Players stand up for Tomlin
PITTSBURGH — As the Pittsburgh Steelers filed elatedly into their locker room following a dramatic 31-27 AFC North Division-clinching win over their rival Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night, one of their more exuberant linebackers spotted a rolling camera, put his face in the lens and began shouting:
“Our coach ain’t great, WHAT?!”
“Our coach ain’t great, WHAT?!
In light of Terry Bradshaw’s recent criticism of Mike Tomlin, that “He’s really a great cheerleader guy. … I don’t think he’s a great coach at all,” Vince Williams sounded as if the Steelers had just won one for their Gipper.
But the outburst didn’t have much of an echo.
“I didn’t see it, but I heard about it,” said Le’Veon Bell. “So for me it wasn’t a rallying cry. My mindset was to go out here and get the win regardless.
“I didn’t care what people were saying, but for him, for Coach T, obviously we want to win for that man. I love him to death. To me, he’s a great coach. He puts us in the right situations. He’s real savvy. He thinks a lot like me, and obviously I’m excited about the win.”
“No offense to Terry,” said Ben Roethlisberger. “I think he is one of the greatest of all time. I consider him Steeler family. But this is the real family, the tight-knit family that we have in here in this locker room. And when people talk, it’s dust in the wind, if you will.
“I laughed at it because, well, it was what it was. But we can’t dwell on it. Some people may have taken it to heart and said, ‘Hey we’re going to play for him because of what was said.’ I think I’ve been in this long enough and heard enough stuff that for me it wasn’t as big of a deal.”
Of course, had Roethlisberger been on social media instead of putting together another of his legendary comeback wins, he might’ve wondered if his legacy was on the line.
After throwing ugly interceptions on his first and last plays of the third quarter, Roethlisberger and the Steelers were trailing the Ravens 20-10 when they regained possession early in the fourth quarter.
Roethlisberger then drove the Steelers 75 yards in six plays and Bell capped the scoring drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 20-17.
After a three-and-out, Roethlisberger drove the Steelers 90 yards in six plays with Bell scoring on a 7-yard pass for a 24-20 lead.
The Ravens regained the lead on fullback Kyle Juszczyk’s 10-yard run, and with 1:18 left at his own 25, and trailing by 27-24, Roethlisberger stepped behind center with a chance to do something he did far more often in his younger days than he has recently.
And he made everyone remember why he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback by completing all eight passes that he tried to complete (two spikes involved), with the grand finale a 4-yard pass to Antonio Brown.
When Brown stretched the ball over the plane of the end zone with nine seconds left, the comeback was complete. And so was Roethlisberger’s legendary fourth-quarter performance.
If Roethlisberger didn’t have his coach’s legacy on his mind, was he thinking about his own? Or his entire organization’s?
“We were out there playing for everything,” Roethlisberger said with a laugh. “Honestly, losing to them how many games in a row, or X out of the last however many, we just wanted to go out there against a good football team, in a game we’re supposed to win, and win. So we were playing for a little bit of everything, truthfully.”
And now they have a chance to play for the hardware. The Steelers not only clinched the AFC North with the win, they clinched the third seed in the playoffs.
“It’s just a start on what we’re capable of,” said Ramon Foster. “Guys have to be steadfast and right-minded in what we’re doing. It can’t be anybody for themselves. And if you look on the film, everybody was doing their job: AB was blocking, receivers were doing their thing, running backs were picking up blitzes. That’s what we have to do as a team. It’s the start of something good. We’ll deal with everything else after it’s over.”
And the comment about Mike Tomlin?
“He can coach,” Foster said while shaking his head. “Look, nobody’s ever talked bad about Mr. Bradshaw. Nobody’s ever mentioned him in a bad light. I don’t know where that comes from. But we’ll see. I would love to hear his comments now.”