Kovacevic: Why Tomlin being a 'players' coach' was always a plus

If it's Tuesday, I've got Takes ...

• Anyone remember the common criticism that Mike Tomlin was too much of a players' coach?

Yeah, uh, about that ...

See that masked figure passing across the bottom of the screen there?

That's who you think it is.

Similarly, see that unmasked figure in the photo atop this column, shouting encouragement to his defense to the extreme that his gaiter slipped off his face?

That's who you know it is.

There was a time, not too terribly long ago, when Tomlin would get torn apart for this trait by the Steelers' own fans. Some blamed it anytime there'd be too many penalties in a game, emblematic of some broader lack of discipline. Some blamed it for any players' behavioral issues that arose, even if those issues actually originated in individual cretins like Antonio Brown. Some ... eh, I'm not going too far with this, but suffice it to say that some of society's lowest common denominator saw that he looked and sounded too much like too big a portion of his roster.

It was always, always a positive. He's that passionate, that unapologetically immersed in the process and endlessly engaged with his players. He just needed to rediscover the right players and, from there, the right mix.

And once he did ...

Give it up for the head coach. Tomlin and his staff have made some of the smartest adjustments of his career, he and Kevin Colbert have jointly overseen some of the NFL's smartest drafts, he's had zero problems with players since AB was smartly jettisoned, he's got his group performing with dramatic guts and gusto, and he's currently perched atop the league at 7-0.

And justifiably loving it all.

• NFL Coach of the Year?

Well, good luck naming anyone anywhere doing the job better.

• For the longest, Tomlin's greatest crime was being lesser than Bill Belichick. Which he'll almost certainly always be, along with all but a handful of head coaches when it comes to counting achievements.

Funny thing, though: In the first year with no Tom Brady in Foxborough, the Patriots are 2-5, all of the Genius' masterful schemes don't matter a whit, and he's now saying things like this yesterday to the Boston radio station WEEI when asked about recent remarks blaming New England's decline on, um, the salary cap: "I didn't say it as an excuse. I never said that. Look, we paid Cam Newton a million dollars. It's obvious we didn't have any money. It's nobody's fault. That's what we did the last five years. It's pretty obvious. It was an honest answer to an honest question. No more, no less than that. I'm sure you can read a lot into it if you want to. That wasn't the intent."

Nah, no excuses in there at all. And nobody's fault.

The Steelers have a ton more talent than the Patriots right now, obviously, and they still had enough cap room to trade for Avery Williamson this week. The Patriots are currently sitting on $26 million in dead cap space.

The Patriots' GM, by the way, is Belichick.

Same GM who hasn't drafted a Pro Bowl selection since 2013.

• Also, Belichick cheated. And that absolutely should stain his legacy at no less a level than Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, the Houston Astros and all of sports' most infamous cheaters.

The closest Tomlin's ever come to anything dishonorable was jutting out a foot during a kickoff return.

• So the Steelers got doubly lucky upon leaving Baltimore in that, one, none of them's tested positive for coronavirus despite the Ravens' Marlon Humphrey having it and, two, Tyson Alualu and Cam Heyward apparently escaped without major injuries.

Alualu's got a sprained MCL, per word yesterday, the result of this ugly chop early in the game from in-motion fullback Patrick Rickard:

That might keep him out 2-4 weeks, but this team's built to be playing its most meaningful football after that.

Heyward wound up with a minor quad injury and might be good to go Sunday against the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.

• Sorry, no faith here yet in Isaiah Buggs. When the head coach keeps seizing chances to criticize a player so young, that's not encouraging.

For anyone who missed it, when a reporter curiously asked Tomlin about Buggs having an "impressive" performance in Baltimore, Tomlin snapped back, "He needed to. But when he first came in there, he wasn’t. I'm just being honest, you know? We didn’t have anywhere else to go. It wasn’t like we were going to put someone else in there. He had to knuckle down and get active, and he did."

The obvious issue was Buggs abandoning running lanes, a big no-no at the nose. 

We'll see.

• Wait, Humphrey missed the Ravens' practice last Wednesday due to illness, but was allowed to return immediately to practice the next day and Friday?

NFL protocol specifically prohibits this, regardless of whether the player tests positive or negative. When anyone inside the team bubble shows symptoms that could be coronavirus-related, they're supposed to have three consecutive days of being clean before returning.

"Big matchup vs. Steelers coming up" isn't on the list of exceptions.

Here's hoping Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent do their due diligence on John Harbaugh, and follow through far more harshly than they did with Mike Vrabel and the Titans.

• The Steelers can't get Williamson into the fold until Saturday because of protocol, so if he suits up in Arlington, it won't be in any meaningful role. And really, no one should expect that anytime soon, anyway.

As I wrote from Baltimore, Tomlin and staff aren't the types to punish performance. I'd very much expect Tomlin, in his press conference today, to confirm Robert Spillane is still his starter, just as I'd expect that could change in the future ... based on performance.

• Never forget that your favorite football team is basically Manchester United in terms of marquee value:

• If I hear one more ESPN blowhard -- meaning Rex Ryan, most recently -- declare that the Ravens "destroyed" or "bludgeoned" or otherwise dominated the Steelers, I'll blow a gasket.

Here's a clue, Coach: When your franchise's foundational player hands the ball to the opponent four times, the only thing you destroyed was your chance at winning.

• Lamar Jackson, reigning and deserved MVP, has committed 15 total turnovers the past two seasons. Seven of those have come while bludgeoning the Steelers. 

• I can say this but they can't: If Heyward isn't 100%, this is the weekend to let him heal. And Mike Hilton. And anyone else who could use it. The Cowboys are so much worse than their 2-6 record indicates, maybe best evidenced through a minus-81 points differential that only the Jets can outdo.

• Not to mention the Cowboys are down to their third-string quarterback, Ben DiNucci, the kid from Pine-Richland who couldn't start ahead of Kenny Pickett at Pitt. In his first NFL start Sunday night, a grotesque 23-9 loss in Philadelphia, he completed 21 of 40 passes for 180 yards and, within that, just 6 of 20 attempts that traveled 5-plus yards in the air.

"This NFL thing, it's hard," DiNucci told reporters afterward. "These teams are good. It's a battle every single week."

Oh, just wait.

• Ben Roethlisberger was sacked twice in Baltimore, both times through some mix of David DeCastro and/or Chuks Okorafor on the right side. And I cite this solely to stress that Alejandro Villanueva still hasn't conceded a single sack all season from the critical blind side.

Ben's league-fastest release deserved the bulk of the credit for all his clean uniforms through six games, though not for the seventh. The Ravens, the only team that blitzes more than the Steelers, blitzed on 35% of Ben's dropbacks, forcing him to go 6 of 11 for 37 yards in such situations. But still, no sacks that could be charged to Villanueva.

He's a free agent after the coming season. No one seems to talk about that much. Maybe we should. He's only 32 years old, at a position that allows for longevity, and he likely wouldn't break the bank.

• A negative within that: Ben was 0 for 4 on deep balls, meaning passes of 20-plus yards through the air. Yeah, there were three defensive pass interference flags drawn, and that's part of it ... but still. This has to get solved, and not just against the Browns.

• Quick: The Steelers and Chiefs being the NFL's only seven-win teams, so which of the NFL's three six-win teams is the best: Seahawks, Bills or Bucs?

Answer: Brady's boys, easily!

My goodness, that was a toothpull. And with barely any daylight between them. At this stage, the only team that should ever struggle against a New York team is the other New York team.

• Have you ever uttered the three words Las ... Vegas ... Raiders together in succession?

Nope, me neither.

• Joe Burrow's doing things people aren't supposed to be able to do in Cincinnati. He's not Baker Mayfield. He's legit.

• This guy in Baltimore wasn't legit:

• This lady in Nashville was somewhat more ... direct:

• Bud Dupree's nine forced turnovers are the most of any defensive player in the NFL since the start of the 2019 season. Enjoy him while he's here. He's legit in his own right, and he'll be paid accordingly.

• Continuing the theme of pending free agents: JuJu Smith-Schuster's caught 78% of his targets, fourth-best among all NFL wide receivers with at least 50 targets. The only ones ahead of him are the Bills' Cole Beasley, the Bengals' Tyler Boyd, and the Cardinals' DeAndre Hopkins. He's also accumulated 190 yards after the catch, or 5.1 per, this despite seldom being targeted deep. He'll be paid, too.

• As long as I'm on this little roll, let's finish strong: James Conner's 71.1 yards per game rank eighth in the league among all running backs with at least 100 carries. His five rushing touchdowns rank fourth. His 28 first downs on the ground rank ninth. He hasn't lost a fumble. And as long as he keeps playing, someone will be paying.

• Better keep it going, fellas!