Once again, Colin Cowherd took a shot at defensive head coaches around the league, in particular Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, for poor offensive play and offensive line play. According to Cowherd, since Tomlin is a defensive coach, he couldn’t possibly know how offensive line play works.
“Some of this is on, not Kenny Pickett or Matt Canada, some of this is on Tomlin. The top six offensive lines in the NFL according to PFF, six-for-six offensive coaches. Of the top-nine, one through nine offensive lines in the NFL, no defensive head coaches. Steelers 29th, O-line, lousy again. That’s on Tomlin. These defensive coaches, it’s not a coincidence, don’t know offensive line play,” Cowherd said on The Herd today.
It’s a stupid argument. Tomlin’s built successful offensive lines before, and the offensive line struggles the last few years have nothing to do with Tomlin being an offensive or defensive coach. You could fault Tomlin for the drafting and development process, as the Steelers have failed to really develop an offensive lineman that’s better than serviceable since probably David DeCastro. You can blame Tomlin for not getting a dedicated run game coordinator on staff and leaving those duties in the hands of the offensive line coach, too, but it sure wasn’t an issue with Mike Munchak leading the offensive line room.
Blame Tomlin for not having his team prepared and ready to go, and blame Tomlin for his weak answers at his press conference yesterday. So yes, some of this is on Tomlin. But using PFF’s offensive line rankings as the basis for arguing that Tomlin can’t build a successful offensive line is pretty dumb.
Cowherd did mention that Tomlin struggled during his presser yesterday.
“This is on the coach. You could even see Tomlin, who’s great at the podium, struggling here to come up with an excuse.”
It was one of Tomlin’s worst press conferences, coming up with weak excuses and not following through with any meaningful change after promising change after Pittsburgh’s 30-6 loss on Sunday. Adding padded practices is a change, but it’s not really the significant type of change that the fan base has been hoping for.
So Cowherd’s point that Tomlin is to blame for some of Pittsburgh’s failures is completely valid and I agree with it. But zeroing in on the offensive line play as a reason why isn’t the example I would use.
The Steelers have looked completely outmatched in far too many games dating back to last season. That’s on the coaches for not getting the guys adequately prepared and ready to go. If they aren’t ready to go this weekend, they’ll get blown out again. That’s what Cowherd should be using to poke holes in Tomlin’s resume. The lack of preparation and uneven number of blowouts this Steelers team has faced. Let’s hope that’s the biggest change that occurs going forward, and the Steelers actually can be a competitive team.
