September 11, 2022 • 14 mins
Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down and talks with Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers Week 1 matchup in Cincinnati.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bottom Labriola. Okay, coach, today starts a new season.
You're about to embark on this journey with a different
starting quarterback for the first time in your career here,
because that create a different feel to the start of
this journey for you. I think certainly it creates a
different feel um. You know, there there's a sense of
(00:24):
the unknown, you know, when you're working at a at
a position of SI significance like quarterback, and if you
had the type of consistency in terms of the presence
of Ben that we've had for such a long time,
sure it creates a different feel. But it's one that
I've embraced. Is one that I've challenged the team to
embrace throughout this entire process. You know, we laid that,
(00:44):
We laid that down back in the spring and just
acknowledged that there were gonna be some differences that we
weren't going to be resistant to it. As a matter
of fact, We're gonna run to it and embrace it
and look for the silver lining in it, um, the
opportunities to grow and grow together, the opportunities to gain
some understanding of why we do things and alter some
things to meet the needs of this crop of guys
(01:07):
and so um, it's been a good process. I feel
really good about it. I've challenged the group to feel
good about it collectively. But ultimately, you know, uh, that
ball is gonna be kicked off and we gotta play
and I'm excited about that as well. Part of every
NFL coaches job is his relationship with his players. What's
a typical coach starting quarterback relationship like at the NFL level.
(01:29):
I think it's on it's it's on the men. Um.
I'll ask guys to be themselves, but I will simply
ask them to be the best their best selves. And
so when when people are being themselves, the nature relationships
are different based on the people. I've had really intimate
relationships with individuals at that position. I've had strictly professional
relationships with people at that position. The bottom line is, man,
(01:53):
we've gotta have good, clean, professional communication. We got to
gain a professional understanding. There's got to be mutual respect
for the jobs that that have to be done. Um,
those are the things that are required. I think the
personalities oftentime dictate the nature of the depths of the
other peripheral things, if you will, because of the you know,
(02:14):
you work together so closely with that individual. Um, he's
a key part of the team, You're a key part
of the coaching staff. Uh. Is the relationship between the
head coach and the quarterback in the NFL different than
the relationship with other players simply because of the position.
It can be, UM, it can be, But again UM,
(02:34):
like I mentioned, UM, it's the personalities, it's the men UM.
It certainly can be. There's certainly more opportunities for it
to be. UM, but not a requirement in situations like today,
the start of the regular season on the road against
the defending division champion. UM. When I would ask you
(02:54):
what you needed from your starting quarterback in this game,
in the past, you would say something like, we need
Ben to be bad, and Mitch Robinsky is a different
player in a person, so what might needing Mitch to
be Mitch entail? It's really the similar things that I
would ask of Ben. We just worked together so long
and he had had become so consistent at delivering it
that it became him. UM. I expect him to smile
(03:17):
in the face of adversity. Delivered a significant plays in
the significant moments. UM. Players teams, and particularly players at
the quarterback position are defined by the ability to operate
in those weighty moments UH possession downs, two minute, etcetera. UM,
I expect him to communicate and do the informal things
that come with the position, particularly in moments of adversity
(03:38):
and particularly UM when it's difficult like crowd, noise, etcetera, etcetera.
Never tire in terms of dealing with those things, and
ultimately take care of football. UM. You gotta take care
of football at the quarterback position. You gotta take care
of football at any position on offense. But because of
the frequency in which they handle it, it gets triple
e important. Your backup quarterback today, the guy who potentially
(04:01):
one snap away from having to play the most important
position on a football team. It's a rookie. UH. Obviously
Kenny pick and earned that your that job in your trust,
or he wouldn't be in that role. What about him
convinced you he's ready for that? His play inside stadiums
and UH in the maturation process and the rate of
that maturation process inside stadiums. UM, I think once we
(04:24):
got into a stadium. Boy, you saw something clicking him
where he says, Okay, this is what it is. It
wasn't anything mystical, It wasn't anything that you know, um,
that he couldn't have a feel for or understand. And
I think he realized pretty quickly that he can swim
in those waters. And so I think he's kind of
taking off at a at a really consistent rate since then.
(04:47):
And so um, you know, his comfort level creates comfort
level in those around him, whether it's teammates or coaches.
And I think we're all comfortable with his position within
this group. And if called upon, uh, we won't blink
because we know he wasn't he won't blink. During your
news conference on Tuesday, one of the things you said
about Drabinsky was that he came to us with franchise
(05:08):
quarterback experience. What did you mean by franchise quarterback experience?
He walked into that building or he pulled up in
that parking lot every day in Chicago for four years,
whearing the responsibility would be in the second pick in
the draft, and and the guy that was annoying it
to play the position for the organization, and and there's
no substitute for that experience. The responsibility is not only
(05:30):
formally in terms of playing and preparing and and and
leading and things of that nature, but the informal responsibilities
to dealing with the media and the things that that
that that happened when you're a high profile guy and
holding out a position like that, UM, it's a very
natural thing for him because he's experienced it, and that
experience is golden. So a guy in that position, I mean,
(05:54):
is he told that this is part of your your
daily existance here all the things you just mentioned, or
does he just come to learn it because he has
to go through and in experience it, whether he's told
or not. I think the doing, uh, the experience component
of it, um is paramount UM. I met with Kenny
(06:17):
earlier this week and I was talking about the amount
of urgence and he he needs to have in his
seven day cycle from a prep standpoint, UM, he needs
to find his rhythm. He needs to perfect that process.
The things that he does in a formal business setting,
the things that he does in the informal setting to supplement, uh,
the things that he that he does from a personal
(06:38):
level to get a sense of comfort and game readiness. Man,
he's got to perfect all those things before he's on
the clock, legitimately going through that cycle process whenever that
may be. And so you got to carry that urgency. UM.
You know, Mitch has lived that life. He's lived that life,
UM for a substantial amount of time. And and and
emboys value in that. I think you you're really comfortable
(07:01):
with the unforeseen and the things that happened during the
course of a football journey when you wear that experience. UH.
Over the off season, the Bengals retooled their offensive line
by adding right tackle Ale Collins, right guard Alex Kappa,
and center Ted Carris via free agency. On the surface,
that would seem to be similar to what you did
during the off season with your offensive line. When you
(07:23):
study the Bengals on video over this last week, did
you see any similarities in terms of where the respective
units are when it comes to growth and development? I
did not, because the Bengals essentially didn't play there as
in the preseason. You know, there's not a lot of
visual evidence of their growth and development collectively. UM. Different
people bring different approaches to the preseason. I never judge, UM,
(07:47):
I just want to do it's appropriate or right for
our group. UM. The development the collective development of a
of a unit or or collective within the unit, I
think is something that has to happen through through snaps
and so a proponent of work, UM, I worked the group.
I want to take them into hostile environments. I want
them to grow under those circumstances. I thought playing in Jacksonville,
(08:09):
you know, in the hostile quote unquote environment against a
team that was further in development and uther than us
was a good challenge for our group. I just think
that's necessary for development. UM. But those are that's my
vision for this collective and so UM, I don't question
how it is they choose to go about business. But
it wasn't a lot of visual evidence of the growth
(08:30):
and development of that group. So we'll see. You often
talk about the importance of making plays in the weighty
moments when it comes down to determining the outcome of
the game. What does that mean? What as it turns
to to an offensive line making plays in the weighty moments,
how was an offensive line do that by blocking nine?
And I'll just be that bluntly honest. You know, Uh,
(08:53):
they're dynamic players, They're dynamic players. At a game, changing
caliber players, uh, just about every week on every team. Uh.
In this week, Um, you gotta acknowledge that ninety one
is the type of guy that can change the climate
and in an instant man. The probability of that goes
way up when you're getting one dimensional circumstances, third and
long and things of that nature. Part of standing up
(09:16):
and smiling in the face of adversity is understanding when
you're in the kitchen, and if you're playing tackle and
we're one dimensional and you've got ninety one across from you,
you are in the kitchen. So that's how an office
alignment stands up and answers the bell in those weighty moments. Um,
we all got responsibilities. We all gotta stand up and deliver.
(09:37):
It's easy to recognize sometimes when you're talking about ball
carriers and quarterbacks and ball receivers. But boy, if you're
playing left tackle and you're blocking nine and the third
down and eight, boy, that is a rep and that's
a rep that should be highlighting. There should be a
picture within picture, you know, Uh for those at home
watching the game, So they gained an appreciation for all
(09:58):
twenty two in those moments, having to play and having
to play big. One of the other things you said
in your Tuesday news conference about today's game was the
process is the battle. What do you mean by that?
I meaning we can spend all week, you know, talking
about the game, waiting for one o'clock on Sunday, But
what are we doing with the time between now and then?
(10:19):
You know, we got a chance to do something about
one o'clock at Sunday, you know, when you're sitting there
on Tuesday, when you're sitting there on Wednesday, And so
I like to shift the focus of the group away
from what's exciting and what we all know is coming.
And I want them to be excited about the president,
about the construction and the engineering of a great day
in preparation for Sunday. You know, we're not comfort seekers. Um,
(10:43):
we want to focus our energies on the process. But
we find comfort on Sunday at one o'clock when we've
paid that price. And and and that's something that I
consider that I continually sell to our football team. Your
back up outside linebackers today, Malik Reid and Jamir Jones,
neither of them spend any time with you during his
training camp for this preseason. So what was the process
(11:03):
of preparing them for today? It's really simple. Malika is
a guy that's played over snaps in the NFL in
the last uh twenty four months. He played seven hundred
plus snaps in Denver last year, seven hundred plus snaps before.
So his process is simply learning what our language is.
This means this. This means that um Jones is a
(11:24):
guy obviously with less experience, but he was on our
football team a year ago. He did play guard on
our punt team a year ago. He didn't make our
team a year ago, and so he has that place
to hang his hat. And for those reasons, UH, their
process of readiness has probably been more fluid than one
would imagine, uh in terms of guys getting on a
(11:44):
moving train. So do you spoon feed them, like, for example,
this is what you need to know for this opponent,
and not worry about teaching them the entire scheme or
any of that stuff. No, not, because of the variables
I mentioned. I didn't. I gave it to him and
I just wanted to see what could stick and who
could operate. And the guy that could operate better is
gonna be better positioned to to be the first band
(12:07):
off the bench if you will to day, or if
both guys are solid, then both guys are in position
to play today. That's just the approach I took because
of the you know, the unusual variables, the unique NFL experience,
in the experience within our organization that Jones had nausea.
Harris was voted an offensive captain by his teammates and
this just his second season in the league. What makes
(12:28):
him worthy of that recognition? He cares. His talents are
his talents, and you know we're all cognizant of his talents. Um.
But he cares um. And it is more than just emotion.
Is displayed an approach. It is displayed daily. It is
displayed on the grass and meetings. Um. How he holds
himself accountable, how he holds his teammates accountable. He wears
(12:51):
it in a very natural way. Larry Ogan, JOEBI will
be going against his old team today. Uh and your experience.
Is there anything special about that for an NFL player?
It depends on the player. Some guys are serial killers,
you know, Um, they're motionless. I'll never forget um. When
we played Cincinnati, when James Harrison was playing for Cincinnati.
(13:13):
I walk up to him in warm ups. I said, hey, James,
how you doing. He said good, what's up? And it
was like I had just seen him the day before. Um.
Certain guys or why a certain way? Um and and
they can compartmentalize and they're like great white sharks, man.
All they do is swim and eat some guys. This
an emotional moment for James Harrison. He's a great white shark.
(13:37):
He's a swimmer and an eater. Is Larry Ogunjobi a
shark too? We'll see? Um? I doubt Uh, he's James
Harrison man. There aren't many who can compartmentalize like James Harrison.
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe in, download
new episodes every week, and check out all of the
(13:57):
other shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast Network.
That's available on the Steeler's 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, today starts a new season.
You're about to embark on this journey with a different
starting quarterback for the first time in your career here,
because that create a different feel to the start of
this journey for you. I think certainly it creates a
different feel um. You know, there there's a sense of
(00:24):
the unknown, you know, when you're working at a at
a position of SI significance like quarterback, and if you
had the type of consistency in terms of the presence
of Ben that we've had for such a long time,
sure it creates a different feel. But it's one that
I've embraced. Is one that I've challenged the team to
embrace throughout this entire process. You know, we laid that,
(00:44):
We laid that down back in the spring and just
acknowledged that there were gonna be some differences that we
weren't going to be resistant to it. As a matter
of fact, We're gonna run to it and embrace it
and look for the silver lining in it, um, the
opportunities to grow and grow together, the opportunities to gain
some understanding of why we do things and alter some
things to meet the needs of this crop of guys
(01:07):
and so um, it's been a good process. I feel
really good about it. I've challenged the group to feel
good about it collectively. But ultimately, you know, uh, that
ball is gonna be kicked off and we gotta play
and I'm excited about that as well. Part of every
NFL coaches job is his relationship with his players. What's
a typical coach starting quarterback relationship like at the NFL level.
(01:29):
I think it's on it's it's on the men. Um.
I'll ask guys to be themselves, but I will simply
ask them to be the best their best selves. And
so when when people are being themselves, the nature relationships
are different based on the people. I've had really intimate
relationships with individuals at that position. I've had strictly professional
relationships with people at that position. The bottom line is, man,
(01:53):
we've gotta have good, clean, professional communication. We got to
gain a professional understanding. There's got to be mutual respect
for the jobs that that have to be done. Um,
those are the things that are required. I think the
personalities oftentime dictate the nature of the depths of the
other peripheral things, if you will, because of the you know,
(02:14):
you work together so closely with that individual. Um, he's
a key part of the team, You're a key part
of the coaching staff. Uh. Is the relationship between the
head coach and the quarterback in the NFL different than
the relationship with other players simply because of the position.
It can be, UM, it can be, But again UM,
(02:34):
like I mentioned, UM, it's the personalities, it's the men UM.
It certainly can be. There's certainly more opportunities for it
to be. UM, but not a requirement in situations like today,
the start of the regular season on the road against
the defending division champion. UM. When I would ask you
(02:54):
what you needed from your starting quarterback in this game,
in the past, you would say something like, we need
Ben to be bad, and Mitch Robinsky is a different
player in a person, so what might needing Mitch to
be Mitch entail? It's really the similar things that I
would ask of Ben. We just worked together so long
and he had had become so consistent at delivering it
that it became him. UM. I expect him to smile
(03:17):
in the face of adversity. Delivered a significant plays in
the significant moments. UM. Players teams, and particularly players at
the quarterback position are defined by the ability to operate
in those weighty moments UH possession downs, two minute, etcetera. UM,
I expect him to communicate and do the informal things
that come with the position, particularly in moments of adversity
(03:38):
and particularly UM when it's difficult like crowd, noise, etcetera, etcetera.
Never tire in terms of dealing with those things, and
ultimately take care of football. UM. You gotta take care
of football at the quarterback position. You gotta take care
of football at any position on offense. But because of
the frequency in which they handle it, it gets triple
e important. Your backup quarterback today, the guy who potentially
(04:01):
one snap away from having to play the most important
position on a football team. It's a rookie. UH. Obviously
Kenny pick and earned that your that job in your trust,
or he wouldn't be in that role. What about him
convinced you he's ready for that? His play inside stadiums
and UH in the maturation process and the rate of
that maturation process inside stadiums. UM, I think once we
(04:24):
got into a stadium. Boy, you saw something clicking him
where he says, Okay, this is what it is. It
wasn't anything mystical, It wasn't anything that you know, um,
that he couldn't have a feel for or understand. And
I think he realized pretty quickly that he can swim
in those waters. And so I think he's kind of
taking off at a at a really consistent rate since then.
(04:47):
And so um, you know, his comfort level creates comfort
level in those around him, whether it's teammates or coaches.
And I think we're all comfortable with his position within
this group. And if called upon, uh, we won't blink
because we know he wasn't he won't blink. During your
news conference on Tuesday, one of the things you said
about Drabinsky was that he came to us with franchise
(05:08):
quarterback experience. What did you mean by franchise quarterback experience?
He walked into that building or he pulled up in
that parking lot every day in Chicago for four years,
whearing the responsibility would be in the second pick in
the draft, and and the guy that was annoying it
to play the position for the organization, and and there's
no substitute for that experience. The responsibility is not only
(05:30):
formally in terms of playing and preparing and and and
leading and things of that nature, but the informal responsibilities
to dealing with the media and the things that that
that that happened when you're a high profile guy and
holding out a position like that, UM, it's a very
natural thing for him because he's experienced it, and that
experience is golden. So a guy in that position, I mean,
(05:54):
is he told that this is part of your your
daily existance here all the things you just mentioned, or
does he just come to learn it because he has
to go through and in experience it, whether he's told
or not. I think the doing, uh, the experience component
of it, um is paramount UM. I met with Kenny
(06:17):
earlier this week and I was talking about the amount
of urgence and he he needs to have in his
seven day cycle from a prep standpoint, UM, he needs
to find his rhythm. He needs to perfect that process.
The things that he does in a formal business setting,
the things that he does in the informal setting to supplement, uh,
the things that he that he does from a personal
(06:38):
level to get a sense of comfort and game readiness. Man,
he's got to perfect all those things before he's on
the clock, legitimately going through that cycle process whenever that
may be. And so you got to carry that urgency. UM.
You know, Mitch has lived that life. He's lived that life,
UM for a substantial amount of time. And and and
emboys value in that. I think you you're really comfortable
(07:01):
with the unforeseen and the things that happened during the
course of a football journey when you wear that experience. UH.
Over the off season, the Bengals retooled their offensive line
by adding right tackle Ale Collins, right guard Alex Kappa,
and center Ted Carris via free agency. On the surface,
that would seem to be similar to what you did
during the off season with your offensive line. When you
(07:23):
study the Bengals on video over this last week, did
you see any similarities in terms of where the respective
units are when it comes to growth and development? I
did not, because the Bengals essentially didn't play there as
in the preseason. You know, there's not a lot of
visual evidence of their growth and development collectively. UM. Different
people bring different approaches to the preseason. I never judge, UM,
(07:47):
I just want to do it's appropriate or right for
our group. UM. The development the collective development of a
of a unit or or collective within the unit, I
think is something that has to happen through through snaps
and so a proponent of work, UM, I worked the group.
I want to take them into hostile environments. I want
them to grow under those circumstances. I thought playing in Jacksonville,
(08:09):
you know, in the hostile quote unquote environment against a
team that was further in development and uther than us
was a good challenge for our group. I just think
that's necessary for development. UM. But those are that's my
vision for this collective and so UM, I don't question
how it is they choose to go about business. But
it wasn't a lot of visual evidence of the growth
(08:30):
and development of that group. So we'll see. You often
talk about the importance of making plays in the weighty
moments when it comes down to determining the outcome of
the game. What does that mean? What as it turns
to to an offensive line making plays in the weighty moments,
how was an offensive line do that by blocking nine?
And I'll just be that bluntly honest. You know, Uh,
(08:53):
they're dynamic players, They're dynamic players. At a game, changing
caliber players, uh, just about every week on every team. Uh.
In this week, Um, you gotta acknowledge that ninety one
is the type of guy that can change the climate
and in an instant man. The probability of that goes
way up when you're getting one dimensional circumstances, third and
long and things of that nature. Part of standing up
(09:16):
and smiling in the face of adversity is understanding when
you're in the kitchen, and if you're playing tackle and
we're one dimensional and you've got ninety one across from you,
you are in the kitchen. So that's how an office
alignment stands up and answers the bell in those weighty moments. Um,
we all got responsibilities. We all gotta stand up and deliver.
(09:37):
It's easy to recognize sometimes when you're talking about ball
carriers and quarterbacks and ball receivers. But boy, if you're
playing left tackle and you're blocking nine and the third
down and eight, boy, that is a rep and that's
a rep that should be highlighting. There should be a
picture within picture, you know, Uh for those at home
watching the game, So they gained an appreciation for all
(09:58):
twenty two in those moments, having to play and having
to play big. One of the other things you said
in your Tuesday news conference about today's game was the
process is the battle. What do you mean by that?
I meaning we can spend all week, you know, talking
about the game, waiting for one o'clock on Sunday, But
what are we doing with the time between now and then?
(10:19):
You know, we got a chance to do something about
one o'clock at Sunday, you know, when you're sitting there
on Tuesday, when you're sitting there on Wednesday, And so
I like to shift the focus of the group away
from what's exciting and what we all know is coming.
And I want them to be excited about the president,
about the construction and the engineering of a great day
in preparation for Sunday. You know, we're not comfort seekers. Um,
(10:43):
we want to focus our energies on the process. But
we find comfort on Sunday at one o'clock when we've
paid that price. And and and that's something that I
consider that I continually sell to our football team. Your
back up outside linebackers today, Malik Reid and Jamir Jones,
neither of them spend any time with you during his
training camp for this preseason. So what was the process
(11:03):
of preparing them for today? It's really simple. Malika is
a guy that's played over snaps in the NFL in
the last uh twenty four months. He played seven hundred
plus snaps in Denver last year, seven hundred plus snaps before.
So his process is simply learning what our language is.
This means this. This means that um Jones is a
(11:24):
guy obviously with less experience, but he was on our
football team a year ago. He did play guard on
our punt team a year ago. He didn't make our
team a year ago, and so he has that place
to hang his hat. And for those reasons, UH, their
process of readiness has probably been more fluid than one
would imagine, uh in terms of guys getting on a
(11:44):
moving train. So do you spoon feed them, like, for example,
this is what you need to know for this opponent,
and not worry about teaching them the entire scheme or
any of that stuff. No, not, because of the variables
I mentioned. I didn't. I gave it to him and
I just wanted to see what could stick and who
could operate. And the guy that could operate better is
gonna be better positioned to to be the first band
(12:07):
off the bench if you will to day, or if
both guys are solid, then both guys are in position
to play today. That's just the approach I took because
of the you know, the unusual variables, the unique NFL experience,
in the experience within our organization that Jones had nausea.
Harris was voted an offensive captain by his teammates and
this just his second season in the league. What makes
(12:28):
him worthy of that recognition? He cares. His talents are
his talents, and you know we're all cognizant of his talents. Um.
But he cares um. And it is more than just emotion.
Is displayed an approach. It is displayed daily. It is
displayed on the grass and meetings. Um. How he holds
himself accountable, how he holds his teammates accountable. He wears
(12:51):
it in a very natural way. Larry Ogan, JOEBI will
be going against his old team today. Uh and your experience.
Is there anything special about that for an NFL player?
It depends on the player. Some guys are serial killers,
you know, Um, they're motionless. I'll never forget um. When
we played Cincinnati, when James Harrison was playing for Cincinnati.
(13:13):
I walk up to him in warm ups. I said, hey, James,
how you doing. He said good, what's up? And it
was like I had just seen him the day before. Um.
Certain guys or why a certain way? Um and and
they can compartmentalize and they're like great white sharks, man.
All they do is swim and eat some guys. This
an emotional moment for James Harrison. He's a great white shark.
(13:37):
He's a swimmer and an eater. Is Larry Ogunjobi a
shark too? We'll see? Um? I doubt Uh, he's James
Harrison man. There aren't many who can compartmentalize like James Harrison.
That's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subscribe in, download
new episodes every week, and check out all of the
(13:57):
other shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast Network.
That's available on the Steeler's mobile app, the I Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.