Tony Dungy knows a little something about the pressure of coaching in the NFL.
After all, despite leading the Buccaneers to their first division title in 20 years in 1999 and into the playoffs again in 2000 and 2001, Dungy was fired by Tampa Bay despite posting a 54-42 record in his six seasons there. The Bucs had gone 32-64 in the six seasons before Dungy arrived.
He then took on a different kind of pressure after accepting the head coaching job with the Colts after his firing, namely getting to the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning.
Some might think that an easy task. But the Colts had gone 32-32 in Manning's first four seasons, and there was plenty of pressure to win a Super Bowl with a young quarterback who was considered by many to be the best young prospect at the position in a generation.
That's what Dungy and the Colts finally did in 2006, the year before the Steelers tapped a relatively unknown former Dungy assistant coach who had spent one season as defensive coordinator for the Vikings as the man to replace longtime head coach Bill Cowher.
Mike Tomlin, whose first job in the NFL was as a defensive backs coach for Dungy in Tampa, was under a different kind of pressure. The Steelers had won the Super Bowl in 2005 with Ben Roethlisberger in just his second season. The expectation was such that there would be more Super Bowls to follow.
And having become just the third head coach for the Steelers since 1969, following in the footsteps of Cowher and Chuck Noll, who had both taken the Steelers to multiple Super Bowls, there was added pressure.
"That's both the blessing and the curse," Dungy told me earlier this week. "The Steelers have that stability and it gives you that same foundation from year to year. But the curse is that the expectation is to win the Super Bowl every year. That goes with the territory. But, as Mike likes to say, the standard is the standard, and a lot of years, you're not going to reach the standard."
That doesn't mean being the head coach of the Steelers isn't a prime job in the NFL. After all, Dungy himself was a finalist when Cowher was hired by Dan Rooney in 1992. The former Steelers defensive back and one of Noll's longtime assistants didn't get the job.
Having played for and coached under Noll, he was well aware of the pressure of coaching in Pittsburgh.
Now an NFL analyst for NBC, Dungy feels Tomlin has handled that pressure as well as anyone. He's taken the Steelers to two Super Bowls, winning once. And he has the Steelers off to a 6-0 start this season, one in which the team's stability is paying off.
"That's the good, you're always going to have that feeling with Steelers that you've got a chance," Dungy said. "And Mike accepts that pressure. He knows that even if you win five or six Super Bowls, it still won't be enough."
MORE STEELERS
• For some reason, there was feeling among some that Chase Claypool was "shut down" last week by the Titans putting Malcom Butler on him in shadow coverage. The Titans did use Butler to cover Claypool all over the field, but that wasn't why the rookie caught just one pass for minus-2 yards -- though he did draw a big pass interference penalty on Butler in the third quarter to set up a field goal. Claypool wasn't targeted much by Roethlisberger in the game because the Steelers wanted to attack the other matchups as much as possible. And they wanted to get the ball to JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson as quickly as possible and allow those two to try to run after the catch. That added up to 29 targets for Smith-Schuster and Johnson, and just two combined targets for Claypool and James Washington as just eight of Roethlisberger's 49 passes were 10 or more yards downfield. That plan could change from week to week. But it's obvious Johnson is the one receiver on the Steelers' roster who is competent either going downfield or catching short passes and getting run after the catch. That's why Johnson has gotten 41 targets this season -- second-most on the team and just one behind Smith-Schuster -- despite missing a full game and large parts of two others. Johnson is the Steelers' No. 1 receiver. But Claypool will have days where he's targeted much more than he was last Sunday, as well. -- Lolley
• It's interesting that Bruce Arians would sign Antonio Brown for a number of reasons, not the least of which that he said repeatedly in the offseason the Buccaneers weren't interested in Brown. But Arians also wasn't fond of Brown's attitude when he was the Steelers offensive coordinator during Brown's rookie season through 2012. In fact, Arians wanted to release Brown in 2010, when the Steelers had used a sixth-round draft pick on the rookie out of Central Michigan. Arians didn't feel Brown ran sharp enough routes and thought the Steelers could add the future All-Pro to the practice squad. Tomlin overruled him on that one, and the rest is history. That Arians would be willing to take a chance on Brown now says that the injury issues Tampa Bay's top two receivers, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, are fighting through are pretty significant. In fact, Godwin had surgery to repair a broke finger this week. And the Bucs are in a win-now mode with Tom Brady, who badly wanted Brown, whose behavior both on and off the field has caused three teams, including the Steelers, to give up on him since the end of the 2018 season. You can bet Steelers fans -- and the rest of the league, for that matter -- will be watching this shotgun marriage closely. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• Evaluating teenaged hockey players and trying to project how they will perform when fully grown is challenging under the best of circumstances, and there's every reason to believe that scouts' jobs will be even tougher than usual this winter. That's because a number of leagues have had their seasons delayed or disrupted because of the coronavirus pandemic, and there's no guarantee that scouts will always be able to attend the games that do take place. Jim Rutherford said he has "discussed all the possibilities" with Patrik Allvin, the Penguins' director of amateur scouting, and that they are prepared for whatever situations they face -- including assessing at least some prospects without actually being able to watch them in person. "We would just do our scouting through analytics and video on a regular basis," Rutherford said, adding that "It affects Penguins scouts, but it affects everybody else, too. Everybody is going to be on an even playing field." The three major-junior leagues that are a primary source of NHL talent have dealt with the pandemic differently. The Ontario Hockey League announced this week that it hopes to begin a 40-game schedule Feb. 4, while the Western Hockey League is shooting for a Jan. 8 start and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which launched its season Oct. 2, subsequently suspended play for clubs in its two divisions based in the province of Quebec. (Five of the six clubs in the QMJHL's Maritimes Division were allowed to continue competing, and some Quebec-based teams are cleared to resume games this weekend.) There's no way of knowing, though, how long any league will be able to operate until the pandemic is brought under control, let alone what the rules for scouts and others to attend will be. "With the virus, it changes all the time," Rutherford said. "What the guidelines are today might not be the same guidelines two weeks from now." The Penguins currently own five choices in the 2021 NHL Draft: One each in the second and fifth rounds, and three in the seventh. -- Dave Molinari
• There are, to be sure, more pressing issues confronting the league and its member clubs, but there is a feature in the collective bargaining agreement that seems to be quite popular with players could prove to be a complication in preparing for the 2020-21 season, if the NHL somehow manages to begin play on Jan. 1, or even shortly thereafter. The CBA mandates a three-day break, from Dec. 24-26, during which teams are not allowed to travel, play -- or practice. If play were to start early in the new year, that holiday break would come in the latter stages of training camp, which surely would be viewed by coaches (and probably lots of others) as a disruption to preparations for the season. Whether players would -- or even could -- waive that CBA provision for 2020 isn't clear, and it's safe to assume that the league hopes that a Jan. 1 start becomes realistic enough that the holiday break actually becomes an issue that must be addressed. At the very least, it's something to keep in mind as plans to get next season going are being formulated. -- Molinari
• At least five Penguins players had surgery during the pandemic shutdown or following their postseason loss to Montreal, and only two of those guys figure to be in their lineup if the season gets underway anywhere near the league's current target date. That's not as dire for the Penguins as it sounds, though, because two of the five -- Nick Bjugstad (spinal) and Dominik Simon (shoulder) -- are now with different teams. The two who should be ready for the start of the season are top-six centers Sidney Crosby (wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (elbow), while bottom-six winger Zach Aston-Reese isn't expected back until deep into winter after having a shoulder operation. "It's still that six-month (recovery) period," Rutherford said. "Middle of February to the first of March, I would say." He added that he has "no concerns" about Crosby and Malkin being available when camp begins. -- Molinari
PIRATES
• The Pirates acquired two young middle infielders this year: Shortstop Liover Peguero in the Starling Marte trade and second baseman Nick Gonzales in the first round of the amateur draft. They very well could be the double play duo of the future, and they got to spend a lot of time together this year between the Altoona, Pa. alternate training site and Bradenton, Fla. development camp. The two clicked quickly in Altoona when they were quarantining. "We just hit it off right then and there," Gonzales was telling me. "Great guy. Great energy. Those are the types of people I get along with the best." Gonzales admits he is a bit on the shy side, but said Peguero's energy and enthusiasm was infectious and the two were comfortable with each other immediately. Needless to say, chemistry between a shortstop and second baseman is beneficial to both, and the team. “We always feel like we’re on the same page," Peguero was telling me. "When I want to talk to him, he’s like, ‘I was just about to say the same thing.’ I just feel like we have that special connection as teammates, what plays and work we need to do. It’s crazy.” -- Alex Stumpf
• Much has been made about the Pirates wanting to establish a player-centric culture, and they took that to heart in development camp. Each player was given the first part of the day to work on areas they felt they needed to address, and coaches got input from players in drills to make sure they were getting the most out of them. “They treat everyone as a family, equal,” Peguero was telling me. “You don’t see that in every team … and when we work, we work with a purpose.” -- Stumpf
• While most international free agents are signed out of Latin America and sent to the Dominican Summer League for their first step into professional baseball, the Pirates’ two biggest signings this year were outfielder Solomon Maguire and right-hander Po-Yu Chen, who hail from Australian and Taiwan, respectively. Since it does not make any sense to send them to the Dominican, it raises questions as to exactly where they will be next year, making their first steps towards the majors. The Pirates are waiting to see how players continue to develop before they finalize who will be sent to which class of the farm system next year, but Chen and Maguire will both be brought stateside next year, and it's possible they head to rookie ball. “There’s certainly things they can do domestically [to get better] at home, and we also have a team of people in our international scouting group that are facilitating that with them,” Ben Cherington was telling me. “They’ll be on Pirates programming at home, but the expectation is they will be coming to Bradenton as part of minor league spring training.” -- Stumpf