In a vacuum the size of the entire Hoover headquarters, James Harrison's much discussed remarks yesterday about Mike Tomlin might make some sense.
As they were, meaning coming from his mouth, they were laughably invalid.
First, the rewind: In an interview on FS1's show, 'Undisputed,' Harrison was asked who was the better NFL coach, Tomlin or Bill Belichick, and he answered flatly.
"Belichick."
By far?
"Uh, to me he is."
Better coach: Mike Tomlin or Bill Belichick?
"Belichick. Tomlin needs to be a little bit more disciplined. ... Man, I've seen Tom Brady running to a meeting scared to be late." — @jharrison9292 pic.twitter.com/9oA0lZ3XHM
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) July 19, 2018
Stop the tape.
Vacuum version: Nothing wrong with that assessment. Belichick's more accomplished than any NFL coach in history, so he's certainly better than Tomlin. And Harrison, like anyone else, is entitled to the 'by far' opinion.
Reality version: No, really, nothing wrong with that.
Harrison was then asked his general view of Tomlin as a head coach.
“Mike Tomlin's good as a head coach. He’s a player’s coach. I think he needs to be a little bit more disciplined. Other than that ... The big thing with Belichick is he’s very regimented, he’s disciplined, everyone is going to be on the same page, there’s not going to be anything as far as someone doing their own thing. I think over there, their whole coaching staff is like that."
Vacuum version: OK, fine. Belichick's disciplinary reputation precedes him.
Reality version: That reputation is so solid, in fact, that it somehow survived Belichick having coached a murderer, which I'm pretty sure ranks a little higher on our society's no-no list than random Facebook Live videos or end-zone dances.
Harrison continued on the New England discipline.
"Their meetings are unlike anything I'd ever been a part of in my life.”
Vacuum version: The Patriots' meeting rooms are very business-like. Also well known.
Reality version: Harrison could only be an authority on Pittsburgh's meeting rooms if he, you know, stayed awake through those. Which, according to teammates, he often did not in 2017.
Harrison was asked how Tomlin could improve in the discipline area.
“Just being more consistent across the board with everything. From your stars to your special teams players.”
Vacuum version: This is a common sentiment expressed by veterans, not just with the Steelers but with all NFL teams and, really, across professional sports.
Reality version: This would mean that maybe Tomlin could have suspended and/or released Harrison himself for any number of vocal, visible transgressions through the 2017 season alone, not least of which was some abysmally unprofessional conduct in the locker room in full view of reporters. But then, Harrison probably wasn't including himself, I'm guessing.
Harrison was pressed on that.
"It's easier to hold everyone accountable if you don't treat anyone differently if it's a certain situation or a certain player. It don't look like you're playing favorites."
Vacuum version: Fair enough. If it's 1975 and all players were still paid about the same and were no threat to leave through free agency.
Reality version: Would that be 'playing favorites' like, oh, say, the Steelers completely absolving Harrison of domestic abuse charges filed by then-girlfriend Beth Tibbott in March of 2008? Those kinds of 'favorites?' The charges were dropped, but Harrison never denied the action, even if he's currently in denial over who was maybe the greatest beneficiary of the Steelers playing 'favorites' over the past decade.
Harrison was asked to describe the discipline in New England.
"Man, I seen Tom Brady running to a meeting scared to be late."
Vacuum version: Brady's a great leader. Also commonly known.
Reality version: And this means Brady's afraid of Belichick? Is he seriously unaware of how frequently those two have butted heads all these years in the public eye alone?
Harrison was asked if Tomlin is too much of a players' coach.
"For me, I think, going from Bill Cowher to Tomlin, and then over to Belichick ... I mean, Belichick is, like, old school. You're gonna do it like this, or it ain't gonna get done. Like I've said, if you're used to discipline, you're used to regimen, you're not going to have issues with him."
Vacuum version: Belichick is now more disciplined than Tomlin or Cowher.
Reality version: Wait, did Harrison just stack Cowher and Tomlin on the same shelf there? But I thought Cowher, who looked the other way from countless messy incidents through his tenure -- hello, Santonio Holmes! -- was the role model to which Tomlin was supposed to aspire?
Harrison was asked to describe his relationship with Belichick.
"It was just fun. He's nothing like what you see on TV."
Vacuum version: Huh?
Reality version: Sounds like a players' coach!
This is all so stupid. But it also unfortunately feeds the juiciest of red meat to the simplest possible form of evaluating the Steelers anytime things don't go well. That's also reality.
• Tomlin does need to be better in setting the disciplinary tone. He needs to set policy or, to borrow his pet term, set the 'standard' he expects his locker room leaders to apply and enforce. Then, as with every other locker room in professional sports, both major and minor leagues -- including the Patriots -- he needs to trust those leaders to take care of the rest.
He can start with this:
1. STAY AWAKE IN LINEBACKER MEETINGS.
• Imagine if a player Tomlin was coaching had gone to prison for murdering someone by pumping six .45-caliber bullets into them.
• Imagine if a player Tomlin was coaching spent parts of his offseason participating in Wrestlemania, auto racing junkets and all kinds of other non-football fare, then regularly missed big chunks of seasons to injury:
A few days after missing half of the NFL season and the Super Bowl, Rob Gronkowski sought and received permission from the Patriots to participate in a charity basketball game. That permission was granted, as long as he promised to only shoot 3-pointers.
Good thing he didn't have Belichick as his coach.
• I'll change the subject. There's no victory to be had here. This narrative has gripped some Pittsburghers like nothing I've seen in my lifetime, and it's terrifying to witness at times.
• NFL players weren't required to be on the field for the anthem until 2009, with teams simply staying in the locker room. Our country didn't begin playing the national anthem at sporting events, at least not regularly, until after World War II. The Star-Spangled Banner didn't become our official anthem until 1931. Before that, anthems were remarkably rare at sporting events.
The more one rewinds the clock, the more one struggles to find a firm connection between sports and the anthem. And that's to say nothing of almost no other country engaging in such a practice. (Which I'll admit I've always found uncomfortable my first days of covering any Olympics.)
Not really suggesting anything here either way. Stripping the anthem from games would be commercial suicide for the NFL or any league. Rather, I'm just pointing out that the event at the core of all this conversation is hardly part of the fabric and soul of our nation. It's all actually relatively recent.
• Don't read much into the Penguins signing Derek Grant, yet another center to carry that depth chart to six now. He's a bigger, stronger version of Josh Jooris, with the exception that he just had his Andy Warhol experience in the NHL with a career-high 12 goals and 12 assists in 63 games for the Ducks last season. Jim Rutherford loves, loves, loves piling up centers, and that's it.
• Marc-Andre Fleury's three-year, $21 million extension from the Golden Knights is the classic case of looking like someone's being overpaid. He'll be 34 this fall, and that's well up from the $5.75 million average annual value of his previous deal from Pittsburgh. But teams value trust, maybe hockey teams more than most. And George McPhee saw plenty enough from the Flower in his one winter in Vegas that he could feel comfortable knowing there will always be something worthwhile to show for the cash and cap space, even once Fleury eventually declines.
I share this solely to stress that this is what he'd have made here, too, had he been the one retained rather than Matt Murray, who's sealed up for $3.75 million each of the next two seasons.
That matters.
• Real baseball is back, beginning tonight in Cincinnati, where the Pirates' next opponent has stunningly transformed an 8-27 start into a 35-26 record since then. That's more than just Jim Riggleman's managing, though he's deserving of all accolades since the change was made. The Reds have had budding talent for a while, and their offense now includes three of the National League's top four on-base percentage guys in Joey Votto (.422), rookie Jesse Winker (.406) and Eugenio Suarez (.401).
• The other leg of this Ohio trip won't be any easier. The first-place Indians just made one of those trades the Pirates never make -- top prospect for vital veteran, in adding Brad Hand from the Padres -- even though it cost them a highly promising young talent in 22-year-old catcher Francisco Mejia, and they're evidently feeling pretty good about that.
"Trades like this are always difficult to make," Chris Antonetti, the Indians' respected president of baseball operations, told reporters in Cleveland yesterday. "We parted with a guy we think has a chance to be a really good major-league player in Francisco. But we feel we're adding players to our bullpen that will not only impact our team for 2018, but for years to come."
I saved you the trouble and looked it up in the rules: This is allowed.
• If you'll excuse me now, I haven't bowed at the Altar of Belichick all day, so I'll probably be struck by lightning or something.
