All offseason veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson talked about the excitement of playing for a head coach the caliber of Mike Tomlin.
On Sunday night coming off a “gritty” win over the Las Vegas Raiders on the road, Peterson doubled down on playing for Tomlin and his greatness while stating just how important one small meeting each week played in the win.
Appearing on the Sunday Night Football post-game show with Jack Collinsworth, Rodney Harrison and Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy, Peterson spoke glowingly of Tomlin, calling him a “different” coach. He said a weekly leadership meeting with older guys in an effort to find a winning edge paid off.
“Man, Coach Tomlin is different, man. He eats, sleeps and breathes football. He really does,” Peterson said, according to video via the NBC Sports YouTube page. “It’s every day. We have our separate meetings with the older guys. We have our winning edge meetings. We are always trying to find something that’s gonna give us that edge to win the ball game and that we did today.”
In his 17th NFL season as a head coach, Tomlin has seen and done it all at the professional level. He’s coached Hall of Fame talent, attempted to evolve within the game at times and has won far more games than he’s lost in his own Hall of Fame career.
Peterson isn’t the only veteran player who has spoken glowingly about Tomlin. He won’t be the last either, but it continues to be rather refreshing to hear that even in his 17th season as head coach in the same spot, Tomlin continues to have a positive impact within the locker room on guys that have been around awhile and even new faces.
The message isn’t getting stale. Neither is the process.
This is the first time that the “winning edge” meeting has been talked about publicly, and it’s a credit to Tomlin that he’s attempted to add a new wrinkle to weekly preparation for games, bringing the older, more veteran players together to put their collective heads together to look for and find ways to get an edge in a matchup.
It’s unclear exactly what winning edge was on Sunday night, outside of maybe more play-action and a more deliberate, consistent approach to establishing a run game. Whatever it was that the older, more veteran players and Tomlin discovered in the weekly meeting, it worked as the Steelers emerged victorious, 23-18, on Sunday night against the Raiders.
It wasn’t pretty, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is what the Steelers put in the win column. They are now stacking wins and finding their game overall early in the season. That’s a positive, and it continues to occur under a highly regarded, respected head coach in Tomlin.
