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Bill Cowher

Mike Tomlin Has No Use For Grapes

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I love [intlink id=”86″ type=”category”]Mike Tomlin[/intlink].

His place in [intlink id=”45″ type=”category”]Pittsburgh Steelers[/intlink] history is almost irrelevant.  Chuck Noll was the architect of the greatest team the NFL has ever known.  [intlink id=”49″ type=”category”]Bill Cowher[/intlink] set a standard for excellence almost unrivaled in modern football.  Granted, Tomlin has appeared in one more Super Bowl and has one more Lombardi in about a third of the time it took Cowher to win his first but let’s remember Tomlin was starting from a much better place than either of his predecessors.  Noll inherited a franchise which was the laughingstock of football.  Cowher took control of a team which had made only one playoff appearance in seven years.

Comparatively speaking, Tomlin was given the keys to a Ferrari and simply told not to crash it.  Building a champion is a lot harder than guiding one to another trophy.  The team Tomlin won a Super Bowl with in his second season was for all intents and purposes the same team Cowher won with three years prior.  And the team which has appeared in yet another Super Bowl since then is basically the same squad as the first two.  The true test of Tomlin’s coaching acumen will come as the Hines Wards and Troy Polamalus fade into retirement and he has to retool the team with a new crop of stars.
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