In the aftermath of a certain team's latest loss, there were people clamoring for the head coach's job. After all, he'd allowed the offensive coordinator to make some questionable calls -- including having the quarterback go out for a pass in the biggest game of the season. And he and the defensive coordinator had benched one of the team's top defensive players because he didn't fit into the game plan.
Oh, and a player he had allowed to walk away because he was no longer wanted was ripping though that defense without one of its top defensive players for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Yep, fire the coach. You know the one.
No, we're not referring to Mike Tomlin here. This is about Bill Belichick.
Some callers to Boston talk shows this week have been doing the clamoring for Belichick's head for the above reasons. He allowed offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to draw up a game plan that included multiple end-arounds and a third-down pass to Tom Brady. Never mind the fact the pass clanged off Brady's hands. Brady should be throwing the ball, not catching it. And Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia decided to bench corner Malcolm Butler -- if their explanations are to be believed -- because he didn't fit into the game plan, despite the fact he had played 98 percent of the team's snaps during the season. And that was the Patriots' two-time castoff, LeGarrette Blount, running through his defense for the Eagles.
There are many other reasons, to be sure. And, if the competing stories regarding Butler and his pre-Super Bowl behavior are to be believed, Belichick had an issue with his cornerback acting out ahead of the team's biggest game.
Which brings us to Tomlin. Art Rooney II said Wednesday he's aware of some of the criticisms of Tomlin following the Steelers' season. Many are also being heard in Boston.
“It’s always easy for people to say, ‘Get rid of your coach,’ ” Rooney admitted. “OK, who are you hiring next? There’s another part to that question that people don’t want to get into. I’m very comfortable that Mike is our coach and happy that he is our coach. I think he’s one of the best coaches in the NFL.”
Does that mean Rooney was happy with everything that happened with the Steelers this season?
No. Nobody is happy about everything. Rooney admitted to not being comfortable with some of the off-field stuff the Steelers dealt with this season -- though he wouldn't specifically point any out.
He admitted mistakes were made on both sides in the James Harrison debacle. And he made it quite clear he was involved in that decision.
“We had discussions about James over the course of the season, and I’ll just say it was a disappointment,” Rooney said. “James’ career here, I would have hoped to have it end a different way, so it was a disappointment that it turned out that way. I’ll say that there is probably blame on both sides of the fence on that one, but it’s the way it turned out. In terms of him going to New England, when you make a decision to let a player go, you know somebody can pick them up. You can’t sit here and worry too much about where he might go from here once you’ve made the decision. You are better off moving on.”
Much the same way the Steelers are moving on from the 2017 season. It was a disappointment in that a team that is one of the most talented in the NFL didn't win, didn't even get a chance to compete for, the Super Bowl. But, as Rooney noted, this was a team that won 13 games, the third-most in team history. It just happened to lose a playoff game because the offense turned the ball over twice, leading to 14 freebie points.
It's not a team that needs a complete makeover. It's a team that needs some slight adjustments, especially on defense.
"We have a lot of young players on defense. We can get better," Rooney said. "We need to add people to it, obviously."
But, as he noted, especially after Belichick's Patriots allowed 41 points in the Super Bowl, the most in the playoffs by one of the future Hall of Fame coach's teams, fixing a defense is all in the eye of the beholder.
"Looking at things in the playoffs," Rooney said, "it's not easy to play defense in this league anymore."
The bottom line is that Rooney has faith in his coach and general manager Kevin Colbert to get this team to another Super Bowl.
Or, as he put it, with Ben Roethlisberger also on board for the foreseeable future, maybe a couple more.
• Rooney said that no matter what happens with Ryan Shazier in 2018, he'll have a role with the Steelers. What that role will be remains to be seen. But given what we saw from the Penguins' game Tuesday night, it could wind up being something more than just a guy who watches games from a box seat.
Shazier is getting stronger every day. That's not to say he's going to play in 2018. I don't think that will happen, though I'm not going to tell you it won't. But it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the sidelines during training camp and the season helping coach the defense. Anything beyond that would be miraculous.
Regardless of what happens with Shazier, the Steelers are going to have to draft a player who, quite probably, will be his long-term replacement. Who better to teach that player than Shazier?
The Steelers have a long history of veteran players showing young players brought in to replace them the ropes. It's one of the things that doesn't happen in many other places.
• So what's going to happen with Le'Veon Bell? As I wrote last week, for the Steelers to sign him to a long-term deal, it likely means they won't have the money to spend in free agency to perhaps solve some of their defensive issues.
That being said, it's certainly understandable that the Steelers would be interested in bringing him back. He's just so dynamic. It's a tough call. It's hard to imagine the Steelers winning a championship without Bell in their backfield. It's also hard to imagine them winning a championship if they don't fix a major hole in their defense because of the loss of Shazier.
Can they do both?
Sure. But perhaps that will mean being aggressive in the draft and making a move to get a dynamic defender. They're not going to get that player sitting at pick No. 28.
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