In case you didn’t know, Mike Tomlin doesn’t like the Bill Belichick. I’m not quite sure if it goes both ways, but my guess is that it is.
At his weekly press conference (Why does Tomlin only have one, compared to Belichick’s four per week?), Tomlin was asked about Belichick’s comments on WEEI on Monday when he had a few disparaging words for Steelers safety Anthony “Guarantee” Smith and the other safeties who played.
The question to him was:
Is what Bill Belichick said about your safeties after the game warranted?
“I don’t care what Coach Belichick has to say after the games, regarding our performance. I
compliment them for a great game and we move forward. His opinions are irrelevant to us,
because we focus on what it is we do and how we prepare in moving forward. Do we need to get better play? Absolutely, but it won’t be because he said it.”
Remember, Tomlin was the only coach other than Tony Dungy, a friend of Tomlin’s, who commented on the Patriots and Belichick cheating due to “spy-gate.”
Tomlin was also asked about Smith’s mental state after the tough game he had against the Patriots.
“Ultimately, he has to find the answers for that himself, like we all do. That is the battle of being a competitor in this league. You are going to play subpar; you are going to have bad days. You have to dust yourself off, stand up and continue to fight. A lot of the guys in this league have been through it. That is one of the reasons they are in this league. They are capable of dealing with adversity and failure. A lot of times people envision these athletes of not having experienced failure. Part of the reason they are what they are and do what they do is their ability to cope and deal with failure. Those who can’t cope don’t end up in the locker room. I imagine he has some survival skills in that area, like the rest of our football team. We will all move forward.”
