"Hey, Chief, this is for
you. This guy right here, he's not my father,
but he's my father. I love you, man."
Talking about his stepfather Leslie Copeland
Talking about his stepfather Leslie Copeland
MIKE TOMLIN QUOTESYoungest head coach to win Super BowlIn his second season as head coach, Mike Tomlin took his five-time Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl XLIII and defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23, winning an unprecedented 6th Lombardi Trophy for the Rooney's and the Steeler Nation.
2008 MOTOROLA COACH OF THE YEAR
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"We come together in a very
fluid manner" 2012 QUOTES "The good teams, the dominant
teams, aren't necessarily dominant in stadiums, but they are
dominant largely in moments, when they do what's required to get out
of stadiums with victories." "We're on the outside looking
in" "The excitement that is the
National Football League in the now" "Arrow pointed up" "They're getting on a moving
train" "Long ball hunting at that
point" "The proof is in the pudding" "We don't live in our fears, we
live in our hopes" "Chew the clock mentality" "Practice fields of course, and
game fields, are two different things"
"Very salty and capable" "Savvy route runner" "Sooner or later the dam will
break" "How do you teach someone to
dance? Dance!" "You can't wear yourself out
patting yourself on the back" "He was going to be prepared
above the neck... very cerebral... he's steady eddy"
"Prove that the stage isn't too
big for them" "Seven days does wonders for
injuries" "Have an opportunity to put
their hand in the pile" "I was proud of the guys in the
way they displayed their mettle" "The sequence of events that
bookend halftime" "It's important we get back on
that side of the ledger" "Poor ball security, lapses of
ball security, or ball mechanics" "We appreciate his willingness
to battle"
"Those are the type of
processes that we go through on a week-to-week basis to try to keep
the dogs off us" "As a head coach I've always
got 11 on the grass" "shown great moxie... a viable
guy... no stranger to football... capable men... model of
consistency... record of longevity... an awesome shot in the arm...
football smart" "We knew this was going to be a
Baltimore-Steelers type football game, we're going to be nip and
tuck, I thought it was gritty" "It's about staying in our
wheelhouse" "Players ascend, players
descend" "Excuses are tools of the
incompetent" "He provides a nugget or two of
some clarity when we get mixed signals" "It's not like we've been a
juggernaut in terms of getting turnovers" "He has a relentless motor" "We'll see where the week takes
us, we'll leave the door ajar" "Next man up, he did a nice job
of answering the bell and delivering for us"
"It always starts up front, I
like the personality that's developing within that group" "The guys put their hand in the
pile and delivered plays that came from a variety of places" "I like to think we are a group
on the rise, one that's gelling and coming together, and solidifying
a personality" "I consider him a friend... he
calls me Mikey" (laughing) "He's a 1st round pedigreed
guy, he's a multiple 1,000 yard guy, he's our lead dog if you will" "We need to tighten-up our menu
and lean on the things we are doing well" "We have our marching orders" 2011 QUOTES "We cannot let Josh Cribbs do
what he has done to us time and time again in the past, we've been
dead indians in his cowboy movie enough." "Now it's time for us to get
back in the world of competition." "I haven't ran across a bye
that I didn't like!" "I'm not looking for comfort." "We're living in the here and
now." "They've got some other guys
with legitimate resumes." "It's not going to take one
performance to get that stench off of us."
"I think the people that know and compete in this league
understand that there is a fine line between drinking wine and
squashing grapes. Obviously, last weekend we were grape-squashers." "We didn't perform well. We got
beat. We got beat convincingly by a good football team. We will chew
on that, however tough the meat is."
"Obviously there was some ambient flow and good competitional
contact, and that is the nature of football and really how we want
to play." "We're going into the lion's den in
Baltimore Maryland." 2010 QUOTES "Our intentions have not and will not
change. We have a desire to compete for a world championship each
and every year. We're going to be unwavering in that pursuit."
"Usually when you lose it is because of penalties and turnovers."
"I'm a people watcher, I'm not used to people watching me."
"Fortunately for us we have what you can't buy, which is Legacy,
which is an unbelievable standard and expectation, and all of those
great things."
"He's kind of sucked me into it the last couple of weeks, I'll be
glad when it's over so I can shave mine.''
"They have a rough and tumble crew up front."
"I live by a cliché if you will;
"Ask Troy, he'll be available after he washes his hair."
"Give us a blade of grass, we'll defend it, or attack. We got a
blade there. Good to have a little fortune sometimes.
"They're battle tested"
"You've got to say Charlie's in the pole position" "We're going to be thoughtfully
non-rhythmic here"
"Everybody with a helmet on is in the mix."
"We'll always have open arms for the Commissioner when he chooses to
come to training camp." 2009 and Before..."The sun wasn't up, but it
technically wasn't the middle of the night"
"That is the only guaranteed ticket to this
dance that we're not participating in. If you want a team to be
championship caliber, it starts with division dominance." "From
my perspective, you learn more in failure than you do in
success." "My mentality is singular in that I want to be world champs each and every
year, so that's what we work toward. I have a tough time acknowledging
levels of success short of that. That's just how I'm wired." "Wins and losses are black and white and
it’s pure, it’s purity." "A lot of times familiarity doesn't breed
comfort" "Good to win one for our fans. Got the
greatest fans in the world. Good performance for them, get them
something to be excited about here at Heinz Field. Today I'm just as
excited about that as getting that 5-week monkey off our back." "I'll wear that like a badge of honor. That
comes with the job. I don't live in my fear. I just play to win. I
don't worry about being judged."
"We're going to have to become one with
ourselves, if you will, individually and collectively." "We will not go gently, we will unleash hell
here in December, because we have to. We won't go in the
shell, we will go into attack mode, because that is what is
required." "The arrow is pointing up with him." "Lots of people ride the waves of disruption
that he provides." "Classic AFC North warfare." "Big men on blades of grass... the most
violent team is going to win." "We're going to guard against feelings of
entitlement. We're simply going to be blue collar humble and start a
process of building our football team." "When you step into the stadium, it's not
too big for some, and maybe it's too big for others. People usually
distinguish themselves positively or negatively when you start
playing football games." "We've gotta have Steeler kind of tempo in
our play" "I'm not concerned about avoiding anything
that happened three years ago or worried about letdowns or things of
that nature. When you use the term 'letdown' you proceed with the
assumption that this is a continuation of something that happened in
the past." "The '08 Steelers are the '08 Steelers,
we're here team-building for '09, we're not assuming anything,
that's a dangerous thing. We're going to guard against feelings of
entitlement. We're simply going to be blue-collar and humble and
we're going to start a process of building our football team.”
"I don't view it as something like I won the
lottery. I'm proud of the sacrifices and the accomplishments of the
men involved, but it was something I thought we were capable of. So
the end result doesn't register the response that winning the
lottery or something of that nature, where you have to pinch
yourself." "I'm a private person by nature, this is what I do, it's not who I am."
"Hungry is a word that I've been analyzing here of late. It's not
hunger that drives me, it's not hunger that needs to drive our
football team. Hunger and thirst are things that can be quenched. We
have to be a driven group, we have to seek greatness." "It's not something that I'm going to
attempt to avoid. I think if I attempt to avoid it, I may
acknowledge the possibility of it happening exists." "In order to be a candidate for a
championship caliber team you have to work hard, but within that we
have to find a delicate balance of working smart." "I'm always moving to new challenges. I'm a moving on kind of guy." "Steeler Nation, you leave us all
speechless, man. We just appreciate the love. How about the
Steelers? How about the greatest fans in the world? How about number
six? Thank you, we love you guys." "I actually
never even touched it (the Lombardi trophy during the postgame
celebration). I see five of them every day when I go to work. I know
what they look like. I'm just glad that I can do my part in terms of
contributing to that trophy case." "I'm very blessed to be hired by the Rooney family. They took a chance on a 34-year-old coach with not a long resume. They took a little criticism for it, and I took it personal. I wanted to ante up and add to their legacy."
"We don't live in our fears, we live in our hopes."
"Steeler football is 60 minutes. It's never
going to be pretty. Throw style points out the window, but these
guys will fight to the end. We didn't blink."
"Nothing stays the same in this game, a few will come and go, those
that remain, the roles will change, some will ascend, some will
descend, that's the nature of today's NFL. Our focus will be about
being The One at the end of the season." "What
he did tonight is similar to what he did for us in the month of
January. In big moments, we know what we can get from him." "I wouldn't want to have won this any other
way, with everybody contributing. I'm just glad I could do my part
to contribute to that trophy case."
"The personal sacrifices she made for my
brother and me, and allowed us to do what it is we desire to do. In
the midst of it all, we had a tough upbringing. But never once did
we think that there was something we couldn't do. She's as big a
reason as any why I do what I do today." "You won't hear me say words like 'repeat'
or 'defending' because it will be brand new. This group will always
be special to me. Sometime soon that group will be placed with
others in history, they'll be just that, history." "It was my intent to come in here in 2007 and
draw some hard lines in the dirt as a basis of forming a
relationship with our football team. It's a heck of a lot easier to
pull back than it is to put down."
"I'm probably more in my comfort zone here with the football team
than I was a year ago. Not that I wasn't comfortable but this is
more of who I am." "There are 30 other teams I'm sure that would
love to have the burden that we have this week. So from that
standpoint we're going to embrace it." "There's going to be some joyful lifting for us if you will in terms of some of the tasks we have to do."
"I'm not going to get enamored with where we are right now." "This group understands the standard that comes with being a Pittsburgh Steeler." "There's some above-the-neck preparation that
we'll continue big. There's some below-the-neck preparation that
some guys need."
"Playoff time comes around, you just have to be the same guy. You gotta do the same things that got you there." "...we're in January, it's time for young
guys to grow up." "I tend to attack the challenges that are right in front of me, the ones that I have today." "It's never been our goal (just) to get to the Super Bowl. I think that our guys will keep that in perspective. We're going to Tampa to do the job." "To be quite frank, it is
not normalcy waiting for us on the other end." "We're going to be a humble group. We're
going to be a grounded group. We're going to be a selfless group." "What we are doing here today pales in
comparison to what's going on in our nation's capitol with President
Obama's inauguration" "Iron sharpens iron."
"I am not a proponent of the Gatorade bath"
"We are definitely not going to cut him out.
We are going to save a seat on the bus for 86."
"But I am not a jewelry guy. It is more
about the experience for me than it is the ring." "Change is part of this business, it's going
to happen. Sometimes it's going to be more unpleasant than others,
but it's the nature of what we do." "Be where you're at." |
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