Steelers work to maintain playoff hopes, Mike Tomlin’s streak alive
PITTSBURGH — Montravius Adams paused as he thought of the query.
How did Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin change the trajectory of the nostril sort out’s profession?
“I actually do not need to say this, but when I am being 100% sincere, I might presumably be house with my household,” Adams instructed ESPN lately. “What he did for me mentally was nice. Like, cannot even be defined. He’s certainly one of them dudes you’ll run by way of a wall for, most positively.”
Adams, a former Green Bay Packers third-round draft choose, was on the New Orleans Saints follow squad in November 2021 when the Steelers referred to as to signal him to their lively roster. He spent all season bouncing between the Saints’ lively roster and follow squad after being launched by the Patriots throughout coaching camp.
Adams first met Tomlin when he got here out for the NFL draft in 2017. When Adams’ rookie contract in Inexperienced Bay was up, the Steelers supplied him a deal. As an alternative, Adams went to the Patriots, solely to be reduce a few months later. However Tomlin saved tabs on Adams, and when attrition hit the Steelers’ line of defense late final season, Tomlin considered him.
“He gave me a possibility to come back in as a nostril, begin, play,” Adams stated. “He simply gave me confidence that I did not have on the time.
“Generally it’s not speaking; it might simply be a gesture, only a look that we each can perceive. And simply the way in which he treats us.”
Adams is way from the one Steelers participant who appreciates Tomlin’s strategy. From gamers who have been drafted into the group to others who signed after stops across the league, Tomlin’s transparency and consistency proceed to endear him to the locker room and are main elements within the workforce’s probabilities — although slim — to make the playoffs after a 2-6 begin.
“He at all times simply challenges us,” offensive lineman Kevin Dotson stated. “He at all times offers us one thing to have a look at or sit up for, simply individually challenges you — like he calls your title particularly. ‘I wanna see you this week. I wanna see you go exhausting this week. I am gonna be watching you.’ They are saying he is a gamers’ coach. You need to show him proper. You need to make him proud.”
With two video games left within the common season and a 7-8 report, the Steelers enter Sunday evening’s pivotal rematch with the Baltimore Ravens (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) enjoying to maintain their postseason hopes alive. They’re additionally making an attempt to maintain Tomlin’s historic 15-season streak of by no means ending under .500 intact. Whereas Tomlin downplays the private accomplishment, it’s one thing many within the locker room are conscious of and provides to the motivation over the ultimate two weeks of the season.
“I did not hear about it ’til the top of final yr,” cornerback Arthur Maulet stated. “It places good strain on us. It helps us compete. Clearly, we want these two subsequent video games to maintain it going. … I have been speaking to a few guys about it, and we’re simply making an attempt to take possession and hold that report going.
“We do not wanna be the primary workforce [to finish below .500].”
Although they may very well be eradicated from the playoffs earlier than Sunday evening’s kickoff if the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, the Steelers can nonetheless keep away from Tomlin’s first shedding season with both two wins or a win and a tie.
A lifelong Steelers fan earlier than he was drafted, Dotson knew about Tomlin’s streak earlier than he arrived in Pittsburgh as a fourth-round choose in 2020.
“As a younger child, you actually do not take into consideration wins and losses that a lot,” Dotson stated. “You’re simply interested by the fellows within the uniforms and stuff like that.
“The older you get, you begin realizing why you selected the workforce. You’re at all times like, wait, we’re type of profitable, regardless. So that you’re gonna discover that kind of factor.”
Since he acquired to Pittsburgh, Dotson has grown to understand the importance of the streak much more.
“They’re enjoying as exhausting as they have been as a result of they have been enjoying for him and enjoying for the workforce and the tradition that he created round it,” Dotson stated. “It’s simply been a giant factor for us.”
A few days earlier than a sport earlier this season, Tomlin sat on the small folding desk used for card video games within the Steelers’ locker room.
A handful of gamers surrounded him, speaking and slicing up with their head coach. The locker room is the gamers’ sanctuary, however in Pittsburgh, it’s a spot the place the pinnacle coach is welcomed.
It’s one thing of a rarity to see an NFL head coach so comfy in a locker room. Some coaches make fast rounds to examine in on accidents, some go by way of on the way in which to a workforce assembly, whereas others keep away from the locker room altogether in an effort to protect a players-only protected area.
Tomlin, although, is as a lot a part of the material of the locker room because the gamers with their names engraved above particular person stalls.
He’s a no-nonsense coach, however in spending time along with his gamers, he has constructed up a mutual stage of respect that retains them motivated and enjoying — and in some way nearly at all times has them within the December playoff dialog, even when it as soon as appeared unbelievable.
“It’s his management and the way clear he’s,” heart Mason Cole stated, explaining what makes Tomin completely different from different coaches. “On this league, communication is not at all times the most effective. I believe there’s a variety of stuff that goes on behind closed doorways that does not get communicated to gamers, however I believe Coach Tomlin does a extremely good job of simply being open. … You at all times know the place you are gonna stand with him … and at all times gonna know the way he feels by your play and the way you might be as an individual.
“There’s simply no bulls— about it.”
