Tomlin Tuesday(Sept. 5): Week 1 vs. the 49ers
It’s the regular season!!!!!
Coach Mike Tomlin held his first ‘Tomlin Tuesday’ Press Conference of the year yesterday to highlight some of the things he’s looking for in our first regular season game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, September 10th.
Right out of the gate, Mike Tomlin gave kudos to the guys that were voted on by the team as our captains for the 2023 season. Kenny Pickett was voted as team captain for the first time in his young career, a feat that didn’t happen for former Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger until his fifth year in the league. Mike Tomlin alluded to not only Kenny’s growth on the football field, but his growth as a vocal leader and a guy that’s ready to take on the role of offensive captain. More impressive to me, is that so early on in his career, the guys on this team are buying what Kenny is selling, since this is something voted on by the players. I’m so excited to watch him take this second year leap. I’d take a bullet for KP8, or as Mike Tomlin would call him, “Kenny. Fuckin. Pickett.”
Rounding out the rest of our team captains is Cameron Heyward (no surprises here), TJ Watt (no surprises here), and Miles Killebrew. In his press conference, Coach Tomlin mentioned the number of guys that we lost this offseason from special teams like Derek Watt, Robert Spillane, and Marcus Allen. Those guys were stat sheet fillers for us on special teams last year, and when speaking about the importance of Miles Killebrew in that phase of the game, Mike Tomlin called him “probably the most central returning figure.”
After that, Coach Tomlin moved on to the San Francisco 49ers and jumped straight into their offense. Any guess which player he started with?
He said: “I think it just starts with Christian McCaffrey, man. We just gotta respect the dynamic playmaking ability he has in the running game and in the passing game.” It should come as a shock to no one that Mike Tomlin wants to focus on him right out of the gate on Sunday. That dude is a game annihilator. Also, with their QB Brock Purdy being so young, and coming off elbow surgery, the Niners are likely going to be looking to lean heavily on the run in this game. If we let RB Christian McCaffrey get going early, it’s going to be a nightmare for our defense. The Niners scheme the run so well, and he’s just a perfect fit for that.
Coach pointed out that prior to adding Christian McCaffrey in 2022, the 49ers averaged about 20 points per game. After his addition, that jumped all the way up to 30 ppg. Between him, George Kittle, and Deebo Samuel, our guys on defense need to be making routine tackles and not letting these three guys get into open space.
When speaking about their defense, he started off by speaking about their “multiple, versatile, attacking four man front.” He continued: “...Armstead, Hargrave inside, Bosa on the perimeter. Yes, we are preparing for Bosa. It’s prudent for us to assume that he’s going to be there and prepare in that vein, as opposed to be surprised. We were in a similar circumstance with a dynamic rusher a couple of years ago in TJ. We got a deal done at the 11th hour; he showed up in the stadium and he was TJ Watt that day.”
This, of course, was alluding to the Nick Bosa holdout as he awaits a much-deserved contract extension. It’s looking more and more like the reigning Defensive Player of the Year will not be with the team on Sunday in Pittsburgh, so Coach Tomlin likely wanted to nip that in the bud before he was bombarded with questions about it. So, the team is preparing as if he will be there, even though all signs point to the contrary. Either way, this 49ers defense is probably the best defense in football, and it will be an extremely challenging afternoon for the Steelers’ new, revamped offensive line that hasn’t played many snaps together at this point.
My favorite part of the press conference came toward the end, when Mike Tomlin accidentally recreated one of his most recognizable memes of his career. He was asked: “Coach, outside of the facility in your conversations with family, friends…casual conversations about football, what are they feeding you in terms of what they’re most excited about with this team?”
His response: “They know better than to feed me anything, because I do not care.”
Love that man to death. Steelers football is four days away folks.
Here. We. Go.
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