Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin? I'm giving Tomlin a slight edge as coach, although Cowher was good. I'm also giving Tomlin an edge as a disciplinarian. I say that knowing the Steelers will play this season without suspended Martavis Bryant and probably the first four games without suspended Le'Veon Bell.
No, I am not crazy.
There's a growing perception in town that the Steelers have gone to pot since Tomlin took over as coach 10 years ago. Among the players who have joined the team during his watch are Bryant, LeGarrette Blount, Chris Rainey, Mike Adams and Alameda Ta'amu. All had character issues in college. Only Bryant remains under contract.
This is not just a Steelers problem. It happens all over the NFL. Some teams are worse than others, the Dallas Cowboys the worst of all. In 2012, owner Jerry Jones hired a babysitter to get star wide receiver Dez Bryant to and from practice and to keep him out of trouble at night. Imagine that. A grown man needing a babysitter. The Cowboys signed Greg Hardy last season despite his involvement in a domestic-abuse incident. They will open this season with three players on the suspended list because of substance-abuse violations. They must be so proud in Dallas.
Like all NFL teams, the Steelers are under great pressure to win. Maybe that's why so many organizations have lowered their standard for bringing in quality people despite spending more time and money on background checks. There are no secrets anymore, no surprises when a player with a troubled past has more problems. The Steelers knew, for instance, Bryant had a questionable background at Clemson and that he slipped to the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft for a reason. They took him, anyway. Bryant, a terrific talent, helped the team make the playoffs two years in a row but has failed or missed multiple drug tests. He was suspended for four games last season and is out this season. It seems unlikely he will play for the Steelers again. How can they count on him?
If you want to argue Tomlin deserves blame for some of the players the Steelers have brought in, I will listen. He has a big say, along with general manager Kevin Colbert, in all player-personnel moves. But I'm not going to hold Tomlin or any coach responsible for a player's behavior once he is on the team. Is Baltimore's John Harbaugh responsible for Ray Rice? New England's Bill Belichick for Aaron Hernandez? Pick any of the 12 coaches the Cleveland Browns have had the past two seasons for Johnny Manziel? That's ridiculous. The player is responsible for his conduct. He's no longer a young, immature college kid. He's supposed to be a professional. Is it too much to expect him to act like one?
Cowher was not immune to this sort of thing. The Steelers used their No. 1 pick in 2006 _ Cowher's final draft in a 15-year run as coach _ to take Santonio Holmes despite character issues he had at Ohio State. Holmes was Super Bowl XLIII MVP after leading the Steelers past the Arizona Cardinals in Tomlin's second season but eventually ran out of chances with Tomlin and management because of a series of off-the-field incidents. He basically was given away in a trade in 2010.
Tomlin has a reputation of being a players coach and always ranks high in those surveys that ask players for whom they would like to play. That players-coach thing is not necessarily a compliment. Dan Bylsma didn't like it when he was Penguins coach because he believed it carried a connotation that the coach is soft. I'm guessing Tomlin doesn't like it, either.
Getting rid of Holmes was one instance when Tomlin showed he was anything but soft. Another happened during the 2014 season when he released Blount the day after Blount walked off the field early in a game at Nashville.
But Tomlin never will be regarded as a tough coach the way Cowher was. Sadly, part of it is racial. Another part is Tomlin didn't discipline Bell and Blount after they were arrested on marijuana charges on their way to the team flight for a 2014 preseason game in Philadelphia. Tomlin played the two running backs in that game _ "I didn't view it as a punishment to send them home," he said _ and left the discipline up to the NFL office. That's what most coaches do. A third part is Tomlin doesn't have the glare or big jaw that Cowher had and doesn't send spit flying in sideline rants with players the way Cowher did. Fans loved that Cowher often looked like a maniac.
But Cowher always wasn't the iron-fisted disciplinarian. Remember what Jerome Bettis said after Plaxico Burress signed with the New York Giants in 2005? "I know (Burress) is not a stickler for the rules and (Giants coach Tom) Coughlin is all about rules ... coach Cowher allowed us a lot of flexibility. He never fined us for anything. You came late, you never got fined. You never got reprimanded for anything."
Burress went on to score the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII as the Giants denied the New England Patriots a perfect season. He also spent time in prison after taking a gun into a nightclub and shooting himself in the leg.
You have to blame Coughlin for the shooting, right?
