James Harrison made some interesting comments about Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on Thursday.
James Harrison, who is now retired from the NFL, was a guest on Undisputed with Skip and Shannon on FS1 on Thursday. Harrison was released by the Steelers and signed with the New England Patriots late in 2017.
Having played for both teams, Skip Bayless asked Harrison who was the better coach between Mike Tomlin and Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Harrison replied quickly and confidently, “Belichick.”
Bayless then asked Harrison for his opinion of Mike Tomlin as a head coach:
"Mike Tomlin is good as a head coach, he’s a players coach. I think he needs to be a little bit more disciplined. Other than that, the big thing with Belichick is he’s very regimented, he’s very disciplined, everyone is going to be on the same page, it’s not going to be anything as far as someone doing their own thing. And, I think over there [New England] their whole coaching staff is like that."
Harrison then went on to talk about how structured Belichick’s system is in New England. He talked about how many meetings they have and how he’s even seen Tom Brady running to a meeting, afraid of being late.
These are the kind of quotes that get the anti-Tomlin crowd fired up. Harrison is one of the rare players to play for both Tomlin and Belichick, and with all of the things that happen off the field under Tomlin’s tenure that get shined in the limelight, quotes like this only magnify the argument.
Everyone, including myself, has their opinions of Mike Tomlin. Some people love him. Some people hate him. Some are indifferent. Something that’s highly unlikely to change is Tomlin’s status as head coach. An interview with a retired player isn’t going to change that.
Taking what Harrison said as “taking shots” at Tomlin is a bit extreme. Harrison shoots from the hip most of the time, so him saying anything negative could easily be misconstrued as taking shots. He’s always spoke his mind, and never has been afraid to hold back, and sometimes, that comes across worse than it’s meant to.
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What this is, however, is a deterrent from Steelers training camp starting soon. Be on the lookout here at Still Curtain for loads of content covering training camp.