Is Bruce Arians a better head coach than Mike Tomlin?

[zulater]

Loses his starting qb and goes into Giants stadium (or whatever it's called these days) and comes away with a win. This after already losing arguably his best defensive player before the season started. Never been his biggest fan, but I got to admit he seems to be doing one helluva good job.

[polamalubeast]

Bruce Arians is 21-9 as Head Coach.(9-3 with the colts,12-6 with the Cards)

[Nadroj 20]

He gets the job done that's for sure. I guess I can't decide if he is better than Tomlin though. We've struggled in recent years and that superbowl Tomlin won seems to be ages ago. This is more his team now then ever and we always seem to play .500 ball.

[Steelerette]

Arians always had a good football mind. The problem with him at OC was that he gameplanned for the players he wished he had, instead of the ones he actually had.

As HC he's going to have more control over personnel and scheme, and his coordinators are going to have to deal with what he passes down to them. Nothing about his failures as an OC really translated into him not being able to do the job at HC. Just don't let your hindsight get too blurry. He may well have done fine as HC here but the timing wasn't right so we'll never know. He still didn't really work as our OC with Tomlin and Colbert up top.

[X-Terminator]

Wait...weren't you one of the leaders of the "Fire Arians" brigade? And weren't you also one of those who mocked the very suggestion that he could be a good head coach, as suggested once-upon-a-time by Marianne? And now you are singing his praises???

[GBMelBlount]

Hire Arians!

[Count Steeler]

Seriously?

[Shoes]

Hire Arians!

[muncher]

both those other coaches have coached up mediocre talent, tomlin has coached ours down

[fansince'76]

Yep, guess that explains Whiz's stellar 46-52 regular season and 50-54 overall record as a NFL HC...

[Texasteel]

I believe I can hear Marianne laughing right now.

[GBMelBlount]

both those other coaches have coached up mediocre talent, tomlin has coached ours down

But Muncher, you can't be serious?

[Dwinsgames]

it doesn't matter we have who we have ....

that being said in my opinion he should be considered on the hot seat ( even though he will not actually be on it because we wont be firing him ) he will get a pass because of his Lombardi in the trophy case and we do not fire guys who bring home the hardware ...

lackluster performances / seasons when you have a " franchise QB " should cost you your job and in many cities it does , just not here

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But Muncher, you can't be serious?

at first glance I seen Butt Muncher

[86WARD]

But Muncher, you can't be serious?

[Godfather]

I'd put them all about the same. Wiz made it within minutes of a Lombardi when he had a borderline Hall of Famer at QB. When he had to make do with those other guys he fell on his face. Tomlin gave us our sixth Lombardi when Troy/Clark/Deebo/Diesel/Big Snack were in their prime. Arians is making some early noise at his current gig.

None of them are going to make chicken salad out of chicken manure. But they're all capable of winning big if they have a good roster. That puts them ahead of guys like Garrett who ice their own kicker.

[Butch]

You know it's funny, I didn't want B.A. as our OC and I was glad to see him leave...still am. He did very good as an OC. in other places I just didn't care for him here, and his record as an HC is impressive. There are many coaches who are Great at being coordinators and not very good at being an HC ie... Dick LeBeau as well as some others. Maybe the opposite is true of B.A., if it is then good for him. Does he look like a better H.C. than Tomlin yeah he does.

[Count Steeler]

But BA had Pagano's players and Whiz's players.

[muncher]

so you guys sucking tomlin's sack think the other 2 teams rosters are more talented than ours?

[Texasteel]

Muncher, Would you like to rewrite you post just a little maybe?

[steelreserve]

so you guys sucking tomlin's sack think the other 2 teams rosters are more talented than ours?

Muncher, Would you like to rewrite you post just a little maybe?

I fully support that post.


On topic: I didn't like Arians as an OC, still don't, but he seems to have what it takes to be a head coach. Maybe he's like the reverse Norv Turner.

If we're comparing him to Tomlin, I don't think there's much of a comparison. Arians has taken over in two situations that could have gone either way, and done better than expected. Tomlin took over a Super Bowl winning team and has overseen a steady decline. Yeah, yeah, I know, we had certain things working against us because we were trying to "keep the core together for one more run," but he's not exactly done much to show that he's on top of it and mercilessly marching us back to the top. In fact, he barely even looks like he's in control of the team at all. That, as much as any of the on-field results from the past three seasons, makes me worried as hell.

[zulater]

Wait...weren't you one of the leaders of the "Fire Arians" brigade? And weren't you also one of those who mocked the very suggestion that he could be a good head coach, as suggested once-upon-a-time by Marianne? And now you are singing his praises???

I asked a question. .Didn't suggest there was one answer above all others now did I? Also open minded people can change their mind as facts and information change. .Try it sometime.

Regardless I stand by what I said at the time. I gave him praise and blame equally as deserved. Or as I believed anyway. I never took it personally one way or the other. Some of you did, as if you were Bruce's children. Never quite figured that one out? And those of us who dared believe Bruce fell out of favor with the Rooney's, that the press didn't just make it up when they said he was almost fired were proven correct over time. You guys really liked telling us how stupid we were when the Steelers changed their mind and lied after the fact.
That is until the Steelers changed their minds again, and lied about it after the fact.


Also I'm the guy who voted for Tomlin on the poll, for whatever that's worth.


I post what I believe will make interesting topics. Thought this would provide for some interesting conversation.

[JayC]

i never liked BA because i thought he was stubborn but i have begun to think it's more of an organizational stubbornness of the Steelers than individual. i don't know what tomlin has been trying to do the past 3 years. this team has a bad habit of being unprepared and they love to put themselves into a huge hole or blow whatever lead they have. they don't even seem to make adjustments throughout the game.

i'm starting to think Tomlin is not a good coach at all. He is all talk and no substance. So at this moment in time BA > Tomlin. I was not saying that 3 years ago. Winning/losing changes everything.

[zulater]

Bruce is really having a helluva retirement in Arizona.

[Lambert_Loonie]

Loses his starting qb and goes into Giants stadium (or whatever it's called these days) and comes away with a win. This after already losing arguably his best defensive player before the season started. Never been his biggest fan, but I got to admit he seems to be doing one helluva good job.

You know the Giants are playing like shit right now, right (and that they usually have been in the first half of the season for several years now)? No win in the NFL is easy. But let's not act like the Cards went to Seattle and beat them 70-3.

Bruce drove me bonkers as OC but I'll give him his due in Arizona. Going 10-6 in the most competitive division in the NFL with a team that's regarded by the majority of football fans to be compiled of hasbeens and never-was's (with the exceptions being Larry Fitzgerald and Patrick Peterson, of course) is pretty impressive considering his limited Head Coaching experience. He's definitely showing he has a pretty good idea how to get the most out of his players. But I think it's too early in his tenure to determine whether he's better at his job than Tomlin or Whiz.

[zulater]

You know the Giants are playing like shit right now, right (and that they usually have been in the first half of the season for several years now)? No win in the NFL is easy. But let's not act like the Cards went to Seattle and beat them 70-3.

Bruce drove me bonkers as OC but I'll give him his due in Arizona. Going 10-6 in the most competitive division in the NFL with a team that's regarded by the majority of football fans to be compiled of hasbeens and never-was's (with the exceptions being Larry Fitzgerald and Patrick Peterson, of course) is pretty impressive considering his limited Head Coaching experience. He's definitely showing he has a pretty good idea how to get the most out of his players. But I think it's too early in his tenure to determine whether he's better at his job than Tomlin or Whiz.

Actually Eli was playing pretty well today. I don't think that was quite the tap in putt you're making it to be.

[Lambert_Loonie]

Actually Eli was playing pretty well today. I don't think that was quite the tap in putt you're making it to be.

I'll admit I didn't watch that game today, just saw a box score and a couple highlights.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Bruce's work with the Cardinals. Winning with ANY backup quarterback nowadays, let alone one that hasn't taken a regular season snap since 2010, is impressive. But... its the Giants. They're eons from the cellar but they're just as far from from the penthouse.

[Craic]

I can't even read through this thread . . . won't even try. Irony of it on a Steelers website is so thick that it'd choke me.

That, and I'm sure somewhere in the ever-beyond, Suit is crying in laughter.

[fansince'76]

so you guys sucking tomlin's sack think the other 2 teams rosters are more talented than ours?

As opposed to sucking Whisenhunt's sack when he is 46-52 lifetime as a head coach?

[fansince'76]

Tomlin took over a Super Bowl winning team and has overseen a steady decline.

A Super Bowl-winning team that was seriously flawed to begin with and eked out an 8-8 record (after a 2-6 start) the year immediately preceding his arrival. There really isn't much arguing the point that the 2008 Steelers won the Super Bowl with by far the worst OL of any Super Bowl winner to date and which also damn near cost them the Super Bowl that year (looking at you, Hartwig). As I recall, you were none too fond of the Steelers' #1 RB at the time either. And as much as Hines meant to the team, when he is the best WR from a talent perspective that your team puts on the field, then your receiving corps isn't exactly gangbusters either.

[zulater]

I can't even read through this thread . . . won't even try. Irony of it on a Steelers website is so thick that it'd choke me.

That, and I'm sure somewhere in the ever-beyond, Suit is crying in laughter.

Aren't we superior then?

Nothing wrong with the thread or the vast majority of answers that have been presented yet. If you came down off your high horse and read a few you might be surprised at some of the insight offered.