"Let's do it! We're going 99!"
That was Benny Snell, erstwhile author of 'Benny Snell football' and anything but the timid type. And that, per his memory, was what he shouted into the huddle late on this wintry Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field as he and the rest of the NFL's most ravaged offense --one in which the rookies, replacements and rejects legitimately outnumber the remaining veterans -- prepared to set sail.
For 99 1/2 yards, if we're being precise.
Even knowing what we know now, with the Steelers having bounced the Browns, 20-13, for their biggest blast of 2019, I'll swear that the feeling from that setting is still no different: The far end zone might as well have been the Point Fountain. A handful of minutes showed on the clock, the lead was down to a single score, and the top quarterback, running back, wide receiver and center were missing. Snell himself, like the quarterback who'd hand him the ball, never ranked higher than fourth on the depth chart back in Latrobe.
And yet ...
"I believed we could do it," Snell was recalling for me. "I believed in my guys, and I believed in myself."
So there they strode, up to that hash ... and they were flagged for a false start.
What, who thought this'd be easy?
That pushed the spot back another few inches, and the 99 1/2 become 99 3/4. Everyone reset, emerged anew from the huddle. And when one fourth-stringer, Devlin 'Duck' Hodges, planted the ball into the belly of the other fourth-stringer, this occurred:
Eleven yards. First down.
And executed elegantly enough that, to be honest, I could watch it on an endless loop. Especially the part where David DeCastro, the only true standout still standing on this offense, strays forward for a TKO of Cleveland linebacker Mack Wilson. Engages forcefully, then manhandles him off to the left.
"I'm not going to lie: That felt good," DeCastro would tell me. "That's one of those good blocks you remember."
He wasn't alone. As Hodges observed, it was "a great hole there," because Matt Feiler got his block, too. As did B.J. Finney. And Ramon Foster. And Zach Banner, with his punctuated by a playful downfield leap.
"It's a huge play for us," Banner, who's already been cut by three NFL teams at age 25, explained. "To get out of there, to get away from the goal posts ... just huge."
No, of course they didn't go all 99 3/4. Football fairy tales only stretch so far. But they did go 46. They did chew up almost four minutes so that 1:58 showed when Jordan Berry was summoned to punt. And if properly measuring expectations, that's pretty good. And plenty good enough to win once Joe Haden wrapped it up with a pick.
It wrapped up a 7-5 record, too, including 7-3 since Ben Roethlisberger went down. And solidified, ever so slightly, the cling they've got on the AFC's final wild-card spot. And set the stage for an inconceivably seismic stretch drive through December:
Head-to-head with the Bills, the other wild-card holder, now flexed into prime time?
Burying Le'Veon Bell along the way in the Meadowlands?
A season-ending showdown in Baltimore?
What a story, huh?
"It's the best," DeCastro would say. "It's fun. All of this is fun. It's like we're out here playing with house money. I mean, can you believe it?"
Not really. But I can believe this, primarily because the players themselves believe it: Mike Tomlin and his coaches aren't getting anywhere near the proper credit for all of the above.
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Still reading?
Hm. One can never be sure, with so many ears sealed off for good on this subject.
Look, there's no question Tomlin's worn out his welcome with a significant percentage of the Steelers' fan base. Some of that's justified, particularly in that there are no positives to cull, nowhere to hide from three playoff wins over eight years. Some of that's personal fatigue, the kind commonly associated with any head coach or manager with a long tenure, as just played out across the way with the Pirates and Clint Hurdle. And at least some of that, I'll never apologize for pointing out, is simple hatred.
With the latter, there's no reasoning. With the rest, possibly, there's at least room for ... I don't know, dialogue?
What we're witnessing is extraordinary, regardless of how the regular season's final quarter plays out. It's unlike any football season this born-and-raised Pittsburgher can recall. There've been bad starts overcome, even a couple 0-4 stinkers that wound up competitive. But nothing like this. Nothing with an 0-3 start, then 1-4, coupled with the loss of this many critical players, including the Canton-bound quarterback ... following a successful tear.
Maybe it's "house money," as DeCastro dubbed it, but it's hardly crypto-currency. This is real.
This, my friends, is real:
And if I'm going to critique Tomlin's work as intensely as I have throughout his tenure, if I'm going to apply the criticism as fairly as the praise, I'll be damned if I'm backing off this: What we're witnessing right now is the very best single-season coaching job of his career. And arguably the very best anywhere in the league in 2019.
Ramon Foster is one of Tomlin's players. He's anything but unbiased. But still, listen to what he told me after this game even though I never brought up the head coach.
"Everybody counted us out," he began replying when I'd asked about these wacky few weeks. "And the coach ... "
He paused and grimaced slightly. This was different. He's not one to measure his words.
"Hey, I'm sorry, but people don't give Coach Tomlin enough credit," he'd continue. "The things he's doing to keep this team together ... for me -- and I've only ever been with one coach — but for me, he's one of the best in the NFL. He's kept everybody focused. He's kept everybody together. There's no outside influences in here because he's made it all about us."
I played devil's advocate. Cited the dynamic defense. Rattled off a few star players still in the lineup.
"Of course, we've got some experienced players in here. Great players. But he's kept us in this. He's kept this thing on the train tracks. The way he treats guys ..."
He took a deep breath, seemingly interrupting himself.
"I feel like I'm trying to defend him so damned much right now, and I really shouldn't have to. There are a lot of coaches who, if they were in our position earlier this season, they'd fold it up. They'd say screw it, we'll just go get a high draft pick. People would tank. This guy ... I can't say enough about him. He never let that in here. Any of it."
That's when Foster turned specific. He retold how Tomlin delivered a speech to the Steelers early Saturday evening, one that barely mentioned the Browns, never mind all the B.S. that occurred in Cleveland a couple weeks earlier. He wanted nothing to do with revenge or even a rivalry. He wanted the W and, as I'd reported Friday from practice, that message penetrated deep.
"It was only about us," Foster said of the message. "And that's how we have to treat it the rest of the season, too. I mean, you see it: We've got too many other issues to worry about other teams."
It was precisely the right approach. This far down the depth chart, there's scant margin for error. Firing up the players beyond their ability to contain it -- and who couldn't expect that with this little experience -- would've been fatal.
But that barely scratches any surface.
If Tomlin and Keith Butler were jointly -- and fairly -- flogged over the defense for years, then what's the response now that they're No. 5 in the NFL in yards allowed per game, No. 8 in points allowed per game and, of course, No. 1 in both interceptions and forced fumbles?
If Tomlin and Randy Fichtner have been jointly -- and often fairly -- flogged for unimaginative playcalling, then what's the response now that they took the field against Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr. and the rest of the Offseason Champion Browns, and outgained them, 323 yards to 279?
If Tomlin and Kevin Colbert were jointly -- though seldom fairly -- flogged for a couple of draft busts (one would think from some reactions they'd selected Jarvis Jones five years in a row), then what's the response to T.J. Watt, the 30th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, now being a bona fide candidate for Defensive Player of the Year? Or Bud Dupree's eruption? Or Terrell Edmunds' now-stabilizing presence? Or, for that matter, the masterful Minkah Fitzpatrick trade?
Anyone picking up on any praise anywhere for any of this?
OK, here's another: If Tomlin's going to get completely demonized -- almost always unfairly -- for the Steelers' alleged lack of control, lack of culture, then what's the response to ... um, almost nothing remotely newsworthy, much less scandalous, since Antonio Brown was dumped?
This coach isn't flawless. Again, I've documented that for a long time. But ripping the guy without ever recognizing his strengths, as has become so prevalent in these parts, particularly when they're this prominent ... that's not right.
Foster wasn't the only one to pipe up on this, by the way. Several other players did, as well. And, strikingly, in each case, they did so unsolicited. Including some of those no-names now all over the roster.
I asked Johnny Holton, who's become proficient in kick coverage, how the team's come together. No mention of Tomlin.
"Everything starts with Coach T," Holton answered. "This is what he preaches, and this is what he practices. Next man up. Standard is the standard. All that stuff. You don't have to be as talented as the guy you're replacing, but you have to do the job."
I went to Kerrith Whyte, who's still prompting everyone to turn to their programs to find out who's No. 40 with each carry. He and Tevin Jones and a slew of other practice-squad outcasts could stroll through Market Square unrecognized even if wearing their jerseys. And I asked him a similar question about the team. Again, no mention of Tomlin.
"There's some great coaching around here, I can tell you that," was how Whyte started. "I'm just happy to be a part of it. It's something special. Those guys, every one of them -- and the players, too -- they showed me love, made me feel welcome ... but they gave me respect, too. You know what I'm sayin'? They believed in me. I feel like I'm part of this."
That was cool. It's no chore for a coach to make Minkah feel welcome. Heck, if I'm Tomlin, I'd be chauffeuring this dude to get groceries. But Tomlin's also the one who, immediately after the win in Cincinnati, was stomping around near the tunnel at Paul Brown Stadium, barking out the names of the no-names.
"Kerrith Whyte! Tevin Jones! Benny Snell football!"
Yeah, he was sure to include 'football' in there.
And then there's Duck.
It's tempting to parse through some of Tomlin's public statements about Hodges and presume a lack of trust. Not just the "don't kill us" joking, either. He bristles when asked almost anything about Hodges, even chides reporters for wanting to create a bigger story than the one that already exists.
But that's par for the course with this coach and newbies, depending on pedigree. If they're instantly exceptional, like a Maurkice Pouncey or Ryan Shazier or Devin Bush, he'll back off right away. He'll let them shine their own light. But when it's someone he perceives as getting too big too fast, he'll swoop in to settle it down. I saw a lot of this in Le'Veon Bell's rookie season, most of it aimed at keeping Bell's head from swelling. It didn't work, obviously, but the method was in motion.
At the same time, he'll find a subtle, individualized way to make each player feel special. A couple summers ago at Saint Vincent, he had a running gag with Mike Hilton that he was too small for the NFL, and each time Hilton would make a play, he'd pop up off the grass and boom toward Tomlin, "Too small! Too small!" To which Tomlin would smile.
After this game, Tomlin was asked how Duck fared.
"He didn’t kill us," came the comeback, along with a loud laugh.
Asked the same question a different way, he drifted back toward the cautious: "I thought he played his tail off. Without over-analyzing it, just a general synopsis, I thought he played his tail off."
Then, asked if he'd spent extensive time with Hodges this past week to prepare him, he offered this: "I did not. I wanted him to know I had confidence in him, and I thought extra time and extra points of emphasis and more dialogue than normal would prove to him that I didn’t. I was very conscious of my interactions with him. It was no more than normal because I wanted him to know that we had real confidence in him."
And finally, asked if Hodges had done enough to start next Sunday in Arizona, he reverted right back: "Yeah, but I'm not ready to talk all of that with you guys today. We will talk about it a little later."
Classic. He thinks he's figured out which buttons to push, even if they're alternating on/off, and he's working Hodges the way he feels he needs to be worked. Which might not be at all how he'd handle someone else.
Like Dupree, for example.
Bud had long looked like a dud to some, mostly because he wasn't getting many sacks. Tomlin and/or Butler -- such lines are always blurred in the Steelers' world -- entered this season, one for which Dupree would be paid a risky $9.25 million to retain his rights, needing to get more production from Bud. Two summers ago, they switched sides for Dupree and Watt to return Dupree to his natural rushing side. That helped. This past summer, they schemed out a plan where Dupree wouldn't need to drop into coverage nearly as much.
Everyone's seen the result.
Debate into infinity if they waited too long for either move, but the fact remains that throughout all that, Dupree gradually added to a pass-rushing arsenal that had been sorely lacking coming out of college. That took time. So did other adjustments, not least of which was sealing the edge on the run, which he now does well. That's patience. That's trust. That's also sound instruction.
Don't ask me. Ask him. But be ready because he's even hotter on this than Foster.
"We've got great coaches," Dupree told me. And this time, I did ask about Tomlin. "When it's all coming together like this ... with all this adversity ... you tell me, right? Where's it coming from?"
Is enough respect given to them?
"Never. Nobody on this staff. Not just Coach T. Nobody. How about Coach Dunbar? Do you think anybody knows how good at detail Coach Dunbar is? They don't. Think they know how good at detail Coach T.A. is? They don't."
Actually, I'm certain that few fans know much of anything about Karl Dunbar, the defensive line coach, or Teryl Austin, the assistant defensive coordinator and secondary coach. But I let him keep going.
"Even Coach Buts. He's been magnificent. All he ever needed was the pieces. Pin the ears back and go. Take us out of coverage and let us rush. Where's the credit? They're doing all this. They're working like crazy. They're making us better."
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The Browns have a head coach, too. And I know that because they introduce one every year, it seems.
Freddie Kitchens will be fired before long, too. Not for wearing the stupid T-shirt ...
Browns coach Freddie Kitchens wears a 'Pittsburgh Started It' shirt ahead of Steelers rematch #Steelers https://t.co/hfmPtd5tRX pic.twitter.com/0oz67C3GB4
— Blitzburgh ? (@SteelBlitzburgh) November 30, 2019
... but because it couldn't be clearer he's overshot his level. His team was poorly constructed with a curious emphasis on skill positions over the trenches, he's bungled strategy time and again and, hey, since I brought it up, he sounded juvenile when asked after this game about the stupid T-shirt.
"I wore a T-shirt. I wore a jacket with it," came the cringeworthy elaboration. "My daughters wanted me to wear the shirt, and I’d wear it again. I put a jacket on. I covered it up. I took a picture with a fan. That was as simple as that. The T-shirt didn’t cause us to give up 40-yard passes. We were ready to play. That’s the only thing people need to be concerned about. We were ready to play."
OK.
"You just don't see things like that from upper management," Foster would say. "I'm glad Coach T doesn't do anything like that."
Loser franchises like Cleveland's change, change, change all the time. I'd written all summer that the Browns were being grossly inflated by all the toys they'd picked up and that their undoing would be their play in the trenches and adjusting to yet another coach.
Tomlin's still here.
He's loving it, too. I don't know if I'd label it a revitalization or rebirth, because I've never seen his energy bar wane, but I also can't recall the last time I've seen Tomlin this stoked after regular-season victories, even in the glory days of the rivalries with the Ravens and Bengals. He was that way a week earlier in Cincinnati, glowing, "Man, we struck a blow for team football today.”
Struck a blow. Yowza.
After this one, it was, "It definitely feels good to win when you're faced with adversity in terms of people available to you. ... We're looking to strike a blow for team in these circumstances, to stand up for the game of football and team, and prove that guys can make plays when given an opportunity. One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. The standard is the standard. And they made all those clichés, if you will, true. So, I am appreciative of that."
Maybe that can be reciprocated a little by all the rest of us.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Browns, Heinz Field, Dec. 1, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS