When you have as much experience as Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin does, it gives the players a level of trust that isn't awarded to other coaches. That faith the team has in their leader has allowed him to push them in unique ways.
After losing a tight AFC North battle with the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14 and with Tomlin's no-losing season record in jeopardy, the team needed a spark going into Week 16. Knowing a physical contest with the season on the line was coming on New Year's Day, the Steelers had practice in full pads the Friday before game day. Tight end Pat Freiermuth knew it wasn't going to be pleasant but also knew his bench boss had a rationale behind it.
"It's not fun going out with pads on a Friday, but it was for a reason," Freiermuth said via Teresa Varley of Steelers.com. "Most coaches wouldn't be able to do that because they don't have the trust in the locker room that one would want from a coach and a player aspect. But everyone in the locker room believes in his ways and believes in the coach he is. And there's always a reason behind it. Credit to him for having the trust in the locker room and the players to be able to pull something off like that."
The hard work paid dividends. The Steelers ran over the Ravens registering 198 rushing yards and Kenny Pickett found Najee Harris for a ten-yard score with under a minute to go to secure a 16-13 win.
"It was very calculated that he wanted to do that," Freiermuth said. "Obviously, he was thinking about it for a couple of weeks, and it paid off. Credit to Coach T for pulling it off."
Steelers Second Half Surge Was A Product Of Tomlin
The theme of the team's season was battling back, whether that was 2021 AP Defensive Player of The Year TJ Watt working diligently to ensure his return in 2022 after suffering a pectoral injury in Week 1, or simply fighting to not hand Tomlin his first-ever season below .500.
"It was all about resiliency," Watt said. "I think that was the hot word we said and it's a credit to Coach Tomlin for being as steady as he was through all the ups and downs. No one blinked as he likes to say. The last week of the season in the meetings, he's literally saying the exact same things he said all year long. He's just a great leader of men and a guy that you want to play for. When he walks in the room, he commands the attention of everybody. And it's just a credit to him."
At the heart of that resiliency was a belief from the head coach that his team could fight through the adversity and emerge as a team that would stay in the mix for a playoff spot until the very end. Tackle Dan Moore Jr remembers feelings of hopelessness at the bye week with the team record sitting at 2-6 and the post-season being the farthest thing from their minds.
"He was giving us motivation every single day to show up, keep fighting, keep encouraging us to keep doing what we're doing and even do more," Moore Jr said. "That's really hard when it kind of feels like you're not playing for anything at that point. We started stacking Ws on the schedule and chips started to fall in our direction. Before we knew it, we were in the playoff picture."
Tomlin's role as a motivational players coach will be pivotal if the Steelers are going to be getting to the postseason in 2023 and his ability to keep fielding competitive teams even in tough situations just proves how lucky Pittsburgh has been to have him for all these years.
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