Poll: John Harbaugh or Mike Tomlin?

[polamalubeast]

Earlier this month, I wrote a column on how John Harbaugh's impressive start has put him in line to be recognized as the NFL's next great coach. ESPN's Greg Garber believes Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin deserves to be included in the conversation as well.



These AFC North coaches have produced comparable and highly successful numbers. Harbaugh and Tomlin both have won a Super Bowl. In five seasons, Harbaugh has a 63-30 record (.677), won two AFC North titles and advanced to the AFC Championship game three times. In six seasons, Tomlin has a 68-36 record (.654), won three division titles and went to two Super Bowls.

Where Harbaugh has separated himself, in my opinion, is the past four years. The Steelers have missed the playoffs in two of the past four seasons and haven't won a postseason game since beating the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game in January 2011. Over that same span, the Ravens went to the playoffs each year and won seven playoff games, including four on the road.

So, let's project who is going to be considered the more accomplished coach when their careers are over. Record your vote for either Harbaugh or Tomlin in the poll and let me know your thoughts by dropping me a note (let's limit it to three or four sentences) to the AFC North mailbag. Your comment could be used in a blog post when I return from my short break.




http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/pos...or-mike-tomlin

[ALLD]

Both Harbaugh's are douche'-bags. Steelers have had 3 total HCs since 1969 and none were DBs. In fact, Coach Noll is a legend in sport's history.

[fansince'76]

Advantage: Tomlin - 7-5, including 2-0 in the postseason.

[Shoes]

[st33lersguy]

I know I am going to get a lot of heat for this and I know John Harbaugh is a major jackass, but he is one hell of a coach. Unlike Tomlin he's taken his team to the playoffs every year, unlike Tomlin he wins every year without an elite QB, and it's not like Tomlin has more Superbowls. Considering that when he took over, the Rats missed the playoffs 3 times in the previous 4 years and went 5-11 the year before, he has to get credit for sending that team in the right direction and getting them to win.

[fansince'76]

I know I am going to get a lot of heat for this and I know John Harbaugh is a major jackass, but he is one hell of a coach. Unlike Tomlin he's taken his team to the playoffs every year, unlike Tomlin he wins every year without an elite QB, and it's not like Tomlin has more Superbowls.

One of those seasons they both finished 9-7 and the Ravens got in on a tiebreaker. The only difference last year between the Ravens missing the playoffs entirely and the Steelers going instead was a Jacoby Jones punt return. And we also had the added bonus of playing them both times last year without said elite QB who has pretty much made a career of owning that team's collective ass.

You want to chalk that up to superior coaching? OK. I call it luck, especially considering that Tomlin is 2-0 against Harbaugh in the postseason, with one of those wins coming back from a 2-TD halftime deficit.

Hensley doesn't even write this piece if Rahim Moore does his job and doesn't let a blind prayer get behind him.



Again, dumb luck. Jones had to practically turn all the way around to get it and still walked into the endzone, that's how bad that coverage was.

[tube517]

Lets see how douchebaugh handles his team being broken apart this year. They almost lost to dennis fn dixon and byron unbreakablewich

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[st33lersguy]

One of those seasons they both finished 9-7 and the Ravens got in on a tiebreaker. The only difference last year between the Ravens missing the playoffs entirely and the Steelers going instead was a Jacoby Jones punt return.

You want to chalk that up to superior coaching? OK. I call it luck, especially considering that Tomlin is 2-0 against Harbaugh in the postseason, with one of those wins coming back from a 2-TD halftime deficit.

Hensley doesn't even write this piece if Rahim Moore does his job and doesn't let a blind prayer get behind him.



Again, dumb luck. Jones had to practically turn all the way around to get it and still walked into the endzone, that's how bad that coverage was.

In '09 Tomlin would have would have made the playoffs while Harbaugh would have stayed home even with that loss if Tomlin would have beaten one of the following bottom feeders, Chiefs Raiders or Browns, 3 teams that finished a combined 14-34, couldn't do it, they lost to all three of those crap teams and allowed for that tie-breaker to be possible. Also funny you mention the special teams breakdown. I doubt that breakdown happens had Tomlin actually made an effort during the course of the season to correct the special teams which was clearly horrendous from the beginning. Nope, he allows the special teams to continue to be horrendous throughout the year and it cost them. Another difference between Baltimore making the playoffs and not Pittsburgh was Baltimore winning the majority of their close games and coming up big in most of the clutch situations while Pittsburgh lost the close games and came up small in most clutch situations which reflects more favorably on Harbaugh. Besides Pittsburgh would have made the playoffs even with that loss had his team beat Oakland Cleveland and Tennessee like they were more than capable of. You talk about the slimmest of margins being the difference between John making the playoffs while Mike misses out while failing to mention that Mike put his team in that situation because of failures he created.

[Edman]

One of those seasons they both finished 9-7 and the Ravens got in on a tiebreaker. The only difference last year between the Ravens missing the playoffs entirely and the Steelers going instead was a Jacoby Jones punt return. And we also had the added bonus of playing them both times last year without said elite QB who has pretty much made a career of owning that team's collective ass.

You want to chalk that up to superior coaching? OK. I call it luck, especially considering that Tomlin is 2-0 against Harbaugh in the postseason, with one of those wins coming back from a 2-TD halftime deficit.

Hensley doesn't even write this piece if Rahim Moore does his job and doesn't let a blind prayer get behind him.



Again, dumb luck. Jones had to practically turn all the way around to get it and still walked into the endzone, that's how bad that coverage was.

You know what they say. It's better to be lucky than good.

Once out of ten times that duck gets broken up or intercepted. It's not even a good hail mary throw. Utterly terrible throw, but because Rahim Moore was a jackass, it goes down as one of the better plays in NFL history.

[polamalubeast]

One of those seasons they both finished 9-7 and the Ravens got in on a tiebreaker. The only difference last year between the Ravens missing the playoffs entirely and the Steelers going instead was a Jacoby Jones punt return. And we also had the added bonus of playing them both times last year without said elite QB who has pretty much made a career of owning that team's collective ass.

You want to chalk that up to superior coaching? OK. I call it luck, especially considering that Tomlin is 2-0 against Harbaugh in the postseason, with one of those wins coming back from a 2-TD halftime deficit.

Hensley doesn't even write this piece if Rahim Moore does his job and doesn't let a blind prayer get behind him.



Again, dumb luck. Jones had to practically turn all the way around to get it and still walked into the endzone, that's how bad that coverage was.

At the same time,the ravens was unlucky in 2011 vs Patriots(The drop of Lee Evans...)...And I agree with you for the rest

- - - Updated - - -

In '09 Tomlin would have would have made the playoffs while Harbaugh would have stayed home even with that loss if Tomlin would have beaten one of the following bottom feeders, Chiefs Raiders or Browns, 3 teams that finished a combined 14-34, couldn't do it, they lost to all three of those crap teams and allowed for that tie-breaker to be possible. Also funny you mention the special teams breakdown. I doubt that breakdown happens had Tomlin actually made an effort during the course of the season to correct the special teams which was clearly horrendous from the beginning. Nope, he allows the special teams to continue to be horrendous throughout the year and it cost them. Another difference between Baltimore making the playoffs and not Pittsburgh was Baltimore winning the majority of their close games and coming up big in most of the clutch situations while Pittsburgh lost the close games and came up small in most clutch situations which reflects more favorably on Harbaugh. Besides Pittsburgh would have made the playoffs even with that loss had his team beat Oakland Cleveland and Tennessee like they were more than capable of. You talk about the slimmest of margins being the difference between John making the playoffs while Mike misses out while failing to mention that Mike put his team in that situation because of failures he created.

In 2008, the Steelers were the best team in the clutch

In fact, four of the last six seasons, the Steelers have won a lot of close game

[polamalubeast]

You know what they say. It's better to be lucky than good.

Once out of ten times that duck gets broken up or intercepted. It's not even a good hail mary throw. Utterly terrible throw, but because Rahim Moore was a jackass, it goes down as one of the better plays in NFL history.

Yeah,but Flacco make the right play.......Flacco had nothing to lose with this pass


If it would have been an interception, it would have been the right play,because Flacco had to take a risk in this situation

[fansince'76]

In '09 Tomlin would have would have made the playoffs while Harbaugh would have stayed home even with that loss if Tomlin would have beaten one of the following bottom feeders, Chiefs Raiders or Browns, 3 teams that finished a combined 14-34, couldn't do it, they lost to all three of those crap teams and allowed for that tie-breaker to be possible. Also funny you mention the special teams breakdown. I doubt that breakdown happens had Tomlin actually made an effort during the course of the season to correct the special teams which was clearly horrendous from the beginning. Nope, he allows the special teams to continue to be horrendous throughout the year and it cost them. Another difference between Baltimore making the playoffs and not Pittsburgh was Baltimore winning the majority of their close games and coming up big in most of the clutch situations while Pittsburgh lost the close games and came up small in most clutch situations which reflects more favorably on Harbaugh. Besides Pittsburgh would have made the playoffs even with that loss had his team beat Oakland Cleveland and Tennessee like they were more than capable of. You talk about the slimmest of margins being the difference between John making the playoffs while Mike misses out while failing to mention that Mike put his team in that situation because of failures he created.

Clutch? Yes, never mind that late season swoon by the Ravens last year when they went from a 9-2 record and practically running away with the division to finishing 10-6 and squeaking out yet another tiebreaker in the playoff seedings against the Bengals who finished with the same record. For all Harbaugh's supposed prowess as a coach, you think they could win the division outright once in a while instead of leaving their postseason fate to the vagaries of the NFL's tiebreaker system the last two years. Especially when they have a full three-game lead in the standings over their closest division rival heading into week 13.

Look, it's no secret you don't like "Momlin." At all. So I'm not going to argue anymore about it. But at the end of the day, Tomlin still has the better record head-to-head between the two and has a 2-0 cushion on the "brilliant" coach Harbaugh in the postseason, doesn't he?

[Seven]

Tomlin vs. Harbaugh. 7-5. 2-0 playoffs. Advantage: Tomlin. /end discussion.

[polamalubeast]

Even if we do not like Harbaugh,he is a great coach....Same thing for Tomlin

In general,the ravens fan and the steelers fan are happy with their HC

[43Hitman]

This. So much fucking this. Good fucking God, why can't we be satisfied with our own successes?

[Dwinsgames]

Tomlin without hesitation , yes I am critical of him because I see some major flaws in his coaching however even with those flaws he is still a top 10 coach in this league ( perhaps top 5 could be argued compellingly )

that does not mean he can not be better because he can be and I would like to see him improve on his flaws just as much as he would like to see his players improve upon their flaws ....

some could say its easy to look like a good coach when you have a talented team and to a point that argument could be considered valid .....

evidence of that IMO would be this ...

Would you consider Barry Switzer a superior couch to Bill Cowher ? I certainly would not

[ALLD]

The only difference is that Harbaugh got more of his players to play for him while we had problems with Wallace and and the RB. Plus our OL is always injury prone.

[Seven]

The only difference is that Harbaugh got more of his players to play for him while we had problems with Wallace and and the RB. Plus our OL is always injury prone.

For him? How about despite him. Google: Ravens mutiny. Harbaugh is the reason half of a Super Bowl winning defense bolted from the team this offseason.

[tube517]

Reminds me of the Landry vs Noll arguments. Landry is supposedly the "better" coach despite losing twice to Noll and losing 3 Super Bowls while Noll never lost one.

Mike T's story is still unfinished. Perfect? Hell No. Great? Don't know. Too early. Good? Yes. So far.

[Psycho Ward 86]

more AFC North crowns, more superbowl appearances, better heads up record. ill take tomlin, but only by a hair on my ass. definitely have to hand it to harbaugh even if you dont like him

[steelerdude15]

For him? How about despite him. Google: Ravens mutiny. Harbaugh is the reason half of a Super Bowl winning defense bolted from the team this offseason.

I didn't hear of this until now. Very interesting and I wonder why this wasn't a bigger story at the time.

[jb500ex]

I would take Jim over both of them In a second