For a member of the Competition Committee, Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has certainly not been shy about speaking about issues that he has with the way that games are being officiated this season. He was most vocal on Sunday after his team’s first significant win of the season, but it is the third time that he has had words for officiating.
And if the league office has something to say about it, they may persuade him to make those his last comments. After calling some of the calls in the Steelers’ game against the Atlanta Falcons “a joke” and that he was “pissed off” about the state of the rules and how they’re being officiated, Tomlin has been contacted by the league about his remarks.
“NFL exec. VP of Football Operations Troy Vincent has been in touch with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin for his comments on the officiating, I’m told”, Ian Rapoport wrote on Twitter yesterday. “It is being reviewed for a possible fine, though often post-game comments are given more latitude because of the emotion involved”.
As you might imagine, Mike Florio was successfully able to put his own spin on the report. As much as I hate to be the one to be conspiratorial and suggest that somebody is biased against a certain team, the Pro Football Talk head certainly seems to write negatively-slanted pieces about the Steelers far more often than he ever has anything positive to say.
This time, he is suggesting that the league is deliberately setting up a scenario in which it avoids penalizing somebody who is on the Competition Committee for something that others have been penalized for.
He shot down Rapoport’s claim that “often post-game comments are given more latitude”, but merely offers that “fines have been imposed on coaches who have criticized officials in post-game comments”, which doesn’t actually contradict the statement.
“Tomlin crossed a line that others have crossed, and others have paid for”, Florio continued. “It sounds like the league is trying to float a balloon here that Tomlin may be getting a pass”.
I don’t think anybody will be complaining if Tomlin does get a pass, because frankly I’m not sure there are many people who don’t agree with him. Personally, it makes no difference to me if the league chooses to fine him. It’s not my money, nor is it the team’s, so it affects me in no way, shape, or form.
