U mad, bro?: Too much praise for Mike Tomlin. Too much blame for Mike Tomlin. Bad NFL refs and ... popcorn balls

Praise for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Blame for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

Sports Journalism 101. Steelers roster construction. Bad NFL officiating.

And popcorn balls.

This week’s “U mad, bro?” has it all.

Let’s start with an important matter. In last week’s “U mad, bro?” I took a shot at popcorn balls as a Halloween treat. Harry was not appreciative of that.

“Were popcorn balls really that bad? I liked them as a kid. Candy corn and boxes of raisins were two of the worst items to get. Lots of toilet paper and soap were expended on those houses!”

Harry, you were not alone on this topic. I was met with a stunning amount of pushback for my popcorn ball disrespect.

As a kid, perhaps I was just getting cheap, dime-store, poorly processed popcorn balls instead of the fresh, homemade delicacies you and your many friends were given.

I will acquiesce and apologize to popcorn ball lovers far and near and echo your sentiments about raisins and candy corn.

Oh, and black licorice. My gawd, I hated black licorice. If I got one, single, kids-sized fun pack of Good N’ Plenty, I felt like it tainted my whole trick-or-treat bag.

In Tuesday’s “First Call,” I challenged some of the logic employed by national media members who were naming Mike Tomlin the NFL’s Coach Of The Year at the halfway point of the season.

Andrew sent me a lengthy email challenging my challenge. Here are the highlights.

“How many times in your profession have you been awarded for the tops in your industry? Curious on this.

I will agree that Tomlin is most influential for the feeble offense — part 1 of these statements. I’ll even give you the Canada hiring (likely). But you cannot blame him for Kenny, Najee selections nor the DJ extension.

In conclusion, while I appreciate your writing in some regards, how many Pulitzers or Grantland Rice awards have you won?”

In the name of transparency, Andrew, I have never won a Pulitzer or a Grantland Rice Award. To the best of my research, the original Grantland Rice Award is a scholarship given to an incoming journalism student at Vanderbilt University. I did not apply to Vanderbilt as a high school graduate in 1992. Hence, I was ineligible to win.

I did however win an Associated Press Sports Editors award once. And when I was a nine-year-old Cub Scout, my Pinewood Derby car won a bronze medal. I am equally proud of both accomplishments.

But, back to Tomlin, why can’t I make the head coach at least partially responsible — for better or worse — for the Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris draft selections? Or — for good or bad — the Diontae Johnson contract extension? Why are you trying to absolve him of responsibility on those fronts?

Do you honestly think those decisions were made against his will? Do you really think that Kevin Colbert — on the way out the door — said, “Mike, I’m drafting you this QB for at least the next four years whether you want him or not. Peace out, dawg!”

Do you really think Omar Khan said, “Mike, we are throwing all this money at Diontae whether you like it or not”?

Do you really think Colbert said to Tomin: “Mike, I don’t care what anyone says about taking running backs in the first round, you’re getting one”?

Please! No one was foisting those decisions on Tomlin. You are excuse-making on his behalf.

And if all those decisions end up being good ones in the long run, should he then get no credit for them, and should it all be given to Colbert and Khan?

My guess is you’ll change your tune at that point.

Related

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• First CAll: Ex-Steeler rips George Pickens; James Conner eyes return; Packers injury update
• Steelers WR George Pickens denies being frustrated with reduced targets

Brendan has more on that topic.

Do “coach of the year” awards generally include roster assembly? Seems like you’re imposing a different set of criteria than the article you cited

— Brendan Berkley (@TallBlondeGuy) November 7, 2023

In his original post, NFL.com’s Jeffri Chadiha wrote, “Nothing about the Steelers is threatening.”

That’s suggesting the team is poorly assembled and somehow being dragged to victory by Tomlin’s magic touch — even though he’s as much responsible for assembling the roster as Khan and Colbert are. Let alone lineup decisions, like incubating Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. for so long.

Anyways, wins don’t seem to be an unreasonable metric, and wins relative to expectation don’t seem terribly unreasonable either. And Tomlin has both in spades.

I’m not sure I’d have picked him but I do think it’s notable that people outside of our bubble are doing so

— Brendan Berkley (@TallBlondeGuy) November 7, 2023

Actually, I think they should take a closer look inside the bubble and try to figure out why 9-8 seems to be the ceiling in Pittsburgh and why there hasn’t been a playoff win in 12 of the last 16 years. Instead they just say, “Squawk!! Never had a losing season! Squawk!! Never had a losing season!”

I just wouldn’t fall into a trap where everything good or everything bad is because of the head coach, depending on whether or not you like him.

— Brendan Berkley (@TallBlondeGuy) November 7, 2023

I’d argue the national media is doing exactly that from the other side of the coin. Nothing bad is the coach’s fault, and everything good is always because of solely him.

Roger gets it. He doesn’t like the hyperbolic national praise for Tomlin either.

“Tomlin’s coaching style compares to a fireman setting fires so he can put out fires. Then get credit for saving a building that is now a weak and useless shell.”

Exactly, Roger. So much of the credit that is tossed at Tomlin’s feet tends to be the result of making mediocre results out of lousy early circumstances.

Examples such as bailing out a 2-6 start last year with a 7-2 finish. Or constantly overcoming first-half ineptitude with second-half rallies this year.

It would be similar to people applauding the captain of the Titanic for remembering where the life jackets were after hitting the iceberg.

On Thursday night, I was posting complaints on social media about T.J. Watt being held too often.

They have to hold him or he would kill the record

— BigTroubleLC (@th3storms) November 3, 2023

OK. But, I mean, he co-owns the record for sacks in a single season (22.5). So how does preventing him from resetting it accomplish anything?

Finally, in last week’s “U mad bro?” I had to remind a reader that it isn’t my job as a columnist to root, root, root for the home team.

Jay disagrees with my interpretation of my own job description.

“Any writer for Pittsburgh media not rooting for any or all three sports teams should not be writing at all for this media. As a writer for Pittsburgh, it’s your job to root for any or all of them. Be critical all you like — we can take it — but it is a farcical nonsense to criticize any or all when one doesn’t root for them.

So TribLIVE should boot you off this media altogether. No, not interested in a rebuttal or comment.”

Of course you aren’t interested in a response or a rebuttal, Jay, because obviously you think it’s my job to only tell you only what you want to hear.

However, it’s clear to me that you don’t understand the difference between the words “root for” and “follow.”

It is certainly not my job to “root for” the local teams or to cheerlead for the local teams. It’s my job to follow, cover and know about the local teams.

And, for the record, in my heart I do root for all the teams in Pittsburgh because that’s who I grew up rooting for. But it’s not a prerequisite for the job. Nor should I prioritize that emotion or agenda over my writing and opinion-making.

In fact, remember that Pinewood Derby car I mentioned? It was a painted Terrible Towel-colored gold with black highlights and a Franco Harris-inspired No. 32 on the spoiler.

Now that, Jay … that is fandom.