Mike Tomlin breaks down why in-house punishment is important in the NFL

Over the course of his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin has gained a reputation as a player’s coach, despite his hard-nosed nature.

He’s dealt with big personalities and stars some may say are difficult to work with, while keeping it all out of the media’s eye. Ahead of a Christmas Eve showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders, Tomlin broke down why it’s important to him to keep things like that private in the NFL.

“Because unless you’re a part of our group dynamics, you don’t understand the makeup of it. And so your judgment of such things might be skewed or inaccurate,” explained Tomlin. “I just try to minimize the distractions by letting in-house business be in-house business, especially when it comes to sensitive things and things that are discipline related.

“I just don’t think it’s fair to the collective for the guys to make private things public. And I view some of those things, whether it’s discipline or corrections or learning at times when it’s sensitive, as private things.

Additionally, Tomlin mentioned that the forum he’s looking for when handling discipline internally is actually team meetings, hoping his point gets across to all of his players, not just the player in question.

Alas, Mike Tomlin’s strategies have worked for many years and they’ll continue to work for many more. He remains among the best coaches to play for in the NFL, and that stature doesn’t seem to be changing.

Mike Tomlin evaluates impact of weather conditions ahead of Week 16

If you’ve stepped outside basically anywhere in America on Saturday, you’re facing what NFL teams playing outdoors on Christmas Eve are as well — freezing temperatures. 

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are one of those teams, as they’ll be welcoming the Las Vegas Raiders to Pittsburgh on Saturday night. However, Tomlin isn’t making excuses, choosing to focus on his team’s attitude instead.

“I remind our staff and our players continually we’re not the only ones who have to make the adjustments relative to the weather. The weather is a factor for both teams. It affects both of us logistically in terms of how we get from point A to point B. It affects us in terms of the schematics and how the game might unfold from a planning standpoint, relative to those things,” stated Tomlin. “My point is that weather is a factor that’s not within any of our controls, and so as long as we do a relatively good job of dealing with it, meaning better than the Las Vegas Raiders, then that’s what I’m searching for. And I choose to talk to our guys in that way, so we have a can-do attitude regarding it because we understand there’s somebody else on the other end of this as well, and they have challenges as it pertains to it as well. 

“Our attitude is usually going to dictate our outcome. We’ve got to have a can-do attitude. We recognize it’s a factor, but we also recognize we got a job to do so and so do the people that we play. And then we move through it with that spirit.”

It’s going to be cold on Saturday, but Mike Tomlin isn’t expecting his team to end up like Jack Torrance at the end of The Shining. The Steelers are hoping to keep their playoff chances alive, and they’ll have to brave the Raiders and the weather to do so.