PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin is not seeking comfort. And the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach isn’t willing to give it either.
Not to his players. Not to his bosses. Or anybody else for that matter.
Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers - at the mandate of team president Art Rooney II - essentially blew up their offense in the offseason in search of more points, bringing in quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
No, Tomlin isn’t willing to paint a picture before the first meaningful snap that things will be better in 2024.
“I’m more of a doer than a talker,” Tomlin said. “Talking glowingly, particularly when you’re undefeated this time of year is easy, and I’m not attracted to easy.”
Good thing, because it likely won’t be. Especially after Wilson aggravated a calf injury on Thursday that slowed him during the early portion of training camp and left his status for Sunday’s opener at Atlanta uncertain, perhaps a fitting turn of events for a position that remains as murky as ever two-plus years removed from Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement.
Kenny Pickett is gone. Mitch Trubisky, Matt Canada, Mason Rudolph and Dionate Johnson too.
In their places are two quarterbacks at very different stages of their respective careers - Wilson trying to hold on, Fields looking to prove he’s more than what he showed in Chicago - and an offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith looking for a fresh start after getting fired as Falcons head coach in January and a pair of receivers (Van Jefferson, Scotty Miller) behind budding star George Pickens whose resumes are heavy on Super Bowl rings but relatively light on production.
No wonder there’s a lot of “angst” ahead of Week 1, as Tomlin put it. There’s been more turnover than usual for a franchise that prides itself on its stability. The reality is, no one is quite sure how this is going to go. That’s part of the thrill, and part of the anxiety too.
“It’s a transitional league and our job is to problem solve,” Smith said. “The big part of it is chemistry, getting to know people, getting to know how they think as you’re installing what fits you.”
There’s a dance that comes along with that, one Smith has become well-versed in. Wilson or Fields will be the fifth different Week 1 starting quarterback Smith has used in his past five seasons as a coach. Smith believes a vital part of his job is building trust with whichever player is behind center as quickly as possible.
The process requires a fair amount of give-and-take and more than a dash of honesty, which can prove elusive during the early days of a relationship with a player.
“When you’re new somewhere, you’re out to prove yourself,” he said. “(You’ve got to) let the guard down a little bit. Have real conversations. … You’re trying to find the truth.”
The truth for pretty much everyone involved with the Steelers as they enter 2024 is that everything is on the table.
Pittsburgh somehow made the playoffs last season despite an offense that finished 25th in yards and 28th in points. If the Steelers want to end a postseason playoff win drought that goes back to 2016, they need to be more productive when they have the ball.
They’re going to have to do it with a relatively inexperienced offensive line, a lead running back in Najee Harris playing against the backdrop of his contract year after the team decided not to pick up his fifth-year option, and a passing game that will be a question mark until proven otherwise.
Tomlin counted himself among the group unsure of what the team had at wide receiver behind Pickens and tight end Pat Freiermuth. Sure Miller and Jefferson both have “world champions” attached to their name - Miller with Tampa Bay in 2020, Jefferson with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 - but both were role players at best.
By the middle of training camp, Tomlin had seen enough that his concern eased. He took the uncommon step of stopping by the wide receivers room one day to let them know he believed they were heading in the right direction.
“He came in and he was like, ‘Boom, you all are working hard,’” Calvin Austin III said. “He was giving us the lay of the land and expecting us to do the rest.”
If Pittsburgh is going to take a significant step forward, they’ll have to. The Steelers have remained competitive behind a defense that features stars everywhere you look, from outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith to safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to defensive tackle Cam Heyward.
The offense has largely been a bystander for the better part of a decade. Rooney was emphatic when he said in early February things needed to change.
Fast forward seven months and the unit that will walk into Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday will be littered with new faces both on the field and in the coaching box.
Whether the results will be any different, however, is a mystery at the moment.
Tomlin made it a point to say that the baggage Pittsburgh carries from previous failures is not Smith’s to carry. Yet he picked it up anyway and this Sunday he will lug it into a place he knows intimately.
Not that he’s getting caught up in the drama.
“If you get caught up in that, you’re caught up in the wrong thing,” he said.
Besides, there’s too much else to worry about. The unknown perhaps most of all.
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