For OG Kevin Dotson, 2023 has been a bit of a whirlwind. After spending four years in Pittsburgh, the Steelers dealt him to the Los Angeles Rams right before the new season got underway. Though Dotson could sense his time with the team was coming to an end, he still had to adjust to a new team and new life on the other side of the coast, and quickly learn how to be a Ram.
After beginning the year as a backup, injuries have put Dotson in the Rams’ starting lineup. He’s started each of the last two weeks at guard and could start and face his former team in Week Seven when Pittsburgh comes off its bye.
Sitting down for an interview on the Rams’ YouTube channel with host J.B. Long, Dotson compared and contrasted what it’s been like to play for the two NFL head coaches he’s ever known: Mike Tomlin and Sean McVay.
“Him and Mike T are pretty much polar opposites overall,” Dotson told Long. “But they pretty much get the same player feedback when it comes to being a player’s coach. Mike T, he lives off a little bit more negativity. But he’ll tell you that. He loves to live off that negative energy. Sean McVay is a little more positive. More, ‘alright, we got this, you can do this.'”
To be clear, Dotson isn’t taking a dig at Tomlin and spoke highly of him throughout the interview. He explains Tomlin’s motivation is to show players the negativity, something that’s been documented. He’s known for putting players in front of the whole team as he shows them their mistakes, as he once did to Kendrick Green. It’s something Dotson and probably most players have experienced a time or two.
It’s a different motivational tactic compared to McVay, who will remind players of what they’ve done well and what they’re capable of. Dotson explained that the styles get the same result but elicit a different feeling from the play.
“I think it gets two different types of energy out of people. For Mike T, he knows you can do better,” Dotson said. “It’s more like, ‘I gotta get it right. He knows I can do it. He’s showing me the plays I messed up on. I can do this. I don’t know why I’m messing up. I need to lock in.’ Sean is like, ‘Man, I can do this. He just showed me a good play that I did. I know I can do this. He showed me the play. I know I can keep this going.’ It’s just two different ways of doing things.”
While Tomlin may have had a negative slant to get guys to play better, Dotson said it was never personal and didn’t impact his view of Tomlin the person.
“He never did anything to make you feel negative, even if he said negative stuff about you…he’s saying it with his heart. He’s telling you exactly what you need to hear. He’s not going to sugarcoat it. That’s what I liked about him.”
Nationally, Tomlin is known for his “Tomlinisms” and his ability to rally a team and keep a group together. McVay is known for his bright offensive mind and scary-good photographic memory. In many ways, the two have similar coaching arcs. Tomlin was the youngest NFL coach when he was first hired and became the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. McVay was the youngest coach ever hired in the modern era and broke Tomlin’s mark of being the youngest Super Bowl winning coach when he won his at age 36. The two were college wide receivers whose first NFL jobs came in Tampa Bay. And over the years, McVay has spoken highly of Tomlin, praising him last year.
“Mike is one of the more impressive people I’ve ever met,” McVay said in February 2022. “He’s been great to me…One of the things that’s been great about Mike is he’s so willing to share, really put his arm around you and be a mentor and answer any questions that you have. His leadership, his command, his mental toughness, how that relates to the way that his teams play, the way they respond from the good and the bad, I think he’s one of the best leaders that this sport has to offer. Really, sports in general”.
In Week Seven, the two coaches will meet on the football field for the first time since 2019 when the Steelers beat the Rams 17-12. It was an ugly and defensive game, Pittsburgh had lost QB Ben Roethlisberger for the season. A Minkah Fitzpatrick scoop-and-score touchdown along with holding WR Cooper Kupp to zero catches (a fact Tomlin was even surprised by postgame) was the key to Pittsburgh coming out on top. The Steelers figure to have a similar mission this time around.
