Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers executive and Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley did not hold back on Mike Tomlin after Sunday night’s embarrassing 35-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium.
Whaley believes Tomlin has lost the locker room. He thinks players are tuning out his message.
“Teams take characteristics of their head coaches, and if you listen to Tomlin, he’s a great orator. He’s got great one-liners,” Whaley said on WPXI’s Black & Gold postgame show. “When you look at this team on paper, you have a Hall of Fame quarterback. You have two Hall of Famers on the defensive line [and] a possible Hall of Famer in Jalen Ramsey. You’ve got some young talent, but guess what you don’t have? Substance, just like Mike Tomlin’s press conferences.
“When you start thinking about it that way and you start hearing buy-in… My question is, ‘Are those guys in the locker room buying into what the coaching staff is putting out there and trying to have them pick up?'”
The Steelers have allowed 30+ points in four of their seven games this season. That hasn’t occurred for the Steelers since 2003.
The defense doesn’t seem to have an answer, either. They just keep on repeating the same things when asked about the issues.
“They’re talking about the same issues over and over,” Whaley said. “It’s that clip from Brian Kelly, who just got fired. ‘We’re up here talking about the same thing over and over.’ After awhile there’s a saying: You’re either coaching it or allowing it. And they have to be doing both because nothing has changed.”
The Steelers will not fire Tomlin, but parting ways with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin should be on the table. That’s how bad it’s been.
Pittsburgh added some very intriguing players to the group this offseason. Most notable veteran cornerback Darius Slay in free agency and All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey via a trade with the Miami Dolphins.
Slay certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations. Ramsey has been solid at times, but he’s not the same player that he used to be.
Outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive tackle Cam Heyward are also not living up to their enormous contracts. The same can be said for linebacker Patrick Queen.
The defense is also not getting takeaways. They’ve been shut out in that department in three straight games. They haven’t had a sack in two straight games, either.
Tomlin said the team’s issues in the secondary include both players not executing and coaches needing to put players in better positions.
“We all have to own it. Certainly you start with the schematics man because that’s the leadership component of it and certainly we’ll be looking at everything that we’re doing,” Tomlin explained.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Former Steelers Executive Calls Out Mike Tomlin
