Welcome to Paul Zeise’s weekly mailbag, where the Post-Gazette columnist and 93.7 The Fan radio host answers your questions about sports, life and everything in between. You can also chat about all sports on Thursdays with Paul. If you want to ask a question, tweet him @PaulZeise or email him at pzeise@post-gazette.com.
Let’s get started:
Steve L.: You called Mike Tomlin a “great” coach in your article. What makes him great? Why do people just assume because he won a Super Bowl he is great? If he hadn’t inherited great players and a great coaching staff he would not have had that early success. Stop calling him great. Do you really think he is great?
Zeise: He is 155-88-2. He was one of the fastest coaches to 100 wins in NFL history. He has won almost 64 percent of his games, and he does have a Super Bowl win and a second AFC title (lost in the Super Bowl). He has seven division titles and 10 playoff appearances in 15 years. Please don’t lose sight of his overall resume, which, by any measure, is the resume of a great coach. Now, I don’t think he has done a great job of building this roster or coaching in the playoffs the last few trips, but that doesn’t mean his overall resume isn’t that of a great coach.
Kevin: I disagree with you looking at the draft picks as why Mike Tomlin is unsuccessful right now. Do you realize he had no plays to slow the defense down to protect the quarterback? What adjustments did he make? Bill Cowher made adjustments, Tomlin has no clue. Do you agree with me that play calling has been horrible? If you do, that means the head coach can’t coach! He needs certain players to hold him up, like Big Ben.
Zeise: I love the Monday Morning Quarterback Guy who swears they know what “adjustments” are being made and aren’t being made. There is no adjustment to be made when you can’t block or tackle. And if you listened to the Manning brothers’ broadcast last year, the one game they talked about how the whole “halftime adjustment” stuff is way overrated; there isn’t enough time to make meaningful adjustments. Tomlin’s problem is he doesn’t have enough good players.
Brian: Why haven’t you called for Mike Tomlin to be fired? Why do you and all your media colleagues go out of your way to protect him? It is time for a change.
Zeise: I don’t believe it is my job to “call for guys to get fired.” I also don’t believe he should be fired. It is a rebuilding year, and he has earned the right to try to see the rebuilding job through. If, two years from now, we are still talking about a terrible team that looks lost, well, that’s a different story.
Jason M.: If the Steelers fired Matt Canada and Teryl Austin tomorrow, would either get a job as a coordinator in the NFL again? Tomlin’s problem these days is his coaching staff.
Zeise: Austin probably would because he is well respected around the NFL. He has been offered other defensive coordinator jobs and has actually held them in the past. He would at the very least get another secondary job or some other defensive assistant job. Canada, at this point, would struggle to get another college job, much less an NFL job. It just isn’t happening. Nobody else would hire him because he isn’t a good NFL coordinator.
Joey: Wasn't Brian Flores supposed to be some kind of defensive guru? Where is his impact on this Steelers team? The linebackers group he is responsible for has been horrid.
Zeise: That’s probably not fair, but then again, he was praised for making all these instant updates to the defense, so he needs to be a part of the group taking criticism. The other thing is he is the linebackers coach, and the linebackers have not played well. His job should be judged by how well Devin Bush develops and plays this year, and so far, that has been a disaster.
Marty: Why do people think Mike Tomlin should be fired? He is having one bad year. If you are one of those people calling for him to be fired, please tell me what great coach is out there that will do a better job.
Zeise: He has not won a playoff game in five years. That hasn’t happened since Chuck Noll was hired, literally, and I mean five years without a playoff win, soon to be six. You could argue he has underachieved the last seven or eight years and wasted the end of Roethlisberger’s career. These are valid and not reactionary concerns. I do not think Tomlin should be fired but here is the thing: “How can you replace him?” is not a valid reason to keep a coach in place. There are literally hundreds of coaches out there, and many of them are competent enough to do a good job, so firing a coach doesn’t mean you can’t hire a really good one.
Engstock: As everyone agrees you need a really good quarterback to do well in the NFL, assume the Steelers have one — Josh Allen, Pat Mahomes, Ben Rothlisberger from his prime — but are otherwise exactly the same as now. How do you think this season would have gone until now?
Zeise: I think they would be, like, 2-2, maybe even 3-1. Their biggest issue is they can’t score. Obviously, it all fell apart on defense, as well, but if the Steelers had a top-of-the-line quarterback, it would overcome some of their deficiencies, which is what Roethlisberger did quite often.
Tyler: Do you think it's a big red flag for the future of the Pirates that they've had so many DFA claims off the discard pile in Ben Cherington's third year as general manager?
Zeise: It is. They are just backfilling a roster and trying to finish the season. And they are trying to preserve service time clocks of some of their prospects. So, it is an alarm only in that there should be more prospects ready to play than there are. But the bottom line is they were in the midst of a lost season and just trying to fill their roster with any warm body. It isn’t that uncommon for bad teams to go that route.
Drew: Do you think it's stupid the MLB playoffs and the World Series are now played into November, or do you not mind?
Zeise: Yes, I do and I will tell you why: Over the weekend, everyone is focused on football. So, MLB either has to play at odd times or go against football, and that isn’t good for baseball. They need to cut down on regular season games or start the season a month earlier and have the northern teams use their spring training sites for that first month.
Amy: I know you are a big Florida State fan, and this is a big game this weekend for them. As you know, I am a huge Clemson and ACC fan. FSU was 4-0 and now they have lost two in a row. What happened to them? And I am just wondering: Do you want to make a friendly wager with me on this game?
Zeise: Ha, ha. They were 4-0 by the skin of their teeth. They couldn’t stop Wake Forest and kept shooting themselves in the foot on offense in that loss. Then they outsmarted themselves and instead of kicking a game-winning field goal against N.C. State, they threw an interception in the end zone. Totally terrible coaching and game management. And I will only engage in a friendly bet if losing is beneficial to me!
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter: @paulzeise
First Published: October 12, 2022, 6:28 p.m.
