Hearing from Coach Mike Tomlin

 

Throughout the 2007 season, Coach Mike Tomlin will answer questions exclusively for Steelers Digest and Steelers.com. The following is one of those sessions. For the complete interview, pick up the latest issue of Steelers Digest.

 

Q. What do you like about this team?

 

A. They love to compete. They love to play football. And they don't care how their bodies feel, or what weather conditions they're in, what kind of mood they're in. When we roll the ball out there and they compete against one another, they love to compete. You watch guys after practice, and even as they're getting a little extra conditioning in, they're competing. That's one of the things that jumped out at me about this football team, and that's one of the things that's most exciting.

 

Q. Is that a unique quality?

 

A. It is when it's the vast majority of the guys. There's a unique camaraderie here from that standpoint. You don't get to compete at this level as an individual unless you're competitive. These guys have fun competing against one another on a daily basis. It's a close unit but at the same time they compete. I think that's what makes it a little bit unique.

 

Q. When did that quality become apparent to you?

 

A. Once we took the field. It doesn't necessarily show through in the off-season, during the off-season program. But once you take the field, once you got into your mini-camps and your OTAs, I saw it, but that also can be misleading because at that time of year it's the first exposure to ball for that year. Then as we got into training camp, and the "dog days of training camp" kicked in, it remained competitive. There are a lot of things that can be miserable about training camp, and it is, it's supposed to be, but these guys appreciated the moments of competition.

 

Q. Is the NFL a different league at the start of a season in terms of the kinds of games that are played then? Does the league change as the season goes on?

 

A. It changes, but invariably it's the same because the playing field is level. In September, everybody feels good physically and so it's a fast game. Maybe the quality of execution isn't there, in terms of penalties and things of that nature, but it's a very fast game. Naturally, the game slows down later in the year as the wear and tear accumulates on the bodies, but it's a more efficient game because people are playing with better technique and detail. Knowledge of your assignments is better at the end of the year. So it changes, but it changes for everyone, so essentially it's the same.

 

Q. Can you prepare your team accordingly for that type of game?

 

A. You do, but it's more about human nature. As people become familiar with assignments, they can perform them more efficiently. The only way they can do that is with muscle-memory, with repetition. With a lot of those things, practice and training camp cannot simulate. It's live bullets. A guy executing an assignment in week 15 has a better chance of doing it with greater detail than he does in week 1. That's just the reality of it.

 

Q. You have talked about being the guy "holding the pen" when it came to making out the training camp schedule. What's it like being that guy when making roster cuts?

 

A. On a personal note, it's not one of the better days that go with the job because you develop personal relationships with these men. It's professional, but you do. It's human nature. You spend a lot of time together, watch guys put a lot into it, so it's a sad thing in a lot of ways. But it's the reality of this business, as well. There's a part of you that has excitement about that day and that process, because you've identified the Pittsburgh Steelers for 2007.

 

Q. Do you believe in telling the guys who got cut yourself?

 

A. Absolutely. Everybody deserves an opportunity to sit down and look a man in the face and tell him the decisions that we need to make.

 

Q. As you are making up a roster, how do you balance the big picture, in terms of keeping guys who still need to develop, with the reality of winning now?

 

A. I don't think there is a cookie-cutter formula for that. You deal with that as you deal with it. You have to keep one eye on the here-and-now and also have the understanding of what people can potentially be. Those decisions are part of this business, but there is no cookie-cutter standard in the way you approach that. You approach it as you do everything else – on an individual basis.

 

Q. Do you build a team based on the competition you have to beat in your own division?

 

A. We like to keep the focus on what we can control: Us. We are aware of the issues, but we are more concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what's going to give us a chance to win, and what makes us the strongest football team we can be. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have an eye on the people we'll be competing against in our division. That's just the nature of this business.

 

Q. When the Steelers hired you, one of your ex-players said, "Those guys there better get used to honesty." Why do you think honesty is so important in how you do your job?

 

A. Because it eliminates a lot of potential problems that don't matter. If somebody wants to know where they stand, ask. And you move forward. You don't spend a lot of time talking about things that are irrelevant when there's brutal honesty. I appreciate that environment. We all have to be willing to lay our egos aside and understand what we're here for. That's to be the very best we can be and to pursue a championship. When you focus on those things, it's easy to be honest.