UM,
the putting the ball in the end zone. UM. I'm
really specific when I'm talking about a spark. I'm talking
about UM. Lightening up the score board, winning possession downs,
maintaining possession of the ball. UM. Those are the things
that I think that happened UM when we went to
him in the second half. UM. Obviously not enough to

(04:01):
win the game, and so there's more work there. Will
keep a head down and keep working, UM. But he
provided the spark that that that we hoped that they would.
What about UM his interactions with his teammates, I mean
at the game UH, last Sunday, it just seemed to
me that there was. There was a jolt of energy
not only through the stands, but along the sideline as well.

(04:24):
So what about him and his interactions with his teammates
lends itself to that kind of reaction. You know, I
don't know if there is anything special that he does.
I just think it's innately him. Uh. It's the same
thing that endeared him to his teammates at Pitt and
the reaction of the crowd is probably an extension of
the relationship that he had with his fan base at Pitt. Um.

(04:44):
He is who he is. He's highly competitive, he's a
sharp guy. Um, he's really genuine in terms of his
desire to win and what he's willing to do in
pursuit of it. And I think all of those things
are attractive. Also with respect to that decision that you made,
you said his performance was a component of the decision,
but not the only component of the decision. What specifically

(05:06):
about his performance were you referring to? You know, just
that that that ability to bring the best out in
others and the things, the intangible things that that position
is measured by. Um, we were lacking a little bit. Um.
Sometimes it's not about what he's not doing. Sometimes it's
just simply about what Kenny might be capable of, adding

(05:27):
that we're not seeing and so, UM, you know, I
was somewhat vague because it is somewhat vague as an
intangible component to it. I was asked a week ago, UM,
when I'm there, will I know it? And I said
that I would, And Um, I was there and I
knew it. Had you been getting closer to make a
quarterback change? Is the first month of the season progressed

(05:47):
or did it all come about suddenly last week? I
think it all came about suddenly. Man. Um Again, I
don't anticipate failure. Um, I don't you know. I don't
wait the possibilities. I'm not wired like that. We make decisions,
we get behind decisions. I think that's the way that
you make decisions of plans, good ones, or you make

(06:08):
them work. Um. But we got to a point, UM
at the halftime of that game last week, we realized
that it was time to make a change, and so
we made it. But I don't know that there was
a high level of anticipation of that discussion or the
anticipation of being there. Um. Business for us just doesn't
run like that. Who's involved in the conversation, not that
you're asking for inputs, but you have to tell some

(06:28):
people right beyond the beyond the players. I I welcome
the responsibility of making those decisions, and I'm not putting
them off on any other parties. Certainly I had conversations
and gained opinions. But some people provide opinions. Other people
make decisions, and I'm the guy that makes decisions. But
who needs to know everyone? I mean, um in terms

(06:53):
in terms of when decisions made everyone like that, for example,
that particular decision at that particular time. Do you announce
that I did as a whole I did. Okay, you
did it during training the training camp, preseason period, and
then you did it again earlier this week, and that
was to praise the professionalism of your three quarterbacks through
this whole process of the competition and then into the

(07:15):
season where you've made a change at the starting spot. Uh.
Have you found that such a level of professionalism through
all of this is something that's rare in the NFL?
I don't know if it's rare. I hadn't been in
a lot of these circumstances or circumstances like this. UM
but it doesn't mean I hadn't been around long enough
to not appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate the

(07:35):
quality men that they are, uh, the team first guys
that they're displaying. UM. And I just think sometimes it
makes difficult times and decisions easier, not easy, um easier.
In the NFL, how do you help a rookie quarterback
when it comes to putting together a plan for the
upcoming game? It depends on who he is and what
the circumstances are. We don't view Kenny under those normal circumstances,

(07:59):
to be quite honest with you, we're not working on
a small menu and and and being as thoughtful as
we were maybe when we were playing Duck Hodges. No,
this guy is a quarterback. Um, he's varsity. He's capable
of leading us and delivering. And so we're proceeding under
really what you could describe as normal quarterback preparatory approaches

(08:19):
and and circumstances. So are there anything that's off the
table because of where you're playing the game? Um? No,
I mean we're not giving venue any unique considerations. Obviously,
we understand it's a difficult circumstances, but we're also one
that is very familiar with it. It's probably the third
year in a row that we're playing in Buffalo, New
York or just this outfit, and so, uh, it's somewhat

(08:41):
routine for us. Does he have any experience, I mean
his college, was he ever in any of these kinds
of situations atmospheres that you're going into where it's just
gonna be brutal every snap of the ball. I just
think that Kenny's the type of guy that's going to
kind of make some of those discussions and non discussion
the more he plays. And so that's just general attitude

(09:01):
that I have and we have. What would you anticipate
from Leslie Fraser, Buffalo's defensive coordinator. Uh, he might be
cooking up to make Kenny Pickett's life difficult on Sunday
as a rookie making his first start. I believe Leslie
and not only Leslie, but Sean McDermott a fundamentalist. Um.
They got a core group there that has been together
for a number of years. Uh. They do what it

(09:22):
is that they do, UM and and I don't expect
that to change. So there's not a book in the NFL.
This is This is how you torture a rookie quarterback
in this league. I think everybody likes to think there's
a book, but the reality is people just go out
there and play, and playing is difficult enough for most rookies,
And so that's why it's always a topic of debate
records versus rookie quarterbacks for defenses and defensive coordinators, etcetera.

(09:46):
The bottom line is, most of the time when rookies
are playing, UH is less than ideal circumstances is not
because of what their capabilities are, but usually because of
what's not being done around them. Um. And I just
think that Kenny circumstances a little bit friend and overtime, Uh,
he'll prove that the Buffalo defense is more than just
von Miller. Who else on that unit do you have

(10:07):
to worry about today? And it's it's it's a lot
of guys. You know, when when I was talking about
Leslie Fraser and Sean McDermott, Maan, I was just talking
about the continuity and the construction of that group. I
know when they drafted Edmunds, for instance, they viewed him
as a Luke keik Ley type type guy, and when
they partnered him with Milano. They viewed him as a
Thomas Davis type guy because McDermott cut his bones in

(10:29):
this thing as a defensive coordinator in Carolina when they
were putting that putting together that group, that combination of
Micah Hyde and Poorer and Johnson at Nickel, that safety
and Nickel combination, and those guys have grown together over
the last several years. Man, they've got real good continuity.
So a couple of those interior defenders, with those two
linebackers man the insides, the guts of their defense, the

(10:52):
core of their group, man, has been really solid. They've
all grown and grown together, and so as a collective, uh,
they present some challenges because of that continuity, because of
that understanding, because of that maturation that's happened with with
a lot of those guys together, a couple some some
defensive lineman, some high level defensive lineman like Ed Oliver

(11:13):
who they've drafted and developed, and they've put together a
group that's about four or five four or five years
into development, and that makes them dangerous UM as a collective.
In previous years, I would ask you going into a
game like this, what do you need from your quarterback today?
And you would say, we need Ben to be Ben.
What do you need from Kenny Pickett today? We need

(11:34):
Kenny to be Kenny. And and the beautiful thing is
he'll write that story. And so um, I gotta give
him the latitude to be him and to write that
story and define what that means. Man, when you put
somebody in position of leadership and they have the talent
to do so, you gotta give them latitude to beat themselves.

(11:56):
If it's going to be special, it has to be
somewhat organic. And so um, I'll ride with that statement.
And I'll ride with that statement for the sole purposes
of giving him the latitude to define it with his
play um over the course of his career. And so uh.
And it's it's an exciting thing. Let's live it. Um.
But along the way, um, understand that we don't grade

(12:16):
on the curve. Man. Victory is what we seek. Businesses winning.
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