Steelers Now
A former NFL quarterback did not hold back on his opinion about new Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarhty.
New Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has a lot of pressure on him with the tall task of filling the shoes of Mike Tomlin. But former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon thinks the Steelers got themselves a true difference maker in their locker room.
“I really feel, looking back, like I wasted my first seven years in the league. I’m not going to criticize other coaches, but if I had someone like Mike in the first half of my career, it would have been a lot different,” Gannon told Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He just made me a better player. Mike just took it to another level. I was almost 30 years old before I learned how to prepare for a week of football. I had blinders on for the first seven years. I wasn’t exposed to that type of preparation. I owe a lot to him. The attention to detail was like nothing I had ever seen. He’s head and shoulders above everyone else.”
McCarthy has been a proven winner throughout his NFL coaching career with a 174-112-2 career record and .608 winning percentage.
He also helped lead the Green Bay Packers to defeat Tomlin’s Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
That is likely why the Steelers decided to break their mold with McCarthy, who now becomes the team’s first head coach with an offensive background since Bill Austin, who coached from 1966-68.
McCarthy still has much to prove in Pittsburgh, especially with a pair of developmental quarterbacks in Will Howard and Drew Allar.
However, if McCarthy can do what he did for Gannon and many other successful quarterbacks for Howard and/or Allar, he will be worth every penny for the Steelers.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Former NFL MVP Credits Mike McCarthy for Saving His Career
