Mike Tomlin Doesn’t Care About Criticism From Former Steelers

Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t care about criticism from former Steelers.

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Those who coach and play in the NFL find themselves as the target of criticism all too often. Part of being a professional athlete or having a job in professional sports is the ability to block all of that out.

Some times it can be hard to do so when that criticism is coming from your colleagues, as is the case with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Former head coach Bill Cowher and wide receiver Hines Ward both were critical of the team calling the defense “soft” and labeling the offense as “finesse.”

Not exactly what you want to hear in a physical sport, let alone the blue collar, smash mouth team in said league.

Tomlin is blocking it out though with a rather interesting way of describing their critical words.

“I don’t worry about that. That’s elevator music as far as I’m concerned,” Tomlin said, via ESPN.com. “I’m concerned about the things that are significant and that’s the men inside this organization right now and how they prepare and how they play. Love those guys, but those guys are on the outside looking in.”

Ward specifically said it was time to hit the panic button.

“They’re very close to hitting that panic button,” Ward said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The defense looks soft. Guys are just able to run the ball up and down the field. I look at their personnel; they can’t cover anybody in the secondary. Offensively, I thought I’d never say it, but the Steelers are a finesse offense right now. I don’t even know who these guys are.”

Tomlin also disagreed with that, saying they’d avoid overcorrecting.

“Right now it’s not sweeping or drastic changes as far as who and what we are schematically,” Tomlin said. “I will look at who we utilize and where in all three phases.”

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