Kovacevic: For Tomlin to 'stand by' failed plan makes no sense

Jan 24, 2017 • 4:13 am

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Brief and to the Point, all football one final time this winter ...

• Hate to harp on the heavily harped, but I just can't move beyond that remark from Mike Tomlin when asked late Sunday night if he'd considered a more aggressive defensive stance the Steelers deployed successfully against the Patriots in 2011.

"Obviously, you know, you weigh those options in preparation,” Tomlin replied. “We stand by what we did in the game. We just didn’t do it well enough.”

I don't care about 2011.

I definitely don't feel inclined to revisit all that went awry in the AFC Championship Game. Been there, bemoaned that.

But that remark ... man, that's worth a reflection.

Because here's what the head coach of an iconic professional franchise is essentially saying: The plan was fine.

Tell me, please, how else that could be interpreted, other than that the Steelers' coaches came up with a plan and that the plan was something they should "stand by" because, dang it, it would have worked if only those underperforming players had found a way to make it work.

That's so convoluted I can't even process it.

At least not until the source is considered.

Because the same Tomlin who stands before reporters after any loss and accepts "full responsibility" and says "we'll own it," "we'll wear it," and other similar stuff actually believes and acts upon the opposite.

Don't listen to the words. Watch the deeds.

In Miami, the Steelers came out hellbent on throwing the ball. That was the plan. The Dolphins had the 25th-ranked run defense in the NFL, and Le'Veon Bell was showing signs of knocking that down a notch or seven. Trouble was, he'd end up with only 10 carries. Because that wasn't the plan. The other thing was.

The Steelers lost. They stood by their plan.

In Baltimore, Bell was going nowhere. The Ravens' defensive line was in uber-beast mode, and he was being banged backward time and again. The Steelers kept running.

The Steelers lost. They stood by their plan.

In New England, the Patriots embarrassed them in nearly every facet, almost entirely based on eminently visible schematics. Receivers were "more open than I'd ever seen in any playoff game in my life," as one Boston writer put it.

The Steelers' plan was savaged nationwide and even in their own locker room. They stood by it.

Oh, and they lost in the worst way.

There'd been a lot of talk this season about whether or not Tomlin is a great coach, much of that topic spurred by Terry Bradshaw's otherwise idiotic "cheerleader" comments. Tomlin is a good coach. And when it comes to carving an identity and getting his players to focus on a challenge, he can be very good bordering on one of the best. There's real value in that, too, way beyond pom-poms and a megaphone.

But he's got to get better.

He's got to be more accepting of advanced analytics, of comprehensive clock management, or more closely examining his opponents' shortcomings, and of play-calling in general.

More than any of that, he's got to view adjusting as something other than a show of weakness. And yeah, that's really how he sees it. Time and again, we witness with our own eyes that he'll stubbornly stick by something that isn't working. As if he's worrying that John Harbaugh or Bill Belichick or whoever might think that he's backing down, that he showed up for class without his work.

My goodness, one of the smartest, most expansive adjustments of Tomlin's career occurred at the middle of the season. He changed personnel. He started running the ball on offense, attacking it on defense. And even then, he'd bristle at any question or suggestion that anything had changed. He'd bite back with "We're running better" or "We're tackling better."

Because I guess, conceding anything else would be conceding that he had the wrong plan entering the 2016 season.

Well, with all due apologies, Coach, that adjustment was very, very smart.