http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07218/807334-66.stm</p> </p><h2>Calmer, with less chin and spittle, Mike Tomlin coaches his first Steeler win</h2> <p style="text-indent: 0px">Monday, August 06, 2007</p> By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette </p> </p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="240" align="right"><tbody><tr><td></td> <td></td></tr> <tr><td></td><td><font face="arial" size="1">Peter Diana, Post-Gazette </font> <font face="arial" size="2">Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin shouts instructions at Hall of Fame game.</font> <font face="arial" size="1">Click photo for larger image.</font><hr /></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table> CANTON, Ohio -- The new guy donned his customary mental-warfare black outfit, paced the sidelines with a relatively quiet purpose and failed to spit on any of his players. So went Mike Tomlin's Steelers head-coaching debut last night, having broken camp in Latrobe -- site of America's first professional football game -- for a first game in the birthplace of the National Football League.</p> Even if it was only a meaningless exhibition, in the Hall of Fame Game, a new head coach must start somewhere. Inside a high-school stadium next door to pro football's hall, Tomlin watched his starters outplay second-year coach Sean Payton's defending NFC South champions, the New Orleans Saints, when the game mattered at least a whit. Ben Roethlisberger connected twice for 73 yards with Cedrick Wilson, who days earlier publicly complained he wasn't an intended target often enough, and the heavy-pressure Steelers' defense made that 7-0 lead stand for more than a quarter in a 20-7 Steelers triumph.</p> By the second quarter, Tomlin settled mostly into a midfield lurker at Fawcett Stadium and remained nowhere near as animated, or moisture-imparting, as predecessor Bill Cowher, who resigned in January to become a full-time dad and part-time CBS analyst ... for a year or so anyway.</p> Easily three-fourths of the roughly 22,302 patrons inside Fawcett Stadium -- more of a Faucet during the two-hour pregame rain -- came garbed in black and gold to watch their favored Steelers. They were intrigued to see the new approach, the new coach. </p> "A good first step," Tomlin said afterward.</p> "He'll be good," said Jim Fragasse, a Jack Lambert jersey-wearing Steelers fan from Dover, Ohio, south of the Pro Football Hall and about equidistant from both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. "He's got a good team. We're pulling for him." Son Gabe, 10, on his shoulders and wife Laurie beside him nodded in agreement. But eldest son, Cody, 14, was reserving judgment on the new guy.</p> Brenda Simmons of Canton, the mother of a Browns son even though she has faithfully followed the Steelers for three decades, talked from underneath her soggy Steelers cap about the legacy of sideline consistency into which Tomlin treads.</p> She talked about him being the third Steelers head coach since 1969, not about him being the eighth fellow African-American to lead an NFL team onto a field, though she expressed pride in that latter fact. "I think we're going to do well with him," she said.</p> For pure viewing pleasure, Cowher long was a favorite among a Steelers Nation that foamed at the mouth almost as often as he did on a sideline. This, after all, was a 15-year coach who stuffed a photograph in an official's pocket, nearly tackled a Jacksonville returner, jutted his famed jaw, cried in front of the cameras and otherwise wore his rampant emotions openly.</p> Like Cowher before him a defensive coordinator named Steelers head coach at age 34, Tomlin is nevertheless a stark sideline contrast.</p> "You know, I really kind of took myself out of it," Tomlin said of the first-game equation. "I just wanted to create an environment for players and coaches to get what they needed out of it. When you do that, you kind of get your job done in the process."</p> Tomlin emerged onto the field at 6:57 p.m., harbinger or not, just as the slate skies opened with a sturdy rain once again. The new guy wore a Steelers waterproof jacket and windpants, still in the black he regularly wears on the steamy St. Vincent College fields at training camp (prompting his remark this week relating that to "mental warfare" with his players).</p> As fate would have it, the Fawcett Stadium videoboards were playing the 2006 Steelers' highlights film. Two minutes after he took the field, Tomlin was sharing a laugh with receivers coach Randy Fichtner and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians because the visage on the big screen was the new guy. There he was as the Minnesota Vikings coordinator. There he was as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary coach.</p> Coincidence wasn't done with him just yet, either.</p> For then a fellow former Bucs assistant tapped him on the shoulder, ex-Browns center Jim Pyne.</p> "We knew he would be a head coach," offered Pyne, out of coaching and living in the Cleveland area. "Good guy. Hard worker. Smart. Intelligent. Great with people. Great teacher."</p> By game's start, Tomlin had changed into a Steelers sweatshirt -- black, of course -- and took his sideline spot at midfield, strolling back and forth between offense, defense, special teams. </p> Give the new guy credit: When it came time for the national anthem, he positioned himself, black Steelers ballcap over heart, among the on-field officials.</p> By the end of the first quarter, after a play in which Wilson appeared to be a victim of interference, he was working those same officials gently. "Nothing new. I did that as an assistant," Tomlin said. But, heretofore, "I had a coach who would tell me to shut up."</p> As for sideline demeanor, he opened the game walking up and down the bench shaking hands, giving embraces and patting both behinds and helmets. He poked his head into the kickoff-return huddle before that opening kickoff. He pointed in praise at Roethlisberger after that 55-yard pass to Wilson on the exhibition's second play from scrimmage. He rubbed Wilson's helmet in congratulations after the 80-yard drive to the inaugural touchdown, by running back Najeh Davenport. Later, he stayed mostly removed, a manager at work.</p> "You know what," nose guard Chris Hoke said. "Coach Tomlin is doing a great job. Coach Cowher was an icon. Coach Tomlin, he's his own man. His philosophy is, we're here, we're professional athletes, we can get ourselves ready to play."</p> Added offensive tackle Max Starks, "Coach Tomlin definitely demands that respect. He's a great guy. We look forward to playing for him."</p> The debut difference? A pre-kickoff interview with the NFL Network's Deion Sanders. </p> "That was unique," Tomlin admitted. "That was about the only thing new and exciting that happened to me, giving an interview 30 seconds before kickoff.</p> "Maybe I'll be more excited next month. I'm sure I will when we open in Cleveland."</p> In 35 days, he and his Steelers will return to northeast Ohio and start for real. </p> </p>
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_520832.html</p> </p><h1 class="headline">Steelers celebrate Tomlin's first win</h1> <span class="boldgrey"> By The Associated Press </span> <span class="greytext">Monday, August 6, 2007</span> <div id="storyBody"> CANTON, Ohio - Moments before Mike Tomlin's debut as Steelers coach, wind-blown rain was pelting the field. Suddenly, the skies cleared, the rain ceased and the stands filled. Less than three minutes into the game, the Steelers made it feel like a warm, sunny summer afternoon for the man replacing the retired Bill Cowher. </p> A dominant first half made Tomlin a winner, 20-7 over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night in the preseason opener. Just the third head coach in the last 38 years in Pittsburgh, Tomlin had to be thrilled about his team's quick getaway in the Hall of Fame game. </p> "We had a good first step," the no-nonsense Tomlin said. "We did some good things, got some big plays, some chunks (of yardage). </p>"'I took myself out of it. I tried to create an environment for the coaches and players to do their jobs. You do that, you get involved in the process." Ben Roethlisberger was sharp in his only series, completing two of his three throws for 73 yards to Cedrick Wilson. On a 55-yard play, Wilson got behind safety Kevin Kaesviharn, then he beat New Orleans' top cornerback, Mike McKenzie, on an 18-yard crossing pattern. </p> "He came up to me at practice," Wilson said of Roethlisberger, "and told me he was going to be looking for me. I appreciate that and can be thankful for that. I just want to go out and make plays for him and make sure he is one of the best quarterbacks in the league." </p> Najeh Davenport, starting for 1,400-yard rusher Willie Parker, bulled in from the 4 for a 7-0 lead. </p> Pittsburgh's first-stringers were, by far, more efficient than New Orleans' starters, who missed blocks and dropped passes on offense and couldn't handle Roethlisberger or Charlie Batch when they threw. And that was just in the first quarter. </p> In the first half, Pittsburgh outgained New Orleans 305-56, including 205-32 in the air. Overall, it was 413-214. </p> "This is how we want to play all season," linebacker Larry Foote said of stymieing the Saints, who didn't use starting running back Deuce McAllister and gave Reggie Bush only two carries for 8 yards. "We want to be dominating this year." </p> The Steelers kept making big plays, particularly on passes in a more wide-open offense designed by new coordinator Bruce Arians. They made the Saints look inept in coverage at times, an unfortunate carry-over from last season for New Orleans, which allowed 16 plays of more than 40 yards in 2006 -- a league high. </p> "I can't spin it any way but the way we played," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "We were sloppy, sluggish. I thought they were more physical than us. We've got a lot of work to do." </p> Along with Wilson's big gainer on the game's second play were a 38-yard screen pass to Carey Davis and a 41-yard completion from Brian St. Pierre to Santonio Holmes. St. Pierre hit Holmes on a 3-yard fade for a 14-0 edge. </p> That grew to 17-0 on Jeff Reed's 28-yard field goal set up by Davis' 58-yard run. </p> "In the first preseason game, you are finally getting a chance to go against someone else, and see where you have progressed," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said after going 1-for-6 for 6 yards. "Obviously, we still have some work to do." </p> But the Saints' third-stringers staged a 16-play, 72-yard drive capped by a fourth-down, 1-yard TD pass from Jason Fife to Kevin Dudley to open the second half. Pittsburgh's subs answered with a 13-play, 44-yard march to Reed's 39-yard field goal, taking up the remainder of the third period. </p> On hand were five of the six men inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday: Michael Irvin, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Matthews, Roger Wehrli and Charlie Sanders. The ailing Gene Hickerson was not in attendance. </p> Notes: Saints center Jeff Faine strained a calf and left in the second quarter ... The crowd of 22,302 was decidedly filled with Steelers fans, most of them waving Terrible Towels ... Saints first-round draft pick Robert Meachem, a wideout from Tennessee, was laid out by a superb hit by rookie cornerback William Gay in the fourth quarter. Gay later picked off a pass. </p></div> </p>
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_520830.html</p> </p><p class="headline">Tomlin's changes already apparent</p> </p> </p> <span class="boldgrey"> By John Harris TRIBUNE-REVIEW </span> <span class="greytext">Monday, August 6, 2007</span> </p> CANTON, Ohio - Welcome to Mike Tomlin's world. If you thought you knew the Steelers would be a different team under Tomlin, you didn't really begin to comprehend just how different until Sunday night's exhibition opener against New Orleans in the Hall of Fame Game. </p> Same key players as before. But, oh, what a difference the new coach makes. </p> Tomlin is selling his football philosophy -- selling himself, actually, to his players. </p>He will never be confused with Bill Cowher, who led with his chin for 15 seasons. Nor should he. Regardless, the drastic about-face from Cowher to Tomlin has been the object of everyone's attention in training camp. And there was no better place to test the new coach's philosophy than last night's preseason opener. </p> The game, an impressive Steelers victory, doesn't mean squat. </p> When the Steelers open the season Sept. 9 at Cleveland, no one will remember how their regulars slugged the Saints regulars -- the players who will be on the field when the games count for real -- into submission on a rainy night in August in crafting a 17-0 halftime lead. </p> No, it was how the Steelers went about their business and how Tomlin introduced the Steelers -- his Steelers -- to the rest of the NFL that will be remembered. </p> See, it can be done, Tomlin had to be telling himself late last night. </p> It doesn't matter that some of his players would have preferred that Cowher remain on the sideline, or that one of his assistants, Russ Grimm or Ken Whisenhunt, get the job. </p> The team's the thing for Tomlin and, like it or not, Tomlin's Steelers are going to do things his way. And if his way just so happens to be a complete 180 from Cowher's way, better get used to it. </p> Everything the Steelers worked on in the first two weeks of training camp was on display last night. </p> As advertised, the Steelers opened up the offense. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lofted a 55-yard bomb to Cedrick Wilson on the second play of the game. </p> On their next series, the Steelers gave the Saints a three-tight-end look on first down, with Charlie Batch passing to Wilson for 17 yards. Batch quickly replaced Roethlisberger, who was 2 for 3 for 73 yards in his only action -- and would have been 3 for 3 if Nate Washington hadn't dropped a wide-open pass. </p> The Steelers also showed off a four-receiver formation on the next play, but Najeh Davenport was dropped for a 3-yard loss. </p> The play backfired, but it gave opposing defensive coordinators something to prepare for. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians wants to create running room for his backs by spreading the field. </p> You name it, the Steelers tried it, including two screen plays totaling 47 yards in the first half. </p> That running back rambling 56 yards down the sideline in the second quarter wasn't Willie Parker, who didn't play because of a knee injury. It was little-known Carey Davis, trying to win a roster spot. </p> Tomlin's selling, and by the look of things after one preseason game, the Steelers are buying. </p> </p>
