For those who don't know Mike Tomlin is the former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the second longest tenured coach in the league, and never had a losing season before resigning his job last year.
The idea of any NFL head coach having time to do this, especially a winning one, is absurd.
Tomlin is a poster child of how hard it is to drop early impressions of someone. He came in as a hot shot, but after last season he was going on 8 years since a single playoff victory.
He stayed at the Steelers too long. He should have gone somewhere with a better QB, the Steelers should have bottomed out enough to be able to draft a good QB.
Andy Reid is retiring when he gets his 303rd regular season win. At nearly the same time, Tomlin is going to find he once again has the zest for coaching.
He did the best with what he had, as all coaches in the NFL are bound to do. He dealt with a Big Ben playing well into his decline, then a bunch of 2nd and 3rd string QBs, and then the prima donna/flake Aaron Rodgers, which was likely the deciding point for his retirement. He could have had his pick of coaching jobs if he wanted, and the steelers record over his tenure was something most teams would dream of.
Actually, one of the biggest criticisms of him is that he overperformed with bad teams.
The NFL has a draft system where the worst team in the league gets the best pick in the next year's draft.
Tomlin dragging teams that should have won 2 or 3 games into the playoffs each year just to lose immediately meant that the Steelers never got any good draft picks and thus never improved the team year of year.
I don’t think this criticism matches reality though. The Packers did not bottom out to get Aaron Rodgers; the Patriots did not bottom out to get Tom Brady. The Browns did bottom out to get Baker Mayfield; how’d that go?
In fact there are way more examples of bad teams crashing into high picks, and then continuing to crash, than dramatic turn-arounds into Super Bowl victories shortly thereafter.
Good teams and coaches go for the Super Bowl every year because it is impossible to predict when you’ll get there and win. That includes when you have (or don’t have) a great quarterback. You just have to try your hardest every year and hope.
And excellence is a habit, not a dial you can quickly turn from one side to the other over the summer. Most players have short careers and so a team needs them to get better every year in order to hope to peak as a team.
It seems to me like a lot of sports criticism is based in regretful retrospection. “Oh, if only they’d done this or that, they would have won.” But it’s impossible to know what would have happened. Injuries alone are unpredictable and hugely impactful from year to year.
It’s a natural thought, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good way to actually manage a team.
> The Browns did bottom out to get Baker Mayfield; how’d that go?
Browns fan in. Baker had them legit good the COVID year - beat the Steelers in the playoffs, then lost to the Chiefs in large part to a hugely controversial call. Then Baker hurt his non-throwing shoulder trying to tackle someone on and interception that happened because the sprinter masquerading as a wide receiver (Anthony Schwartz) stopped his route. Then Jimmy Haslam, already famous for being a criminal and drafting Johnny Eightball when told to do so by a houseless person in downtown Cleveland told him to, made one of the worst trades in NFL history. Andrew Berry has had really good drafts the last two years which underscores your point.
Funny that Aaron Rodgers thought he would go #1 to his hometown 49ers who instead took Alex Smith. And that SF is killing it this year with Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy (further demonstrating your point).
I was also in Boston when Tom Brady happened; earlier that year I nearly physically ran into Drew Bledsoe. Just to keep things nerdy on HN, later that year I brought down the uni's network but it was not Harvard. Maybe I shouldn't have paid attention to sports so much
QBs are important in the NFL, but so are the other 21 starters, not to mention the reserve players. Consistently going 8-8 or better every year means that a team doesn't have access to high quality talent at a price discount. This is a problem for ultimately winning a championship in any sport with a salary cap.
It's absurd, but he partly reflects on that himself: "But more than anything, it was therapeutic for me. Some mindless entertainment. I'm not a big TV watcher. It allowed me to detach from the realities and the pressures of life."
... and life moved a bit further in those months. Experiences that could be had, meeting people that could have happened.
If its really relaxing to you, I rest my case. It wouldn't be to me, in same way no computer game or general computer activity ever could. Physical movement, ideally in the nature, the wilder the better. If you live too far reconsider permanently improving QoL by moving closer. Recharges batteries like nothing else.
There is still tomorrow to be more active, right, to catch up. But not with the same mindset that wasted today or yesterday.
I'm a somewhat ambitious climber (mostly indoor, however) and am in general very active. Factorio is an effective way to keep my brain busy as sometimes I get overwhelmed with my thoughts. But of course it is not the only thing that I enjoy and the remark about autumn was an exaggeration. I'm also very much against considering days "wasted". Sometimes I just need to take a day off and spend it at home, as long as there is a balance.
Beautifully put, better than I could have, why I don't touch games in general. They're amazing, but they make you feel like you're advancing, achieving, experiencing, when really you're not, you're barely doing anything than jumping into the future. But, as I understand you to mean as well, not everyone is like that, for some it feels to bring balance. In particular, if you're a coach, surely you have no shortage of human interaction, or being outside, doing sports, and networking. But it's not for me for sure.
I'm not sure if you do yourself a favour with that ambition. If you enjoy games from time to time, you're not "wasting" your life. You are doing something that fills you with joy. Striking a balance is of course important, but allowing yourself to relax from time to time and just have a little fun is too.
For sure. Just like movies. Everything in moderation. But I won't buy 60 bucks AAA games, they're either a time sink, or a waste of money. Indie is enough. I uninstalled Factorio after having spent 90% of my free time on it for a few days.
Being an NFL head coach is easily a 60+ hour a week job, especially if you want your team to be good (and the Steelers were consistently at least above average his entire tenure)
The idea that successful people need to be obsessively dedicated that that one thing exclusive to everything else is unhealthy and I think a hustle culture trope.
If anything, I think successful people tend to have a range of pastimes and balanced activities in order to maintain perspective and not burnout.
I think both perspectives are right. Successful people tend to have a range of pastimes but there are episodes in their career lasting 1-2 years where they are maniacally focused on one thing.
CSMastermind · · focus · HN ↗
The idea of any NFL head coach having time to do this, especially a winning one, is absurd.
neogodless · · focus · HN ↗
Overall > 0.5 win rate each year: <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/TomlMi0.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/TomlMi0.htm
But after 2016, playoffs? Not so much.
IncreasePosts · · focus · HN ↗
iambateman · · focus · HN ↗
jjfoooo4 · · focus · HN ↗
iambateman · · focus · HN ↗
jimbokun · · focus · HN ↗
llm_nerd · · focus · HN ↗
CSMastermind · · focus · HN ↗
The NFL has a draft system where the worst team in the league gets the best pick in the next year's draft.
Tomlin dragging teams that should have won 2 or 3 games into the playoffs each year just to lose immediately meant that the Steelers never got any good draft picks and thus never improved the team year of year.
They were stuck in a purgatory of sorts.
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]
snowwrestler · · focus · HN ↗
In fact there are way more examples of bad teams crashing into high picks, and then continuing to crash, than dramatic turn-arounds into Super Bowl victories shortly thereafter.
Good teams and coaches go for the Super Bowl every year because it is impossible to predict when you’ll get there and win. That includes when you have (or don’t have) a great quarterback. You just have to try your hardest every year and hope.
And excellence is a habit, not a dial you can quickly turn from one side to the other over the summer. Most players have short careers and so a team needs them to get better every year in order to hope to peak as a team.
It seems to me like a lot of sports criticism is based in regretful retrospection. “Oh, if only they’d done this or that, they would have won.” But it’s impossible to know what would have happened. Injuries alone are unpredictable and hugely impactful from year to year.
It’s a natural thought, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good way to actually manage a team.
mr_00ff00 · · focus · HN ↗
The Browns are perpetually bad because their owners allow it.
Look at the Lions, new owner, completely new mentality.
The_Blade · · focus · HN ↗
Browns fan in. Baker had them legit good the COVID year - beat the Steelers in the playoffs, then lost to the Chiefs in large part to a hugely controversial call. Then Baker hurt his non-throwing shoulder trying to tackle someone on and interception that happened because the sprinter masquerading as a wide receiver (Anthony Schwartz) stopped his route. Then Jimmy Haslam, already famous for being a criminal and drafting Johnny Eightball when told to do so by a houseless person in downtown Cleveland told him to, made one of the worst trades in NFL history. Andrew Berry has had really good drafts the last two years which underscores your point.
Funny that Aaron Rodgers thought he would go #1 to his hometown 49ers who instead took Alex Smith. And that SF is killing it this year with Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy (further demonstrating your point).
I was also in Boston when Tom Brady happened; earlier that year I nearly physically ran into Drew Bledsoe. Just to keep things nerdy on HN, later that year I brought down the uni's network but it was not Harvard. Maybe I shouldn't have paid attention to sports so much
LogicalRisk · · focus · HN ↗
fittom · · focus · HN ↗
InsideOutSanta · · focus · HN ↗
9dev · · focus · HN ↗
tim-kt · · focus · HN ↗
kakacik · · focus · HN ↗
If its really relaxing to you, I rest my case. It wouldn't be to me, in same way no computer game or general computer activity ever could. Physical movement, ideally in the nature, the wilder the better. If you live too far reconsider permanently improving QoL by moving closer. Recharges batteries like nothing else.
There is still tomorrow to be more active, right, to catch up. But not with the same mindset that wasted today or yesterday.
tim-kt · · focus · HN ↗
ddosmax556 · · focus · HN ↗
9dev · · focus · HN ↗
ddosmax556 · · focus · HN ↗
joquarky · · focus · HN ↗
9dev · · focus · HN ↗
hax0ron3 · · focus · HN ↗
overfeed · · focus · HN ↗
Don't let the "gridset" bros lie to you: one can simultaneously have hobbies and leisure time while being productive and successful.
ls612 · · focus · HN ↗
overfeed · · focus · HN ↗
bookofjoe · · focus · HN ↗
Huh? Try 100+
dv_dt · · focus · HN ↗
If anything, I think successful people tend to have a range of pastimes and balanced activities in order to maintain perspective and not burnout.
mohamedkoubaa · · focus · HN ↗