Week 8 vs. The Packers

Steelers Digest Editor, Bob Labriola sits down with Head Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers Week 8 matchup against the Green Bay Packers

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Gaing Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bob Labriola, Okay, coach. During your Tuesday news conference,
you began by providing your review of the previous Thursday
Nights game in Cincinnati. You mentioned the defense not stopping
the run effectively, the two turnovers by the offense, and
the fact that team was highly penalized, with some of

(00:22):
those penalties coming in significant moments. You concluded with quote,
just as a collective, I thought they fought, particularly in
less than ideal circumstances, but certainly we came up short.
There's some lessons to be learned from that. Unquote What
kind of lessons were you talking about?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think it's a reinforcement of our values. Certainly, we
have a lot of irons in the fire weekly as
we build plans and divide labor to construct victory. But
all tools aren't waited the same. The ball search, ball
security tool is a significant one. The run stopping tool
defensively is a significant one. Not being highly penilled lies

(01:00):
are significant ones, and so those are variables man that
way a little heavier than others. And when you're not
checking those boxes, you're running on the beach in terms
of engineering victory, and so I know that anybody that's
been exposed to a bunch of levels of football for
a long period of time understand that, but sometimes man

(01:20):
just feeling it. It's a good lesson for the collective.
It's not what we hadn't been emphasized, and it's certainly
what we emphasize since day one of team development. But
I think it's growth and failure, and certainly in areas
that we value, like those areas.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
You explained that the problem with the run defense allowing
chunk plays was that it didn't keep the ball in
a constricted space. What does that mean and how is
that done?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
If you're in a too deep structure, there are four
defensive backs along the perimeter of the action and the
ball has to stay within in those four people. If
you're in a single high structure or a three deep
like structure, then there's three people in open space that
work to converge and constrict on the ball. Once the

(02:11):
ball gets outside that outer structure, it's helter skelter, and
so from time to time a guy could be out
of his place in a gap. But if you keep
that contour, those runs are the eight to twelve yard
runs that you see often in the league. When you
get to twenty five yard runs, it's because the ball

(02:32):
got out of that outer shell. And so there's two
levels to good run defense. Certainly, you don't want people
out of their gaps, but when they are out of
their gaps, you want a good perimeter shell to constrict
the ball. So they had a small problem doesn't become
a much bigger one. And when you start talking about
twenty five yard runs or twenty five plus yard runs,

(02:54):
those are field flipping plays. Those are drive engineering plays
that produce points, etc. Etc. A defense can absorb an
eight yard run, a twelve yard run, and it can
be inconsequential in the big scheme of things. Very rarely
is a twenty five plus yard run inconsequential.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
What does getting Calvin Austin back mean for this offense
in tonight's game? What does he provide that the opposing
defense has to account for.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
He's a route runner and he's also a deep threat,
and a guy with that skill set is valuable. Route
runners create space in a non vertical area. They're good
on possession downs and things of that nature. And certainly
guys with top end speed like Calvin are capable of
taking the top off of a coverage and really producing chunks,
and that's what he provides us. He can win in

(03:43):
a non vertical space, and he certainly can win in
a vertical space, and so his return is significant.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
The twenty one day clock has started on Will Howard
in terms of whether to add him to the fifty
three man roster or else he misses the rest of
the twenty twenty five season. What would you be looking
for were from him in making that decision.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
You know, more than anything, man, just I want to
see what he's learned while he's been out. Some people
are capable of learning through watching others. Some people have
to absorb the physical reps themselves. As a new guy,
I'm interested in how he learns. Was he able to
be productive during the time that he's out. Was he

(04:22):
able to learn by watching Aaron and Mason and others?
And if he has been able to do that, then
that aids in his return to us. If he's a
guy that needs physical reps and effort to perform, then
that doesn't help him because, to be quite honest with you,
there are not a lot of physical reps during the
course of this journey for a third quarterback type is

(04:45):
just the realities of our business. We spend a lot
of our time getting Aaron first and foremost ready to play,
and then who's potentially backing him up, and so his
ability to learn from watching others, and that's what I'm
looking at, That's what's being tested. Checks those boxes that'll
be a major component of the decision.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Recently, it was announced that Marquise Pouncey advanced to the
field of fifty two in his first year of eligibility
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As someone who
was there on the sideline for every snap of his
NFL career, what makes Poncey a gold jacket guy in
your opinion?

Speaker 2 (05:20):
You know just everything about him, to be quite honest
with you, The leader that he is, the pace that
he set, the way that he performed in individual skill development,
Like his individual skill development partner always had a career
because he went so hard in practice that he would

(05:42):
absolutely kill you if you didn't match his level of intensity.
And so guys like Doug Legurski and BJ Finny and
people like that had careers because of being around him
and matching his level of intensity. And if you didn't,
he was to absolutely beat you up an individual before

(06:02):
we even got to the competition component of practice, you know,
And I think that's the sign of a really great player.
They make those around them better. He was a tone
center for the collective. His personality was the offensive line's personality,
and specifically man Like his workout partner. Undrafted guys, guys

(06:23):
like Doug Lagurski and BJ Finney went on to not
like one or two year careers. They had careers because
of their work habits, and their work habits were born
out of working with and playing behind a guy like
that and seeing what the standard is.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
His rookie season, he won the starting job. What was
it a week? Two weeks in? I mean, that's kind
of unprecedented. What were you seeing at that point? And
I held it off as long as I could, you
know what I mean? It wasn't a lot of debate.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Man. That guy was instant. In the words of my
mayok Man, he was plug and play.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
During the offseason, this team added a number of proven
NFL veterans to the roster, guys like Aaron Rodgers and
Jalen Ramsey and JOHNU. Smith, just to name a few.
So when those guys walk into a locker room, what
are the things the young Steelers are looking for from
them that can help with the development of the cohesion
and team chemistry.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know, these guys bring different experiences, and their experiences
is what you know, what you can't place a price
tag on. Some of those guys are world champions. Jalen
Ramsey is a world champion. Kenny Gainwell is a world champion.
And when you win a world championship, it changes you forever.
It changes your outlook on football, It changes your outlook

(07:46):
on team, It changes your outlook on the process or
the journey that is a football season. And so they
bring a lot to the table that could be helpful
to the growth and development of young individuals, but also
just bring bring an asset to the collective their experiences
and it goes beyond their talents. I think their talents

(08:06):
is are the surface level of the discussion. Their experiences
is something that really resonates with me.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Aaron Rodgers said earlier in the week that he wasn't
looking at tonight as a revenge game, that he has
come to terms with his split with Green Bay, which
was where he spent the first eighteen years of his career.
Do you believe that or is he just saying the
right thing.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
I believe that. I believe the Jets was a revenge game,
and I believe that. You know, this is different. He
spent eighteen years there, he grew up there, and certainly,
however it ended, whatever that was, I'm sure the totality
of eighteen years in the experiences, the experience of being

(08:53):
a world champion, for instance, outweigh some of that. The
greater time he gets between his departure, the less that's
gonna weigh. And I'm thinking, I'm sure that that's what
he was relaying in his words this week.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
What makes Michael Parsons great at what he does? If
you were to describe those things the way they would
be written in the Scotting Report.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
He's an alien. You know, he's visiting from another planet.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Man.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Like all of these guys in the National Football League
are talented, but his levels to this some people are freaky,
even among the freaks, and he is one of those guys.
I was at his pro day and he outran corners
and stuff at his pro day that told you everything
you needed. He out jumped perimeter people, I mean eleven

(09:42):
foot broad jump four to three. He's just a unique,
unique physical individual.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Even though they won't strictly compete with him tonight. Is
there a little extra juice in this game for your
edge people, t J Watt, Alex high Smith, Nick Krbig
because they're all sharing the same field with Parsons.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
I don't know about all of them, but it is
for TJ. And that's just the nature of this thing,
you know. It's it's like any other sport man when
you're playing against a significant guy, whether or not your
garden them. You could take the basketball example. You know,
Lebron and Kobe they might not guard each other, but

(10:25):
I'm sure there's some things they when teams came together
from a competitive spirit perspective. I sense that in TJ
when we play Miles Garrett or Max Crosby or or
elite rushers like that, and so certainly it applies to him.
I don't know that some of the others are viewing
it in that way.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Josh Jacobs is Green Bay's leading rusher and he has
eight rushing touchdowns this season. Before going to Green Bay,
Jacobs played for the Raiders, and in your games against
the Raiders in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three,
Jacobs rushed for forty four yards and one and sixty
two in the other How did you minimize him men?
And could you do the same things tonight?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
You know, I don't remember the specifics of those plans,
but obviously based on the statistics, we got the job done.
But it's no reflection on his talents. We had an
all night job ahead of us in terms of minimizing
his impact on the game. He's in a different collective now,
healthy collective. You know, Coach Laflor and company. Man, they
got a real good environment, particularly offensively, and so you know,

(11:29):
we don't take the task lightly, and we certainly don't
rest on the laurels of what we're able to do
against him when he was in Vegas amidst some instability
and interim coaches and so forth. He's a talent. You
mentioned the eight touchdowns this year, He's got twenty three
since the beginning of twenty twenty four when they acquired him,
And so his presence is significant, his contributions are significant,

(11:52):
and our ability to minimize his impact on the game
is a major component for US engineering victory.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Oh what kind of problems does Packers quarterback Jordan Love
pose to opposing defenses?

Speaker 2 (12:04):
You know, he's got arm talent, he's aggressive in mentality,
He'll attack you vertically down the field, particularly in situations
when Facebook pressure, et cetera, et cetera. And his mobility
as an X factor. He's an easy and fluid mover.
And I think all of those things show up in
his highlight reels and in major moments, and that's what

(12:27):
makes him so challenging.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
So, as you mentioned his mobility, so is he one
of those mobile guys who's always looking to throw or
is he a runners?

Speaker 2 (12:34):
He's got mobility. He certainly is capable of being a
runner if you're negligent, But his play extension is a
component of his game that's worried soom certainly his mobility
is an X factor.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
At the NFL level, you're dealing with veteran professional players.
Is there such a thing as being embarrassed by a
poor performance? And if so, can that be a motivating
factor the next time the team enters a stadium.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
It's certainly a component of embarrassment for having a negative performance.
It can be an asset to you, but it also
can be an anvil. It's all about the individual and
or the collective. Mindset has a lot to do with it.
With gunfighters in this business man at this level, and
gunfighters get shot, and so your spirit, your ability to

(13:24):
endure negativity man oftentimes defines an individual and oftentimes defines
a collective. You want an individual and you want a
collective with a run that back mentality. You can equate
it to pick up games in childhood and so forth.
People that lose and say run that back, those are
the people that you want to do business with, as

(13:46):
opposed to those people that are affected by the loss
in a negative way.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe and download
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