Beanie Bishop’s gone out and made the plays. He’s shown the mental toughness most rookie corners, much less undrafted ones, don’t display. And he credits what he’s doing on Sundays to how he spends his Fridays – sitting in the film room with Mike Tomlin.
“I watch film with Coach Tomlin on Friday mornings before we start meetings,” Bishop said via Yardbarker’s Aaron Becker. “Even early in the week when I get here, he sees me Monday or Tuesday, he’ll say, ‘Watch this, watch that.’ I kinda go see what he’s looking at. He gives me tips because obviously he’s been in the league a long time because he’s gone against different coordinators, different coaching style[s].”
Pittsburgh’s coaching staff is slanted toward the defensive backs, giving that group unique insight other teams might not provide. The Steelers’ head coach, defensive coordinator, and obviously the secondary coaches all have a DB background. Tomlin was a longtime secondary coach as was DC Teryl Austin. In just true secondary coach experience alone, they have 21 years combined experience, not to mention what they’ve done as defensive coordinators prior to coming to Pittsburgh.
Bishop pointed out the synergy opposing coordinators have had this season, too, noting the similar backgrounds of the offenses Pittsburgh has faced throughout the year.
He took his lumps early in the season, especially in the Steelers’ Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Bishop’s steadily improved since then, picking off his first two NFL passes in Sunday in a 37-15 win over the New York Jets. Based on the timeline, it sounds like it’s no coincidence. Bishop told reporters he started meeting with Tomlin two weeks ago, presumably after the loss against Dallas.
Immediately following the Jets win, Tomlin offered his own insight to those meetings.
“Meet with him every Friday morning as we lean in on situational ball,” he said postgame via the team’s YouTube channel. “He’s doing a lot of the little thing well, man. He’s on a good trajectory.”
Tomlin has taken a page out of the Bill Walsh playbook for his Friday “winning edge” meetings. Often with defensive veterans, he offers his insight and nuggets of information as last-second prep to get ready for the game.
“We have our separate meetings with the older guys,” former Steelers CB Patrick Peterson said last year. “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.”
Veterans are able to absorb those details better than rookies just trying to do their job. But Tomlin is giving those guys, like Bishop, extra attention to pick them up. It’s paying off.
