Tomlin Faces High Expectations

Mike Tomlin is halfway through his second season with the Steelers.

By most accounts, he’s settled into the city and has a good gauge on the team.

After a division title in his first year on the job, expectations are always high and that’s just the way Tomlin likes it.

It’s the second year of the Mike Tomlin era of Steeler football and to the casual observer, not much has changed.

But there are differences from year one to year two, mostly with how he deals with his veteran players.

“Some of these guys are my age – you know, I played a little college ball against James Farrior. My relationship against James Farrior is going to be a little different than my relationship with Bruce Davis,” Tomlin says. “So, I just let it happen naturally – I don’t have any boundaries or anything. I never try to be something that I’m not.”

And that was put to the test in two different instances so far this season.

Pompeani: “Alright coach, let’s talk about your disciplining of players because you’ve had two public examples of that this year – one with Casey Hampton at training camp and one with Santonio Holmes. Do you deal with everyone differently and how important is it to do it decisively and quickly?”

Tomlin: “It’s less about the player truth be known and more about the team and what the infraction is and being able to act quickly and minimize the distraction if you will and administer justice as it should be administered. And I try to keep the focus on that. When I deal with those individual circumstances it’s really about the good of the 53-man roster.”

And that roster has been put to the test. So far this year there have been injuries all over the place. Willie Parker out at times, Rashard Mendenhall done for the year, Marvel Smith injured, Kendall Simmons out for the year – so is punter Daniel Sepulveda. Brett Kiesel has missed time.

But Tomlin will never use that as an excuse.

“Now it’s the secondary’s turn. We’ve got McFadden down, we’ve got Ryan Clark down, you know we’re dealing with some of those issues. Opportunities for guys like William Gay to step up and look forward to watching those guys do that. Tyrone Carter, Anthony Smith. It’s part of football – it’s part of team and good teams find a way for the standard to remain the same through it all.”

Next year, the regular season might not remain the same. The league seems to be interested in extending the regular season. That’s something Mike Tomlin is against.

Pompeani: “A lot of talk recently about the expansion of the regular season at the expense of the pre-season. As a coach who I know values that kind of preseason stuff – how do you sit on that issue?”

Tomlin: “Personally I’m concerned about it. You know, I’m a person that values the off-season, a person that values training camp and preseasons for the development of backups so you can work and play through injury, development of young quarterbacks I think is critical for our game. We don’t have NFL Europe anymore – there aren’t many venues for the grooming or the growth and development of young quarterbacks.”

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