Tomlin talks special teams

By Bob Labriola
Steelers Digest

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the NFL’s storied franchises, the team with the most wins and the most championships and the fewest head coaches since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, an organization that can serve as an example of how to do all things football.

Except special teams.

Chuck Noll was the last guy in the league to hire a full-time special teams coach, bad special teams play almost cost the Steelers in Super Bowl X against the Dallas Cowboys, and Noll’s 1988 team had six punts blocked. Bill Cowher, who broke into the NFL as a special teams coach, went through five of them during a 15-season career when the Steelers once lost a key game in Cleveland when Eric Metcalf returned two punts for touchdowns and then lost the 2001 AFC Championship Game by 24-17 when they had a punt returned for one touchdown and a blocked field goal returned for another touchdown.

Mike Tomlin is entering his seventh season as the Steelers coach, and he is like Noll and Tomlin in that he also has won a Super Bowl championship, and he seems to have inherited their special teams issues as well. The hiring of Danny Smith on Jan. 31 means Tomlin is now on his fourth special teams coach already.

But there seems to be more optimism about Smith than there was for any of the three guys who preceded him in the job.

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It seems like we have always sucked in special teams. I always seem to dread it when we punt or kick to the other team.

I think last year we were 17th in special teams we can do better then this.