October 2, 2022 • 13 mins
Steelers Digest Editor Bob Labriola sits down with Coach Mike Tomlin ahead of the Steelers week 4 matchup against the Jets in Acrisure Stadium
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast with Steelers Digest
editor Bottom Labriola. Okay, coach, what's an offensive identity and
is it actually any different than an offense being predictable?
You know, identity is about the high volume things, Um,
the places you hang your hat, your base core runs,
the corresponding play action passes, the things that you do
(00:23):
routinely in situational circumstance. Uh So it's always high volume things.
Usually is centered around critical players and their talents and
and doing things that highlight those skill sets. Um, that's
what you mean when you talk about identity, whether it's
offensive identity, same thing applies to the defense or defensive identity.
We're three or four team. We value outside linebacker play. Um,
(00:46):
our core blitz is both outside linebackers. It had been
going back to Kevin Green and Greg Lloyd. So having
an offensive identity, I mean, it's is it a good
thing to have? One? Is a necessary thing to have?
One has work? Obviously there's some some positive components to it. Um,
You've got good players, Um, the things that they do routinely.
(01:07):
The more you do it, the more you understand it, um,
the more consistent it becomes forget the splash plays, I'm
talking about the floor. You eliminate negativity, the consistency of it.
There's also advantages of discovering your identity, whether it's new
players or new staffing. You're less predictable. Um, you're more
of an open book in terms of the things uh
(01:29):
that people have to to minimize down in and down out.
So obviously there's some positive advantages of having an identity.
There's also some probably some unseen advantages for for being
the development in that area. One of the issues in
the game against the Browns was their ability to convert
third Don's particularly in the second half. And you describe
those situations as third and manageable. What does the defense
(01:53):
have to do to prevent the opposing offense from consistently
being in third and manageable. Obviously, you gotta win first
and second down, and specifically I think for us UM
area that we've been focusing on this second and seven
plus or quote unquote second and long um too many
times in those instances they got back to very third
and manageable. And when you got people behind the chains,
(02:15):
you gotta work hard to keep them behind the chains.
Oftentimes first down in ten gets a lot of attention.
Third down obviously gets a lot of attention. Oftentimes, your
placement on those third downs or your positioning on those
third downs depend upon quality of second down play, and
so we placed a lot of emphasis on that down
this week and the effort to put better position ourselves
(02:37):
to win the possession downs. Once upon a time, the
job of a nose tackle was to occupy blockers, eat
up space, be difficult to move. While when you're talking
about the Steelers, the guys who did that the best
were Casey Hampton and then before him Joel Steed uh
And and in modern football, today's football, what's the job
of a nose tackle. You know, they have to be
(02:58):
more versatile, h they have to be more rush capable. Um,
they're less opportunities for them to impact the game. And
so when they have a skill set outside of what
you described in it, then it adds value to their
calls and to ours. And so if you're talking about
today's fullback, I mean today's nose guard, he has to
be um, he has to have a versatile skill set
(03:21):
to make himself more useful because it's just less opportunities.
But the same thing could be said for today's offensive fullback.
You know, twenty years ago, man, they had a certain
job description and we all knew what it was. Well,
today's offensive fullback has to be a core special teams
player and capable tackler and things of that nature because
there's less opportunities for them to impact the game. And so,
(03:41):
whether you're talking about a nose guard or you're talking
about a fullback, I think it's really a very similar
discussion in terms of how today's game is evolving and
their roles, their day job roles are being diminished and
they have to have additional skill sets to add value
to their calls and to the team's cause. Okay, back
in the a uh A space eating nose tackle? How
(04:03):
did that guy doing that make it difficult to run
the ball? You know, everybody at a fullback they ran
the ball, you know, thirty five or forty five times
a game, and so that guy had opportunities to It's
not that what is going on is different, it's just
the volume of the lack of volume, uh in those circumstances.
Uh two back runs. Um. When I came into this league,
(04:25):
you you were probably getting twenty to twenty five of
the weekend. Um, in today's game, you're getting less than five. UM.
A lot of teams, like the team we're playing this
week doesn't even have a fullback on the roster, and
so um there in lies the nose guards ability to
affect the game in terms of the traditional things that
you talk about when you talk about the position. That's
(04:46):
why they got to have other skill sets and be
be viable and other components of the game. A color
Weatherspoon was ruled out of today's game, one of the
guys in the mix to fill in for him as
Levi Wallace. What attracted you to him during the unrestricted
free agent period this past offseason? The same things that
attracted him to me in the draft. Um, that's how
(05:07):
we played free agency. We're a team that Bills are
our organization primarily through the draft. We do the research there. Um,
whether it's you know, measuring their tangible qualities or their
intangible qualities. He had a lot of things that was
really attractive to him when he came out of Obama.
Obviously we were down there looking at the likes of
Mica and others, and so highly familiar with him, and
(05:28):
so really it's kind of a short meeting and discussion
when he hits free agency. We've played Buffalo quite a
bit since he's been up there. We've been able to
track and follow his growth and development. Um really really
a very quick discussion and and study because of the
background that we laid in draft prep. But what did
you like about him even back then during the draft
prop Great above the net game, great communicator, got really
(05:51):
good intangible qualities, good at the ball. He's long. Think
about he walked on at Alabama. I mean, you're not
tough at he is for a walk on and vironment
like that. That guy was a walk on that became
a starter and played in front of five star recruits
at Alabama. It just doesn't happen. I can't think of
another Obama walk on man that ascended like that. Now
(06:13):
he's not your normal walk on. Obviously he's playing in
the National Football League. But man, you're talking about some
tough awarters to navigate being a walk on in a
program like that, stepping into a camp situation where you
probably got a hunt in twenty five guys out there,
you're probably on the fourth practice field. You're probably so
far away from significant reps that you gotta have a
(06:34):
tremendous mental mindset to kind of push through those things.
And I think those are the things that made him
attractive not only to us, UM, but but but everybody
that did their homework. The team is one and two.
Why do you think this group has not resorted the
finger pointing or that passive aggressive style of criticizing their
teammates and maybe even the coaches. You know, UM, I
(06:56):
hadn't spent a whole lot of time UM worrying about
that comp on it. I don't coach from that perspective.
I talk about the things that we should do, the
approaches we should take. UM. You can stand in front
of a group and say don't do this, don't do that,
and and and talking that spirit, I tend to instruct
and teach UM and talk about the best ways to
(07:16):
handle adversity individually and collectively. I point out quality examples
of what we value. UM. I ask guys have been
here to live it out and show the new guys
UM what it is we mean, because it's less about
what we say and more about what we do or
how we conduct ourselves. And so I know that new players,
young players, they're watching guys like me, they're watching guys
(07:39):
like Cam Hayward and guys that's been around here, and
so it's important that we not only say the right
things that provide the right perspective. And sometimes that's just
talking in a certain way, talking about what to do
as opposed to what not to do. And so that's
something that I do so intentionally, but also um in
the spirit in which we move that that we have
to live out the things that come out of our
(08:00):
mouths and so UM, you know, we don't spend a
lot of time worrying and talking about that. We spend
our time and energy focusing on doing the job. And
the job is winning. Um. But we understand that the
approach to the job is important and certain professionalism things
from a cultural standpoint we value. And we got to
educate the new guys and we don't run away from
(08:20):
that either. So but the fact that these new guys
are willing to be educated, I mean that must say
something good about them, right, I don't know that we
give them a choice. We got some quality leaders man,
guys like Cam Uh. They lead with a with a
strong hand at times and appropriately. So UM, A lot
of these new guys are young guys, and so you know,
(08:42):
we're not necessarily here to provide options. We're here to instruct,
to teach, and it's their job to learn and to
learn quickly. Um. And we're really transparent about that. Once,
after a game, and it was a win, by the way,
Chuck nor was asked why he had made and in
game personnel change along the defensive line. Knowles answer was
because he was being blocked. How does how does a
(09:04):
defensive player prevent from being blocked? I love that, by
the way. I just I love the coach and old nuggets. Um.
It's you know, my high school coach says, every man
get a man, every get every good man get to
And what he meant by that was, if one guy
is blocking, you, shed that block and make a tackle
in your required space. Uh. Quality defenders can't be blocked
(09:26):
by one man. And if you're blocked by two, didn't
that You know, you hold your ground and you understand
there's some quality things going on around you. I just
think there's certain components to this game that are really simple,
and oftentimes we over complicate them, and I try not to.
I remember the lessons of guys like coach Nolan, the
man that coached me in high school coach Quillen, because
(09:47):
they resonate their timeless Um. If you're being blocked by
one guy, you come off that block and you make
appropriate tackles, and that is football. If you're blocked by
one guy, um, you're not gonna be on the field
long or you're not gonna be a a defense. And
that's just football, and not only at the National Football
League level, but at any level. So not being blocked
(10:07):
is that a physical thing that you uh that the
guy has to do or is it more of a
mindset I will not be blocked both um. It it
Obviously physical talent is a component of it. The ability
to create space and separational contact, to get people off you,
to have strong hands that she had blocks, to have
vision and awareness in terms of ball location and things
(10:29):
of that nature. But it's just also some intangible quality.
It's a spirit, um, it's a mindset, um, and you
know it when you see it. When you were asked
earlier in the week about the offense utilizing all areas
of the field, you said, I like to think that
we are from an intention standpoint, but it doesn't always
play out that way for a myriad of reasons. What
(10:51):
are some of the myriad of reasons. Some of the
things are determined by us, some of the things are
determined by game circumstances something. Some of the things are
determined by schematic x um that our opponents employed. UM.
If you're looking at too high safety defense or umbrella
defense UM, and this defense we play this week have
has a lot of that. In passing circumstances, then it's
(11:13):
gonna be very difficult to throw the ball over top
of them. And that's just the reality of it UM.
And so schematics plays a role in it circumstances in
terms of the things that you value, UM play play
a role in it UM. The key thing is is
that you're continually as an offense, in my opinion, making
sure that the defense defends the vertical components of the
(11:35):
field and the horizontal components of the feeling that they respected.
And as long as that's happening, then you can do
whatever it is that you choose to do. It's just
when the defense the unit is disrespecting the vertical field
and playing you in the closet, or disrespecting the horizontal
field and playing you in the closet, that you better
do things to make them respect that space to provide
(11:55):
more space for playmaking for individual one on ones and
so forth. Oftentimes a bat can win versus an unblocked
defender and the hole, but it's the second guy that's
close by that makes it a non factor. When you
spread people out and create more space and do things
that create more space, it highlights some of those individual
matchups within the twenty two man field, and and and
(12:19):
that's why it's significant in my opinion, the Jets made
Sauce Gardner the fourth overall pick of the NFL Draft.
What qualities does a cornerback need to be picked that high?
There's a physical skill set um and he has it.
He's long, he's fast, he's got good instincts and hand dyeing,
body control. But there's an intangible quality to our spirit.
(12:41):
He has it can do attitude. When the ball is
in the air, he thinks it's his um. His natural
inclination is to catch it as opposed to knock it down.
And usually that's what comes with those top notch guys. Uh,
the mentality component along with the physical traits, that's the
Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subsc gribe and download new
episodes every week and check out all of the other
(13:04):
shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast Network
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, what's an offensive identity and
is it actually any different than an offense being predictable?
You know, identity is about the high volume things, Um,
the places you hang your hat, your base core runs,
the corresponding play action passes, the things that you do
(00:23):
routinely in situational circumstance. Uh So it's always high volume things.
Usually is centered around critical players and their talents and
and doing things that highlight those skill sets. Um, that's
what you mean when you talk about identity, whether it's
offensive identity, same thing applies to the defense or defensive identity.
We're three or four team. We value outside linebacker play. Um,
(00:46):
our core blitz is both outside linebackers. It had been
going back to Kevin Green and Greg Lloyd. So having
an offensive identity, I mean, it's is it a good
thing to have? One? Is a necessary thing to have?
One has work? Obviously there's some some positive components to it. Um,
You've got good players, Um, the things that they do routinely.
(01:07):
The more you do it, the more you understand it, um,
the more consistent it becomes forget the splash plays, I'm
talking about the floor. You eliminate negativity, the consistency of it.
There's also advantages of discovering your identity, whether it's new
players or new staffing. You're less predictable. Um, you're more
of an open book in terms of the things uh
(01:29):
that people have to to minimize down in and down out.
So obviously there's some positive advantages of having an identity.
There's also some probably some unseen advantages for for being
the development in that area. One of the issues in
the game against the Browns was their ability to convert
third Don's particularly in the second half. And you describe
those situations as third and manageable. What does the defense
(01:53):
have to do to prevent the opposing offense from consistently
being in third and manageable. Obviously, you gotta win first
and second down, and specifically I think for us UM
area that we've been focusing on this second and seven
plus or quote unquote second and long um too many
times in those instances they got back to very third
and manageable. And when you got people behind the chains,
(02:15):
you gotta work hard to keep them behind the chains.
Oftentimes first down in ten gets a lot of attention.
Third down obviously gets a lot of attention. Oftentimes, your
placement on those third downs or your positioning on those
third downs depend upon quality of second down play, and
so we placed a lot of emphasis on that down
this week and the effort to put better position ourselves
(02:37):
to win the possession downs. Once upon a time, the
job of a nose tackle was to occupy blockers, eat
up space, be difficult to move. While when you're talking
about the Steelers, the guys who did that the best
were Casey Hampton and then before him Joel Steed uh
And and in modern football, today's football, what's the job
of a nose tackle. You know, they have to be
(02:58):
more versatile, h they have to be more rush capable. Um,
they're less opportunities for them to impact the game. And
so when they have a skill set outside of what
you described in it, then it adds value to their
calls and to ours. And so if you're talking about
today's fullback, I mean today's nose guard, he has to
be um, he has to have a versatile skill set
(03:21):
to make himself more useful because it's just less opportunities.
But the same thing could be said for today's offensive fullback.
You know, twenty years ago, man, they had a certain
job description and we all knew what it was. Well,
today's offensive fullback has to be a core special teams
player and capable tackler and things of that nature because
there's less opportunities for them to impact the game. And so,
(03:41):
whether you're talking about a nose guard or you're talking
about a fullback, I think it's really a very similar
discussion in terms of how today's game is evolving and
their roles, their day job roles are being diminished and
they have to have additional skill sets to add value
to their calls and to the team's cause. Okay, back
in the a uh A space eating nose tackle? How
(04:03):
did that guy doing that make it difficult to run
the ball? You know, everybody at a fullback they ran
the ball, you know, thirty five or forty five times
a game, and so that guy had opportunities to It's
not that what is going on is different, it's just
the volume of the lack of volume, uh in those circumstances.
Uh two back runs. Um. When I came into this league,
(04:25):
you you were probably getting twenty to twenty five of
the weekend. Um, in today's game, you're getting less than five. UM.
A lot of teams, like the team we're playing this
week doesn't even have a fullback on the roster, and
so um there in lies the nose guards ability to
affect the game in terms of the traditional things that
you talk about when you talk about the position. That's
(04:46):
why they got to have other skill sets and be
be viable and other components of the game. A color
Weatherspoon was ruled out of today's game, one of the
guys in the mix to fill in for him as
Levi Wallace. What attracted you to him during the unrestricted
free agent period this past offseason? The same things that
attracted him to me in the draft. Um, that's how
(05:07):
we played free agency. We're a team that Bills are
our organization primarily through the draft. We do the research there. Um,
whether it's you know, measuring their tangible qualities or their
intangible qualities. He had a lot of things that was
really attractive to him when he came out of Obama.
Obviously we were down there looking at the likes of
Mica and others, and so highly familiar with him, and
(05:28):
so really it's kind of a short meeting and discussion
when he hits free agency. We've played Buffalo quite a
bit since he's been up there. We've been able to
track and follow his growth and development. Um really really
a very quick discussion and and study because of the
background that we laid in draft prep. But what did
you like about him even back then during the draft
prop Great above the net game, great communicator, got really
(05:51):
good intangible qualities, good at the ball. He's long. Think
about he walked on at Alabama. I mean, you're not
tough at he is for a walk on and vironment
like that. That guy was a walk on that became
a starter and played in front of five star recruits
at Alabama. It just doesn't happen. I can't think of
another Obama walk on man that ascended like that. Now
(06:13):
he's not your normal walk on. Obviously he's playing in
the National Football League. But man, you're talking about some
tough awarters to navigate being a walk on in a
program like that, stepping into a camp situation where you
probably got a hunt in twenty five guys out there,
you're probably on the fourth practice field. You're probably so
far away from significant reps that you gotta have a
(06:34):
tremendous mental mindset to kind of push through those things.
And I think those are the things that made him
attractive not only to us, UM, but but but everybody
that did their homework. The team is one and two.
Why do you think this group has not resorted the
finger pointing or that passive aggressive style of criticizing their
teammates and maybe even the coaches. You know, UM, I
(06:56):
hadn't spent a whole lot of time UM worrying about
that comp on it. I don't coach from that perspective.
I talk about the things that we should do, the
approaches we should take. UM. You can stand in front
of a group and say don't do this, don't do that,
and and and talking that spirit, I tend to instruct
and teach UM and talk about the best ways to
(07:16):
handle adversity individually and collectively. I point out quality examples
of what we value. UM. I ask guys have been
here to live it out and show the new guys
UM what it is we mean, because it's less about
what we say and more about what we do or
how we conduct ourselves. And so I know that new players,
young players, they're watching guys like me, they're watching guys
(07:39):
like Cam Hayward and guys that's been around here, and
so it's important that we not only say the right
things that provide the right perspective. And sometimes that's just
talking in a certain way, talking about what to do
as opposed to what not to do. And so that's
something that I do so intentionally, but also um in
the spirit in which we move that that we have
to live out the things that come out of our
(08:00):
mouths and so UM, you know, we don't spend a
lot of time worrying and talking about that. We spend
our time and energy focusing on doing the job. And
the job is winning. Um. But we understand that the
approach to the job is important and certain professionalism things
from a cultural standpoint we value. And we got to
educate the new guys and we don't run away from
(08:20):
that either. So but the fact that these new guys
are willing to be educated, I mean that must say
something good about them, right, I don't know that we
give them a choice. We got some quality leaders man,
guys like Cam Uh. They lead with a with a
strong hand at times and appropriately. So UM, A lot
of these new guys are young guys, and so you know,
(08:42):
we're not necessarily here to provide options. We're here to instruct,
to teach, and it's their job to learn and to
learn quickly. Um. And we're really transparent about that. Once,
after a game, and it was a win, by the way,
Chuck nor was asked why he had made and in
game personnel change along the defensive line. Knowles answer was
because he was being blocked. How does how does a
(09:04):
defensive player prevent from being blocked? I love that, by
the way. I just I love the coach and old nuggets. Um.
It's you know, my high school coach says, every man
get a man, every get every good man get to
And what he meant by that was, if one guy
is blocking, you, shed that block and make a tackle
in your required space. Uh. Quality defenders can't be blocked
(09:26):
by one man. And if you're blocked by two, didn't
that You know, you hold your ground and you understand
there's some quality things going on around you. I just
think there's certain components to this game that are really simple,
and oftentimes we over complicate them, and I try not to.
I remember the lessons of guys like coach Nolan, the
man that coached me in high school coach Quillen, because
(09:47):
they resonate their timeless Um. If you're being blocked by
one guy, you come off that block and you make
appropriate tackles, and that is football. If you're blocked by
one guy, um, you're not gonna be on the field
long or you're not gonna be a a defense. And
that's just football, and not only at the National Football
League level, but at any level. So not being blocked
(10:07):
is that a physical thing that you uh that the
guy has to do or is it more of a
mindset I will not be blocked both um. It it
Obviously physical talent is a component of it. The ability
to create space and separational contact, to get people off you,
to have strong hands that she had blocks, to have
vision and awareness in terms of ball location and things
(10:29):
of that nature. But it's just also some intangible quality.
It's a spirit, um, it's a mindset, um, and you
know it when you see it. When you were asked
earlier in the week about the offense utilizing all areas
of the field, you said, I like to think that
we are from an intention standpoint, but it doesn't always
play out that way for a myriad of reasons. What
(10:51):
are some of the myriad of reasons. Some of the
things are determined by us, some of the things are
determined by game circumstances something. Some of the things are
determined by schematic x um that our opponents employed. UM.
If you're looking at too high safety defense or umbrella
defense UM, and this defense we play this week have
has a lot of that. In passing circumstances, then it's
(11:13):
gonna be very difficult to throw the ball over top
of them. And that's just the reality of it UM.
And so schematics plays a role in it circumstances in
terms of the things that you value, UM play play
a role in it UM. The key thing is is
that you're continually as an offense, in my opinion, making
sure that the defense defends the vertical components of the
(11:35):
field and the horizontal components of the feeling that they respected.
And as long as that's happening, then you can do
whatever it is that you choose to do. It's just
when the defense the unit is disrespecting the vertical field
and playing you in the closet, or disrespecting the horizontal
field and playing you in the closet, that you better
do things to make them respect that space to provide
(11:55):
more space for playmaking for individual one on ones and
so forth. Oftentimes a bat can win versus an unblocked
defender and the hole, but it's the second guy that's
close by that makes it a non factor. When you
spread people out and create more space and do things
that create more space, it highlights some of those individual
matchups within the twenty two man field, and and and
(12:19):
that's why it's significant in my opinion, the Jets made
Sauce Gardner the fourth overall pick of the NFL Draft.
What qualities does a cornerback need to be picked that high?
There's a physical skill set um and he has it.
He's long, he's fast, he's got good instincts and hand dyeing,
body control. But there's an intangible quality to our spirit.
(12:41):
He has it can do attitude. When the ball is
in the air, he thinks it's his um. His natural
inclination is to catch it as opposed to knock it down.
And usually that's what comes with those top notch guys. Uh,
the mentality component along with the physical traits, that's the
Mike Tomlin Game Day Podcast. Subsc gribe and download new
episodes every week and check out all of the other
(13:04):
shows we have to offer on the Steelers Podcast Network
that's available on the Steelers Mobile app, the i Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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