Mike Tomlin named Steelers HC (1 Viewer)

CNNSI.com/Michael Silver

You'd have to think Tomlin would like to bring his Tampa-2 concepts to Pittsburgh, a team that's been a 3-4 zone blitz scheme for years and years. Interestingly, Dungy adapted the Tampa-2 from Bud Carson's Cover-2 schemes during the Steel Curtain years. Could also well mean the end of the Tampa-2 as a base defense in Minnesota.

Very interested to hear Tomlin's thoughts at his opening presser.

ETA: Tomlin has apparently denied the report shortly after it appeared on the CNNSI website.

I think this is a smart move by the Steelers. They have a great track record for hiring coaches and are a coaches dream as far as having a front office that will support and stick by thier coaches.

I feel depressed as a Vikings fan because of this hire. Tomlin had the Viking defense playing the best they have since Dungy left the team a long time ago. I do not think this is a good sign for the Viking defense moving forward.

Just to flesh this out a little more...

The Steeler personnel isn't a great fit for a Tampa-2 scheme, but it really isn't that bad either.

The biggest issue will be finding an edge rusher that can hold up against the run. I don't know that Jerry Porter can succeed as a down lineman. Clark Haggans is an interesting option, but he's probably a better fit as a SLB in this scheme -- and a pretty good one at that. Casey Hampton would still fit as the NT in this scheme and Brett Keisel has a skill set that would work well as the three technique DT.

James Farrior at MLB and Larry Foote at the Will are probably good enough fits. Farrior is a little long in the tooth to be dropping in coverage quickly but has the smarts to coordinate the scheme. Foote won't be a Lance Briggs type at the Will, but has some pursuit and zone coverage ability. Troy Polamalu would easily be the best safety this scheme has ever seen and could compensate for some of the coverage issues underneath. I doubt the Steelers would move him up to the WLB role, but that would be pretty exciting, especially in Tomlin's very aggressive form of the T2. And all three Steeler corners are good fits for a Cover-2 scheme. All tackle relatively well in run support and are plenty physical for short and intermediate zone coverage.

They could use an edge rusher -- Leonard Little, Patrick Kerney, and Dwight Freeney are available. And, while not critical, an upgrade at MLB and WLB might be nice.

But it's not as ugly as it looks.

.............HOLD THE PHONE!

Tomlin has not been hired as the Steelers HC. SI is reporting this as of 3:50 PM (Eastern Time).

Let's hope this is true, because I have A. Winfield on my roster and would love to have Tomlin back in Viking Country!

RAPTURE

Doo said:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2732197

Done deal, Tomlin the new Steelers HC

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Actually, now the Post-Gazette is saying its Russ Grimm. Ain't today's media grand?

Sure hope it is Grimm, football is won in the trenches...

Jene Bramel said:

Doo said:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2732197

Done deal, Tomlin the new Steelers HC

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Actually, now the Post-Gazette is saying its Russ Grimm. Ain't today's media grand?

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Hey, who cares if the media's right, as long as they're first! Still Jene, good info on Tomlin, who undoubtedly is going to be a HC candidate for teams going forward.

msommer said:

Sure hope it is Grimm, football is won in the trenches...

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It now seems to be Tomlin - and they report LeBeau and Grimm likely gone.If Lebeau goes and they go to a 4-3 I'd have to think Porter is the odd man out considering his play since he was shot in the posterior (and his 4M price tag). Haggans and Foote will man the outside? I'd have to think Foote would be SLB. James Harrison? Rian Wallace?They seem to be short of pass rushing DEs - will Smith and Keisel do or will either be moved to tackle? At 285 Keisel might stay at end if he is fast enough. Hampton is due 4M - is Hoke a better fit to clog up the middle?It is not impossible they will go hybrid for awhile until the players match the scheme.

talk about a big kick to the nutsack.

When the hell are the vikes going to be able to have a defensive coordinator for more than a year or two?

reg said:

talk about a big kick to the nutsack. When the hell are the vikes going to be able to have a defensive coordinator for more than a year or two?

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And we are back to square one trying to determine which D players have any value in MIN...

msommer said:

msommer said:

Sure hope it is Grimm, football is won in the trenches...

Click to expand...

It now seems to be Tomlin - and they report LeBeau and Grimm likely gone.If Lebeau goes and they go to a 4-3 I'd have to think Porter is the odd man out considering his play since he was shot in the posterior (and his 4M price tag). Haggans and Foote will man the outside? I'd have to think Foote would be SLB. James Harrison? Rian Wallace?They seem to be short of pass rushing DEs - will Smith and Keisel do or will either be moved to tackle? At 285 Keisel might stay at end if he is fast enough. Hampton is due 4M - is Hoke a better fit to clog up the middle?It is not impossible they will go hybrid for awhile until the players match the scheme.

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See my post above. Foote would work as a SLB in a Tampa-2 scheme, but is probably a better fit at the Will than anybody else on the roster. I think Haggans is the better SLB fit. If Tomlin tends toward the more aggressive looks he used (little less T2, little more frequent LB blitzes), Haggans is a very good option. He's shown enough aptitude in coverage to work on the strong side. I think Keisel and Hampton are the most likely tackles. I'm not sure Hoke is a great fit in either role. Hampton is a great fit as the NT in this defense and will give great value to whomever plays the three-technique role. And I completely agree on Porter. I see him as a situational player in a 4-3 T2 scheme. Since it was considered questionable that the Steelers would pay him this off-season's roster bonus, he probably is done.Going to need a pass rusher to make the T2 work, though, so unless they get one this off-season, it's very likely that you'll see other coverage mixed in as you said.

msommer said:

reg said:

talk about a big kick to the nutsack. When the hell are the vikes going to be able to have a defensive coordinator for more than a year or two?

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And we are back to square one trying to determine which D players have any value in MIN...

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This will be interesting, too. With Barry in Detroit now, there's not a ready-made T2 coach available to move into this DC position. The Vikings aren't exactly a quick, smallish team at this point, though, so that's not essential.It probably means that EJ Henderson's value drops back in a standard 4-3 look, although it obviously rises again if he gets moved back to MLB in a different scheme. Greenway probably has much less value long term than he would have if the T2 had stuck. And Cedric Griffin's value takes a hit outside of the Cover-2 as well.We'll see.

Labeau retained in PIT

Tomlin said he wouldn't rush to install the 4-3 and will retain defensive coordinator **** LeBeau, a proponent of the 3-4 and zone blitzing schemes. Instead, Tomlin plans to match his defenses to the skills of the players he has -- and he is not yet ready to say which defense that will be.

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I still think Porter is gone.....

Leslie Frazier new Minny DC.

Tomlin's departure shouldn't change the scheme.

[Colts assistant handed reins to Vikings defense

Leslie Frazier named the team's new defensive coordinator.]By Kevin Seifert, Star Tribune

Last update: February 09, 2007 – 12:34

Sometimes, Vikings coach Brad Childress said Thursday, "you wait for good things."

And so ended the Vikings' 18-day search for a defensive coordinator, culminating with the hiring of Indianapolis assistant Leslie Frazier. A "Tampa-2" devotee who plans to incorporate more blitzes into his scheme, Frazier beat out in-house candidates Karl Dunbar -- the Vikings defensive line coach -- and linebackers coach Fred Pagac.

A half-dozen names circulated as possibilities to replace the departed Mike Tomlin.

Childress said he talked to "a lot of people" about the job. But it is believed Childress quickly narrowed the field to Frazier, Dunbar and Pagac, forcing him to hold off a decision until after the Colts' season ended Sunday in Super Bowl XLI.

In discussing the decision, Childress noted Frazier's pedigree -- he won the Super Bowl as a player and coach -- as well as his familiarity with his preferred scheme. Frazier spent two seasons working for Colts coach Tony Dungy, who developed the "Tampa-2" defense. Frazier also helped incorporate parts of Chicago's old "46" scheme while working as an assistant in Philadelphia from 1999-2002.

"It was very important," Childress said, "to get somebody who understood the structure of this defense. ... In addition to that, I think you get from his background the ability to get after people with some of the blitzes we did [in Philadelphia]."

Frazier worked as a special assistant to Dungy last season and also coached defensive backs with fellow assistant Alan Williams. The Vikings contacted him for an interview Tuesday, and by Thursday morning he had agreed to a contract.

"I felt like when I took the job in Indy, my role was to help the Colts get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl," Frazier said. "Then after we won it the other night, I said, 'Hey, I don't know if an opportunity will come, but I feel like I have accomplished what I came here to do.' I feel the same way about this opportunity in Minnesota."

Frazier's playing career as a cornerback ended in 1986, when he suffered a major knee injury while playing for the Bears in Super Bowl XX. As a coach, he is credited for improving the defensive backfield at each stop. The Vikings finished 2006 with the NFL's lowest-ranked pass defense, and Frazier said: "We'll improve the pass defense. History says so.

"If you take a look wherever I have been and working with a group," he said, "our secondary has done pretty good. ... So that doesn't frighten me at all. Improving the pass defense, I think we can do enough things to accomplish that goal."

That experience does not include Frazier's rocky stint as Cincinnati's defensive coordinator from 2003-04. His philosophy clashed with coach Marvin Lewis, who once stripped him of defensive play-calling duties, and Frazier was fired after the 2004 season.

"If [defense] is your background," Frazier said, "it's a hard thing to let it go and trust. My personality, some people would say I'm a soft-spoken guy. But I have some strong convictions about certain things. Certain things, I'm not necessarily going to compromise on."

As he did with Tomlin, Childress pledged to give Frazier the necessary latitude for the job.

"I have some things that are important to me," Childress said. "But I think you screw it up as a head coach that has been involved offensively, to think you are going to jump in and say, 'You know, I've done offense my whole life, but in this job I'm going to jump in and I'm going to get real involved with the defense. You hire guys to be experts ... and let them do their job."