"I start with the thumb."
That was Mike Tomlin talking about accountability. Talking about himself.
As if.
I'll let everyone else focus on Tomlin's press conference from the Antonio Brown perspective. There'll be tons of that all over the place, and our site certainly won't be an exception.
But, unlike the head coach of Pittsburgh's once-proud Steelers, I'm not going to duck behind the drama and avoid most anything having to do with actual football. Because the people who follow this team passionately deserved answers on this Wednesday at the Rooney Complex -- real answers to real questions about real football issues -- and this event had been set up in a way that was never going to allow that.
Which, to be blunt, was as telling as it was deeply disappointing.
Start with this: At 12:06 p.m., it began. At 12:36 p.m., it ended. Exactly a half-hour. That's not an accident. Because in the final few minutes of that half-hour, Burt Lauten, the Steelers' director of media relations, informed all of us that there would be, "Three more questions," which is not something Lauten ever does and, moreover, not something he'd have any reason to do. Unless he'd been told in advance by his boss that he wouldn't go longer than a half-hour.
So Tomlin took to the podium and, as with his standard press conferences, he opened with a monologue. This one lasted ... wait for it: 12 minutes and 53 seconds.
Nearly a third of what now, clearly, was the allotted time.
How convenient.
Oh, the monologue addressed the Brown matter, but not with any meaningful substance or specificity. In fact, at one point, Tomlin acknowledged, "I'm sure you're going to have questions about this."
You think?
The questions came. As he knew they would. And they came. And they came some more. Because that's how these things go with a topic that scorches like this. Every media outlet covets a chance to be attached to the hard-hitting question that winds up producing the moment of what's supposed to be a hard-hitting press conference. So there will be -- and there was -- repetition upon repetition regarding Brown.
Time elapsed until the first actual football question, one from our Dale Lolley regarding the future of Tomlin's coaching staff: 22 minutes and 30 seconds.
Which, unbeknownst to everyone in the room except Tomlin and Lauten, left barely seven minutes for everything else.
In the past, Tomlin would sit until every last question had been posed, at which point Lauten would scan the room and ask, "Anything else for Coach?" But not this time.
So seven minutes were left, theoretically, to cover an entire season.
Again, how convenient.
And you know, good for Tomlin. He pulled it off. Because once those "three more questions" were asked -- and two of those were about Brown, as well, plus another about Le'Veon Bell that was more drama fare -- he was able to hastily exit the room without having to answer or account for the following:
• Had it occurred to him that, had he simply sent Ben Roethlisberger right back onto the field in Oakland, he'd be talking about the playoffs now?
• Could he pinpoint any progress in the defense under his and Keith Butler's dual watch?
• How to explain 11 consecutive failed replay challenges?
• Would he consider hiring specialty coaches to assist with challenges, clock management and/or issues related to rules interpretations, as several other NFL teams have done?
• Has enough emphasis been placed on drafting playmakers on defense, given the presence of five first-round picks and two second-rounders on a unit that couldn't create takeaways all season?
This list could go on forever. And trust me, these are the types of questions -- not AB, not the drama -- that any coach most wants to avoid. Because these cut to the bone. These cut beyond finger-wagging over who said what to whom before this practice or that game, and it penetrates through to professional performance as a football coach.
And you'd better believe these are the ones he wasn't willing -- or worse, equipped -- to answer.
Further proof?
When one reporter brought up the Steelers adding only Jon Bostic at inside linebacker to accompany Vince Williams, this was Tomlin's verbatim reply: “You know, I love what they were willing to do, the way that they approached it, but I’m not ready to assess or evaluate any element of play in a significant way in this setting today. We’re just beginning the process of evaluating and assessing, so, you know ... I can give you a canned answer, I can give you something of that nature, but legitimately assessing it and framing it in the ways in which it needs to be framed, I’m not going to get into that today. I’m looking at a thorough review of all components of our team and, obviously, inside linebacker is a part of it. I appreciate the contributions of those men. They had their moments, man. They really stepped up and delivered in a lot of ways, but I’m not ready to assess — and particularly assess in the ways that would lead to laying a foundation for ’19 and talking about needs and things of that nature. We’re just not there. And we’re not going to be there because of the things that I’ve outlined to this point regarding where we are, how we need to look at time and specifically in the short term.”
That's as exhausting as it is empty, right?
But hey, it probably took all the control Tomlin could muster to avoid looking over to Lauten after that and beaming, "How'd I do, Burt? Minute and a half there, and I didn't say a thing!"
Look, I'm not suggesting the Brown stuff wasn't important. Nor that the media priority was misplaced. So please don't interpret this either way.
The point here is that a coach who relentlessly preaches accountability set up this press conference in a way he knew he'd sidestep precisely that. What's more, he knew he'd be able to sidestep everything for months, since the next time he speaks after any season is at the NFL owners' meetings, more than two months from now.
Which stinks.
Not because reporters don't get answers. Not even because you don't get answers. But because it's the first indelible indication that nothing will change about the Steelers' processes at a juncture that Tomlin himself described as "our darkest hour." He'll continue to operate as he always has, independent of any accountability except for that which he manufactures within his mind.
Or with that mythical thumb.
