Midway through his 17th season at the helm of the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin is doing some impressive work yet again with the Black and Gold, sitting at 5-3 on the season despite being outgained in every game this season.
Time and time again recently, Tomlin has done more with less, so it remains rather surprising that for a coach with his stature and resume, he doesn’t have an NFL Coach of the Year award to his name.
For ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, that changes this season.
In a piece predicting NFL awards through Week Nine of the 2023 season, Barnwell has Tomlin as the clear-cut No. 1 pick ahead of names like Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Detroit’s Dan Campbell and Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni. Barnwell stated that he likes to base his decisions for awards based on rationality, but he stated that he doesn’t see rationality with the Steelers and how they’re having so much success despite poor numbers.
For the longtime ESPN NFL analyst, that uncertainty and lack of rationality points to one man and one man only: Tomlin.
“At this point, Tomlin feels inevitable as a coach who will bend the football universe to his whims and coax a successful season out of a flawed football team. These Steelers aren’t like the old ones, as they’ve gone from being a team full of drafted-and-developed talent to one of the teams with the least homegrown talent in football, but we still see some of those draftees shine every year,” Barnwell writes regarding his selection of Tomlin as the NFL’s Coach of the Year through Week Nine, according to ESPN.com. “First-round pick Broderick Jones has been in and out of the lineup, but second-round defenders Joey Porter Jr. and Keeanu Benton look like stars. Pittsburgh has managed to overcome going without Diontae Johnson, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Heyward for stretches.
“Tomlin has never won Coach of the Year and hasn’t even appeared in the top five in voting at any point during his career, which seems bizarre. These awards shouldn’t substitute as lifetime achievement awards or be makeup calls for mistakes from years past, but I don’t see many people doing more with less than he is doing with his roster.”
The fact that the Steelers sit at 5-3 despite an offense that is among the league’s worst, dealing with key injuries on both sides of the football and playing ugly football week after week before pulling games out late is a testament to Tomlin’s abilities as a coach. His players give him credit often for having them prepared for big moments late in close games, and to the players’ credit, they don’t blink.
That’s because of a belief in Tomlin and what he continues to preach. It’s not pretty, that’s for sure. But it’s a winning formula for the Steelers right now, even if it seems largely unsustainable.
Shooting for a 9-8 record should never be the goal, and it’s very unlikely that a just winning season is the Steelers’ goal at this point, but it’s a young team that is continuing to develop on the fly. To their credit, they are doing that developing and learning while winning, which is very hard to do in the NFL.
If it continues, Tomlin has to be a shoo-in for the Coach of the Year award.
While Barnwell gives Tomlin love in the Coach-of-the-Year race, he’s lower on star outside linebacker T.J. Watt than others, listening Watt as the No. 3 choice in the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award race behind Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby.
“As difficult as it has been to pin down a winning formula for the Steelers, one constant generally has been a big game from Watt, whose presence seems to be a prerequisite if they want to win. Since the start of 2022, Pittsburgh is 13-5 with Watt and 1-6 without him. If the Steelers can keep it close, he usually finds a way to get them over the hump,” Barnwell writes regarding Watt in the DPOY race for ESPN.com. “Back in an every-down role after tearing his pec last season, Watt has 9.5 sacks and 18 knockdowns in nine games. His big plays have been essential for Pittsburgh in the division.
“I tend to lean toward the most productive player in parsing out value for these awards. If I was were picking the most essential player on any defense around the NFL if the team wants to play at a high level this season, Watt would be a viable choice.”
If Barnwell is actually leaning towards the most productive player, it’s hard to not see Watt being that choice.
He is tied with Garrett in sacks at 9.5 on the season, has more interceptions, passes defensed and fumble recoveries than Garrett. He also has more pressures and hurries than Garrett. Crosby has more pressures and hurries than Watt, and is tied in sacks with 9.5, but he doesn’t have the forced fumbles, fumble recoveries or interception numbers that Watt has.
Watt is a complete defender, one who drops into coverage, makes plays on the football and is an elite-level pass rusher. Garrett and Crosby can’t do what Watt can do, period.
Garrett gets a lot of hype for the athletic feats he achieves, like leaping over the offensive line to block a field goal against the Colts or mimicking a crossover before the snap as pass rusher early in the season. But the numbers and usage don’t really match up with Watt right now.
It’ll be a tight race down the stretch, which will come down to production without a doubt. Garrett and Crosby will have to do just a bit more than Watt because Watt does it all.
