Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison has been very critical of the Steelers as of late with the team struggling. Last week, he blasted the Steelers’ coaches for garbage schemes.
During his most recent podcast episode with former Steelers cornerback Joe Haden, Harrison gave a brutally honest opinion on his former head coach Mike Tomlin.
“I have never been a person that thought Coach Tomlin was a great coach,” Harrison told Haden. “I thought he was a good. I’ll be honest, part of that is because, when I was slated to be the starter when Joey [Porter] left, he drafted, one and two, outside linebackers. Right now, we have coaches on this staff.
“When I say coaches, I’m saying this as, a coach is someone that tells you what to do and it doesn’t matter if what they’re telling you to do is right or wrong. A good coach gets you to play to your potential. And right now, the players we have on that team, I have seen play, they’re not playing up to their potential. A great coach gets you to play to your potential.”
The Steelers are certainly underperforming, especially on defense. Several players are not living up to their hefty contracts.
This is not the first time that Harrison has been critical of Tomlin. He’s stated on several occasions that he did not like how Tomlin wasn’t upfront with him late in his career. Harrison ended his career with the New England Patriots in 2017 after basically forcing his way off the roster. The Steelers finally had enough and released the franchise legend.
Harrison also called out Tomlin this past June for being too much of a players’ coach.
“With Mike, the biggest thing I guess that I like about him is he is a player’s coach,” Harrison said on the Nightcap podcast with T. J. Houshmandzadeh. “And the thing that I dislike about him is he is a players’ coach to a point of, sometimes it can disrupt because it goes maybe a little too far with allowing certain things with certain players. And then it becomes an issue with that player.”
Steelers fans chanted “Fire Tomlin” at Acrisure Stadium during the third quarter of Sunday’s embarrassing 26-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. There’s never been an audible “Fire Tomlin” chant like on Sunday. The fanbase is fed up, and so is Harrison.
“Something has to be done,” Harrison said. “I know the Steelers historically don’t move on from coaches, but I think it’s time that history be made.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Legend James Harrison Gives Brutally Honest Opinion on Mike Tomlin
