There's no way it was rehearsed in any way, but there it was, anyway, all around the Steelers' locker room at Heinz Field: One player after the other was praising one coach or another.
"Great play call by Randy," Ben Roethlisberger told me of a sharp passing sequence signaled in by Randy Fichtner. Even though I hadn't asked at all about Ben's offensive coordinator.
"Coach Buts called all the right shots," Cam Heyward told me when I brought up Joe Haden being isolated on Julio Jones, a shrewd maneuver by Keith Butler. Even though I hadn't asked at all about Cam's defensive coordinator.
I wasn't in on every conversation in the room, obviously, but Marcus Gilbert might have topped them all in this regard.
"Our coaches had us prepared," the big man spoke from his stool in the corner. "They had a game plan, they made sure we all bought in, and we went out and executed."
They did. These guys weren't all lying. Besides, we all witnessed it.
But I know better than to expect an echo on this.
Applauding anything Mike Tomlin does is anathema anymore, at least with a vocal percentage of the Nation. The half-dozen paragraphs above this one, all by themselves, will prompt at least a handful of readers to have stopped reading ... what, halfway through? After the first quote?
Here's something I believe: Absolute criticism is almost always hollow. Because then it isn't criticism as much as it is a crusade. My own longstanding feeling on the Pirates' front office, for example, is that they should be replaced. I've expressed that in no uncertain terms. But on those occasions where I feel they've done something right -- including when that something right has proven unpopular, such as the Chris Archer trade -- I've offered praise.
I mean, imagine not doing it that way. It'd be wholly unfair to all concerned and, just as important, it would invalidate the valid criticism that's there.
That said, it's close to impossible over these past 48 hours to pick up anywhere -- social media, talk shows, comment sections like ours -- a solitary soul speaking of Tomlin and his staff completely schooling Dan Quinn and his staff on the Atlanta side. Even though that's indisputably part of what took place Sunday in that 41-17 romp. The Steelers' script was smarter, their adjustments were smarter, and their overall approach was that of the aggressor.
Does that wipe away the embarrassment of the first four weeks, particularly all that went wrong against the Ravens the previous week?
Or course not.
But to say nothing of Tomlin?
To almost never cite his 13-3 record just last season?
To attribute a decade that's been as successful as that of anyone not named Bill Belichick to having inherited Roethlisberger?
And most striking, to hear some go out of their way to gleefully denigrate anything that does go right for the head coach or even the Steelers as a whole, primarily to prove that they were right to take the stance they did?
Man, I dare says that's borderline political in terms of the scope of the modern mindset. You know, where no one on the other side is ever right about anything.
Sorry, that's not for me. And I sure hope it never is.
• While I'm applauding Tomlin's work Sunday, I'd be remiss if not mentioning his beautifully delivered dig at the NFL's ridiculous rash of roughing-the-passer penalties.
As a member of the Competition Committee, he's always been cautious -- maybe too much at times -- in speaking about officials. But seeing the absurd call on T.J. Watt for "coming in low" on Ryan, even though he barely made contact, as well as another on Jon Bostic for slipping onto Ryan as he was getting up, that clearly was too much.
Tomlin called those "a joke," adding, "We’ve got to get better in the National Football League. These penalties are costing people games and jobs. We’ve got to get them correct. So I am pissed about it, to be quite honest with you. But that’s all I will say on it.”
The timing was best of all, regardless of how long he'd been holding on to the sentiment. Because if he does that after a loss, he looks terrible. Do it after pasting someone. If it has any effect, it'll be worth the five-figure fine.
• One last point of credit for Tomlin: He's the one responsible for the team's focus, as I wrote in ripping him after the loss to the Ravens but as I'll also write after blowing out the Falcons. It's easy to hear in the players’ remarks what Tomlin was telling them all week, because so many of them will reflexively repeat his thoughts.
The main message since Baltimore?
"Bring back the pride of being the Steelers on defense," Stephon Tuitt was telling me. "For us on the line, it's about Brett Keisel. And Mean Joe Greene. We're the Steelers. And it's about time we started playing like it."
Directly from Tomlin. Guaranteed.
• This can't be repeated often enough: The Falcons didn't get the ball in Julio's hands once until the fourth quarter. Someday, if that guy gets into Canton, I'm going to watch this tape again and still not believe it.
• The AFC North remains very much there for the taking. Meaning the Steelers' taking.
The Bengals are 4-1 and can't be caught in the coming week, but they're 15th in total offense, 26th in total defense and dead even on takeaway/giveaway count. Which is to say, they're nothing special. They've beaten the Colts, Ravens and Dolphins by 10 each, they squeaked past the Falcons by one. No shame in any of that, and it's obviously better than the Steelers have done to date, but it also buttresses the point.
And no, I'm not ready to pick a winner yet. Just saying, if the Steelers do what they should do from here on out, they'll dictate what happens in the North.
• Taking that back, I'll pick one winner: Haden over A.J. Green.
• Death, taxes, the Leafs not winning the Cup and, right up there, Mike Sullivan seizing on the Penguins stinking to make some teaching points:
• Subbing Juuso Riikola for Olli Maatta would be just fine, but the defensive move I liked most from Sullivan yesterday was reuniting Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz, as I'd expressed in the column following the Montreal mess.
It's easy to tell when Maatta's off his game because player after player starts popping behind him. It's solvable, but it'll be a bit of work, as Maatta just needs to skate forward with more aggressiveness -- contradictory as that sounds -- to keep his wheels rolling all over the rink. When he's flat-footed, he's ... well, flat-footed.
Johnson's different. He deserves a chance, as I wrote Saturday, to play on his natural left side and with his partner throughout preseason. It's encouraging to see Sullivan and Jacques Martin address that so quickly.
• Evgeni Malkin likes playing with Phil Kessel as much as the other way around. Don't forget that. He'll be better, and it'll be soon.
• To anyone hyperventilating north of the border about all of Toronto's overload of talent, some of whom apparently also service the NHL's official social media accounts, here's some parade-killing reality: Ron Hainsey is on the Leafs' top defense pairing. On merit.
• David Freese came through with massive clutch late last night for the Dodgers, then hit even harder at the Pirates in the postgame interview televised by Fox:
David Freese had a CLUTCH hit in tonight's Postseason game! (We feel like we've heard this before)
He joins @Ken_Rosenthal after the @Dodgers W. pic.twitter.com/KRsbIDbJ5k
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 9, 2018
Ouch.
If that were anyone else, one could parse his meaning. Not Freese. Some of us know how he really felt about the people running the baseball team in Pittsburgh. All he did up there was speak it out loud.
Oh, and here's the hit:
Can't beat the Freese. pic.twitter.com/6Os93gSz5W
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 8, 2018
Good for him. Couldn't happen to a better dude. He'll be missed on many levels.
• On that topic, Frank Coonelly was asked this week by 93.7 The Fan, the Pirates' radio rights-holder, if the team plans to add a big bat for 2019. He answered thusly: “Look at the Oakland A’s this year, they started the season with the lowest payroll in all of Major League Baseball and they ended up winning 98 games. We need to get better and personnel will be part of that solution, but it’s never just about money.”
No opinion needed. Ever. Just print what they say.
• Really hope to see you tonight at our Lawrenceville meetup! Come on down!