If there’s one thing Mike Tomlin is known for, it’s for getting his players to buy-in and run through a wall for him. Though an underrated technician, Tomlin’s at his best when he’s speaking to his team, cutting through typical coach speak and finding ways to connect and motivate his squad.
In a rare snippet of that, Steelers.com posted part of a speech Tomlin gave to the team during an OTA practice. Click here to watch the whole thing, we’re unable to embed and link it here, but we’ll offer the quotes below.
“You need to continually be a guy on the rise,” Tomlin said. “That is a reasonable expectation. As opposed to coming in here and just putting in time.”
The spring is for a chance for the entire roster to lay a foundation heading into training camp. There’s a bit less pressure, certainly less evaluation, but it’s not a time for players to just get by. Young players are trying to establish themselves and carve out roles. Older players are trying to refine their game and keep their job.
Things don’t slow down when the team reconvenes in Latrobe for training camp, making OTAs a crucial part of the building block. While we don’t think about the season starting until September or perhaps late July, it’s already begun for all 32 teams.
“You better continually be getting better as long as you’re sitting in rooms like this,” Tomlin told the players. “I’m not doing my job if I’m not pointing that out. You guys that have been here and know what this is about. We expect you to be significantly better. Hear the words. We expect you to be significantly better.”
It’s a message that applies to everyone. The oldheads, the rookies, the new free agent additions. As the old adage goes, you’re either getting better or worse, nothing stays the same, and the Steelers themselves must be a team on the rise in 2022. Coming off a 9-8 season that saw them miss the playoffs, they need to return to postseason action and net their first such victory since 2016. While their schedule – on paper, at least – looks softer than a year ago, they’re in a highly competitive AFC and AFC North where all four teams have legitimate playoff aspirations.
Tomlin then shifted his message to second- and third-year players, those who aren’t wide-eyed rookies but aren’t quite established veterans either.
“If you were a young guy, we might have tolerated mental errors a year ago,” he said. “We’ll have less tolerance for it moving forward. It’s just a reasonable expectation.”
That’s part of the continual growth Tomlin spoke to. There are several key second-year players the Steelers are counting on to look far better than their rookie seasons. Offensively, Kenny Pickett, George Pickens, Jaylen Warren, and Connor Heyward are all notable names in that camp. Their rookie seasons had ups and downs, some were better than others, but all four need to take a leap in 2023 for the Steelers to reach their ceiling.
Tomlin concluded by telling the team to tune out the outside noise and even forget about “camp battles.” Because the war gets waged internally, not externally.
“Let’s be really transparent about expectations in this business, about how competitive it is. I never want you worrying about people on the outside or even the man sitting next to you,” he told the players. “This is a man versus himself battle. You gotta be continually present to get better with that understanding this is a highly competitive line of work that we’re in.”
Hearing it from past and present players, these are part of Tomlin’s daily morning meetings and speeches to the team. They cover a variety of topics, from football to more life-centric ideas, and sometimes a combination of both. Again, be sure to click the link over on Steelers.com to hear Tomlin actually speak. Because his voice carries more impact than just his words.
UPDATE (9:24 PM): The Steelers’ Twitter account released a bit more of the speech, showing the slideshow was entitled “Reasonable Expectations.”
