Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce respects the heck out of Mike Tomlin. Any coach would love to be in Tomlin’s shoes, 17 years and counting with ultimate job security. Since Tomlin took the job in 2007, the Raiders have had 10 different head coaches. So Pierce is borrowing Tomlin’s coaching philosophy in his own head coaching journey, hoping student surpasses teacher Sunday afternoon.
“There’s no hidden agenda,” Pierce said of the Steelers’ game plan during his weekly show on the Raiders’ YouTube channel. “You know the 3-4 defense is coming into town. You got the Terrible Towels. So what Mike Tomlin has done, when I played, he was coaching at that time as well. So it’s somebody that you respect. Because you knew you had to button up your chin strap. You had to put your pads on a little tighter. Everything had to be screwed up a little bit more because it was gonna be a blood bath.”
An NFL linebacker from 2001-2009, Pierce faced Tomlin’s Steelers in 2008. A year in which Pittsburgh had a historically good defense and went on to win the Super Bowl. Pierce’s New York Giants won the day, the infamous James Harrison long snap disaster, in a game that was physical and aggressive. Neither team did much on offense and both sides failed to run the ball well, the Giants held to 2.4 yards per carry. The Giants nearly saw the Steelers again in a Super Bowl, a matchup some of Pierce’s former teammates believe they would’ve won.
“And then you just hear things throughout the week and doing your notes. Man, they practice on Friday with pads, they’re setting a tone. That’s different. It’s just different ways. He’s one of the other coaches too that, has live scrimmages, full-on tackling with his team in training camp. And there was a lot of things that I heard and I’ve watched from afar and, and we brought here and implemented with us at the Raiders. So ultimate respect.”
Teams only get limited amounts of in-season padded practices. While the team doesn’t seem to be working in pads on Fridays this year, though it’s happened in the past, the team spent Wednesdays in pads the first few weeks of the season. As Pierce noted, the Steelers have among the league’s most physical practices and are one of the few teams who hold live-tackling sessions, going to the ground instead of thud or wrap-up periods.
Thought to be too much of an injury risk, the Steelers often come out more unscathed than other teams. Still, it remains to be seen how it helps their start of the season. Last year, they were blown out by the San Francisco 49ers. This year, they looked far less rusty than the Atlanta Falcons.
Listening to Pierce throughout the week, it’s clear he does his homework on the opposition. He might not be listening to every Tomlin quote, but there’s certainly someone on his staff who collects media intel, a common practice around the league. Now, he’ll get a chance to beat Tomlin like he did in 2008. Only this time, as a coach.
