Week 7 vs. The Dolphins

Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers game against the Miami Dolphins.

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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, you talked about it before
the game against Tampa Bay, then you talked about it
again immediately after that win, and then you mentioned it
again at your news conference on Tuesday, and that was
the one win. What good performance was not going to
get the stench off the team's one and four start

(00:21):
and how that start was achieved. So how do you
get the stench off? Continually put back to back days together,
keep the trajectory of our development UM where it is,
whether it's individuals um or collectives within the collective or
the collective itself. UM, it's just messaging for me. UM.
We gotta come to work every day. We gotta keep

(00:43):
our head down. We gotta continually get better, knowing UM
that that our peers are are doing the same. So
is there a number of in stadium performances attached to
that too? I really don't even think about it in
that regard. I'm just trying to set a mindset. You know,
I'll probably say it until it it no longer becomes
a topic of discussion, and that's just our general mindset.

(01:04):
So A couple of the guys who made significant contributions
to last Sunday's victory were Mitch Robinsky and James Pierre,
and both of them had gotten opportunities in the starting
lineup in the past, but weren't able to hold on
to their jobs. What is about it the getting a
second chance like they uh did? Uh? That can possibly
bring out the best cent a player. You know, it's

(01:25):
it's it's you know, life's about opportunity and redemption, if
you will, Man, I'll never ask men to be patient
in this business is not a patient man's business. But
I will ask them to work while they wait for
their opportunity. And some instances or the instance that you
just mentioned, it's a rebound, if you will. And Man,
I'm always excited for a guy that has an opportunity
to answer the bell for himself and for us, and

(01:47):
and to prove his capabilities and and be a reason
why we're successful. I think that's what we're all doing here. Man,
We're all competitors, we're all living out our dreams. We
all got a desire to be a part of something
that's good, to create and or the construction of victory.
And in the roles that we play in it. Um,
it's just it's American. Um. It's the things that that

(02:07):
that make this game this collective, This game of football, UM,
such an important thing for us as Americans. Man, that's why, Um,
it's so entertaining. I think that's why the game has
this relationships with the fans that that it has, because
everyone can relate to redemption opportunities and seasoned opportunities and
and fighting back from whatever circumstances you're in. But if

(02:29):
a guy experiences failure, I mean because he may be
developed this is my last chance attitude. I've got nothing
to lose, and then we develop all of those whatever
whatever produces the desired result. The reality is you don't
get a whole lot of chances in the National Football League,

(02:49):
so there's some urgency to it. You're right, there's that
component of this is my last chance, if you will.
But a lot of this personality UM based in terms
of that person's perspective. Some peple see the glass half empty,
some people see it half full. The reality is is
that man there the forking road, and they better recognize it.
So how does a player whose current role might be
a next man up kind of situation. Go about taking

(03:12):
over as a starter, he works while he waits for
his opportunity. Sometimes as an opportunity UM has nothing to
do with what it is that he does. It might
be someone else's misfortune, poor performance, or injury or what
have you. UM. Sometimes things are matchup related. Somebody has
a unique personnel set that requires us to approach it
in a unique way. That might create a role for

(03:34):
someone and they get elevated for schematic reasons. It really
does not matter the means in which they get an opportunity,
but they're readiness when the opportunity presents itself as key.
And that's why I always talk about working while you wait. UH.
In the game against Tampa Bay, we saw the defensive
lineman shifting shortly before the snap in some short yardage situations.

(03:55):
What effect does that have on the offense? You know,
we want to challenge your blocking a sign amens um.
We want to challenge their communication, however subtle, particularly when
you're in a road game environment like Tampa was in. UH.
In those weighty moments, UH, communication gets difficult. Cadence gets
difficult in terms of community communicating and coordinating the snap
count and coming off and sinking. So those move calls

(04:19):
and and stemming and things of that nature are just
schematic weapons that we use to take advantage of those
circumstances and cause problems for the offense. So you praised
Mitch Robinski for his quote aggressive pursuit of victory after
he relieved Kenny Pickett and last Sunday after Pickett was concussed.
How does that aggressive pursuit of victory manifest itself? You know,

(04:41):
working to throw the ball beyond the sticks on third
and eleven, plus to the hit Claypool several times under
those instances. Uh, And that's playing and playing to win. Um,
sitting in that pocket and doing so, the prudent use
of mobility in the effort to close the game out,
putting that ball on his hip on the quarterback keep
there at the end of the game. He just he
just played with an aggressive nature. And that's what we need,

(05:03):
particularly Um in those moments when you're coming in relief
of someone. During your news conference on Tuesday, you were
asked about Nausey Harris always being one of the last
to leave the locker room, and you said, that's routine
for him, winner lose, He's always last out. He's always
reflecting and thinking about what transpired and trying to learn
and grow from the experiences that transpired. He's a young

(05:26):
guy and he's still called to be a leader. He
understands the gravity of where he is and the responsibilities
that come with being him, and he's always just trying
to get better. Um. Is there such a thing as
a young guy maybe thinking too much, being too much
in his head? You know, there's something to balance there,
but it's it's a fight we're fighting. I think. I

(05:46):
think there's always um, those discussions when you're chasing greatness. UM,
when you're hitting it down the middle of the fairway
and you're trying to be average and things of that nature. UM,
you know that's probably not a discussion when you're pressing
the envelope of life, UM, and you're and you're trying
to be great. Um. That things to balance. Uh, there's
particularly appointed diminishing return and to meet those are challenges

(06:10):
that are worth fighting when you're when you're doing what
he's doing at the level in which he's doing it,
which is trying to pursue and see greatness. But can
that become paralyzing in a way that might inhibit him
from playing fast on the field. Sure, if you're scared
of the pursuit of greatness and living life. Um, we're not.
We're competitors. We're pressing it. We're pressing it always and
so um, we just don't have that mindset. I understand

(06:31):
the nature of your question. Um, but that's a loser's
mindset in our eyes, in our in our eyes, man,
that guy he understands the road that he's traveling as
a lonely one. Um. And there's and there's obstacles along
the way. Um. And he's not running from it, he's
running to it. And there's some things to balance. And
that's just what it is. Is he unique in that respect? No,
not really, man, Um, Similar things are going on with

(06:53):
guys like Maka. He's just further in development t. J. Watt.
Further in development. They have the the comforts of a
of a krusty graybeard like Cam Hayward on their side
of the ball. To assist him in that in that
if you will. But you know, there, we we've got
identified leaders, we got emerging leaders, we got developing leaders.

(07:13):
The bottom line, if you have a collective, you better
be intentional about the development of leadership continually. UM. I
think about how much time I've spent over the last
decade plus developing leadership and Cam Hayward because I knew
he had leadership qualities as a young guy, much like
I'm doing now with naj Um. I see the benefits
of those efforts obviously now uh in old ninety seven. UM,

(07:37):
But I remember similar discussions and thought processes ten years
ago with young ninety seven that I'm having right now
with twenty two. And UH, that's just the beauty of
being in the role that I'm in for as long
as I've been in it. When it comes to injuries,
you always abide by the NFL rules regarding reporting those injuries,
filing the required practice reports. But anything outside of what's

(07:59):
required by the NFL, you choose not to discuss or
answer questions about it. What you're thinking they're the competitive
advantage component of it. UM. I respect the rules that
that govern our league and and and really provide the
guidelines for competitive fairness, something that we all value. But
you don't get extra credit for going above and beyond,

(08:20):
and so I'm respectful. UM, I have my hand in
the pile in that regard. But I'm not going to
go above and beyond for competitive purposes and and I'm
just gonna turn over every stone appropriately, so in pursuit
of victory. Does that also maybe discourage players from seeking
to use that as an excuse? Well, you know we
resisted excuse business anyway, but potentially potentially. But there's there's

(08:44):
so many different prongs in that fight in terms of
the culture that we work to build here to minimize that.
But yes, that's one of many. To a Tago Voloa
is a left hand and quarterback the first you face
this season and preparing your team for two, are there
any teaching point based on the fact he's left handed?
You know, we we we got Lamar in division and

(09:05):
so we just you know, got a level of comfort
kind of with with some of the things that you
see from that perspective, and mobility and and and and
left handedness and and the things that it could do
to schematics. Those are things that we routinely ponder and
we just you know, we just crack open that component
of our planning anytime we see a left handed cube.

(09:27):
And so it's less about to a um, it is
just the fact that we got a left handed cube
and some of the schematic challenges that come with it. Um,
it happens, you know, every every now and then on
the routine basis, if you will, and so, Um, it's
just a part of life. When you were the defensive
backs coach in Tampa, you've got plenty of experiences dealing
with speed receivers because of your matchups against Randy Moss.

(09:49):
How does a secondary deal with difference making speed? You know,
they play things top down, and really you respect the resume.
And what I mean by that is these guys like
Ti and and Randy, as you mentioned, Um, they have
certain resumes and reputations, and and those reputations and resumes
are well earned. We don't need to add to it.
And so respecting it is just going into the stadium

(10:13):
with the knowledge and understanding of who and what they are.
Respecting it from a schematic standpoint in terms of minimizing
our exposure to it, Respecting it from an individual standpoint
in terms of not being stupid just in general. Um,
And we always start with that broad principle and then
get into details relative to game plan and the situations
from there. But the quickest way to get beat is

(10:35):
to have ten take the top off of you, um
asked the Baltimore Ravens. They were in control of that
game a number of weeks back on place sixty two
and play sixty five, he took the top off of
them on on third down and six, third down and
twelve and put fourteen points on the board and changed
the whole climate of that game. And that's what guys
like him, guys like Randy, guys like Mike Wallace, when
we had them here, UM, are capable of doing. We

(10:56):
should think of unique ways to hide Mike Wallace. We're
act up in Arizona. A number of years ago. We
sent him across in motion, showed them a running a
running play structure, and we threw a ninety five yard
play action to Mike Wallace. When you got a guy
like that, you're always trying to feed that beast. And
if you're a defender or or a defensive unit going
against an animal like that, you better continually respected in

(11:18):
all circumstances. Well, you mentioned don't be stupid, How does it?
How is the defensive back stupid? And a lot of
something like that. It happens every day of the week. Um,
It's life in this game. I'm not trying to underscore it,
and I use stupid, but it's it's it's it's not stupid, careless,
it's it's the game of football. We knew that Gabe

(11:38):
Davis was a deep threat when we went to with
the Buffalo, yet and still he got behind us twice.
I'm sure Baltimore didn't just discover that ten was a
deep threat when they played Miami a couple of weeks ago.
I'm sure they went into the stadium and and prior
to that, all week, I'm sure they had somebody in
that jersey number running deep all down the fielding practice.
Yet and still it still happens. And we're not talking

(11:58):
about Little League FOOTBA. We're talking about professional football. Because
officers do a great job addressing it up situations and
so forth. There's complexity to what we do. Um our
job as professionals to make it look simple and to
make it look easy. Uh, that's the entertaining component of
what we do. But it's it is complex, It is difficult.
It is football at this highest level. Besides number ten,

(12:21):
Tyrene Hill, they got another guy on the other side too.
How does that increase the degree of difficulty in doing
the stuff you just talked about. It's it's life. It's
life in the National Football League weekend and week out. Man,
you're playing unique animals, man, aliens, village, visiting from another planet.
It's just it's the it's the challenging component of what
we do. That that that we as competitive as we

(12:43):
love we we want to see top notch people and
and pit our skills, collective skills versus their's. Um, whether
it's von Miller, whether it's a deep ball receiving threat
like Trek Hill or or Wilder or who or what
have you? Weekend and week out, Um, we're in a
competitors league, man, and we love it. That's the Mike
Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe in, download new episodes every week,

(13:06):
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