The Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled out of the gate, which is something fans haven’t been used to dealing with. Andrew Fillipponi of The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh has sensed a shift in the national perception of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
“For a long time for the national media, Mike Tomlin has been off-limits,” Fillipponi surmised. “There have been very, very, very faint criticisms of Tomlin even after things like the Jaguars playoff loss. The Browns playoff loss. Three playoff wins in the last 11 years. He generally has avoided the harshest criticism. That’s been reserved for Ben (Roethlisberger). Well now that Ben’s gone, there’s no more cover. Chris, we pegged this. We nailed this. This is how Tomlin wants this. He wants to be ‘The Man in the Arena’. He hoped it would go the other way. If they were 4-1, he’d be the Coach of the Year.”
“Right, but they’re not. They’re 1-4 and they suck,” co-host Chris Mueller replied. “They’re the odds-on favorite from ESPN to get the #1 pick in the NFL Draft.”
“And speaking of ESPN, they’ve been a long time propaganda place for Tomlin talk. Today, on their morning show with Mike Greenberg — I’m really digging this new insider they’ve brought on, Kimberly Martin. She goes on these shows — the thing I like about her is she’ll go on with Stephen A. and he’ll try to do the routine where he just raises his decibel level and tries to scream her down, and she just hits him with sass and cogent points.”
The show then played a clip of Martin laying the blame for the Steelers stumbles at the feet of Tomlin, before the pair said they appreciated her commentary.
