Steelers players 'weren't happy' with Terry Bradshaw's comments ...

[left-of-center2012]

Steelers players 'weren't happy' with Terry Bradshaw's comments on Mike Tomlin

On Friday, Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls as quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, made headlines when he disparagingly called current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin “a great cheerleader guy.”

As a guest on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak for Yourself,” Bradshaw was asked if Tomlin is an elite NFL head coach and Bradshaw responded, “I don’t think he’s a great coach at all.
He’s a nice coach.
To me, I’ve said this, I think he’s a great cheerleader guy.”

On Sunday, the Steelers beat their AFC North rivals, Baltimore, in thrilling fashion, to win the division. It is the seventh time in Tomlin’s 10 seasons as coach that he has led Pittsburgh to the postseason (he’s 102-57, or .651 in the regular season);
he has two AFC championships and one Super Bowl win, and has never had a sub-.500 season.

Word of what Bradshaw said naturally got back to the Steelers players, and even though Bradshaw is a Pittsburgh legend, they stood up for their coach.

“We weren’t happy about it,” veteran guard David DeCastro said. “Hopefully it will fire us up the rest of the way.

“I pulled up ESPN around 10 p.m. [Friday] and was like, ‘What the hell is this? I don’t get what the motivation is. Is this to get your name out there more or something? What are you doing?”

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger quoted a classic song: “What did Kansas say? Dust in the wind.”

[1965Comet]

1. He does whine a bit when he visits Foxboro...

[The Polack MSgt]

2. Terry is not alone

Even though Coach Tomlin's record is on par with Coaches Noll and Cowher through this point in their careers a large section of the fan base wants Tomlin replaced.

He has faced more opposition from middle aged white people than anyone with his record should have ever faced - He is the Obama of football

IMHO only one coach is better than Mike effing Tomlin - and he is a cheating troll blessed with a generational talent at QB

[DeminPennswoods]

9. Spot on

There's a fair amount of Steeler fans who simply cannot abide it that a black guy coaches the Steelers. On top of that, Tomlin is arrogant like most of his NFL head coach brethren including Noll (nicknamed "the emporer&quot and Cowher, but that just makes Tomlin even more annoying to them. Of course you'll never hear these fans say that out loud, it comes out in things like "bad clock management" or "winning with Cowher's players" or some other ridiculous arguement.

[Cattledog]

3. Bradshaw's always been a second tier player.

The only reason he succeeded was because of Chuck Noll and he knows this in his heart. Noll was a renaissance man who
liked fine wine and reading classics. Bradshaw was a "mommies boy" who needed a father figure. Noll refused to give him that and Bradshaw has been a bitter man ever since. Ask any of the Steeler greats, Mean Joe Green, Andy Russell, Franco Harris etc. they all agree. PS I grew up in PGH and lived there during the 70's and 80's.

[DeminPennswoods]

10. No

Bradshaw was a tremendously talented qb. I saw him play in person during the height of his career. He blew out his elbow getting the Steelers into the playoffs in 1986, iirc, and never played again. It's true it took him a few years to get his footing, but 4 SB rings don't lie. Bradshaw played in an era when having a top notch passing game was hard what with defensive back able to bump and run all the way down the field and defensive lineman having a lot more leeway to abuse offensive linemen than they do today.

Bradshaw has always been an odd duck, though. He had few friends on the team and has stayed away from team reunions and official functions for years. FTR, Lambert is the same way, never appears at events honoring the 70's Steelers.

[okwmember]

4. Tomlin's response was a mic drop

I can't find the full statement, but he ended with a bang!

"The rest of us are just working stiffs, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. "That being said, terms like ‘cheerleader guy,' to me, maybe fall outside the bounds of critique or criticism. They probably fall more to the area of disrespect or unprofessional. But what do I know? I grew up a Dallas fan. Particularly a Hollywood Henderson fan."

The statement was clearly a jab at Bradshaw, as former Cowboys linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson famously insulted the Steelers quarterback before the teams met in Super Bowl XIII in 1978. Henderson told reporters that Bradshaw was "so dumb, he couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if you spotted him a C and an A,"

[The Polack MSgt]

5. Here the quote - In full. Perhaps the best response to a troll ever...

Terry will be pissed off once Howie explains it to him.

Addressing his players and former players statements Mike Tomlin said:

“I appreciate the support, but criticism and critique are very much a part of our business and an element of our business as a competitor I embrace,” said Tomlin. “The term ‘great’ is something I have a great deal of respect for. I certainly don’t think my resume to this point reads as great. Very few coaches resume’s read as that at this point. Guys like Bill (Belichick) in New England can say that or (Gregg) Popovich down in San Antonio, but the rest of us are just working stiffs to be quite honest with you.

“Now that being said, terms like ‘cheerleader guy’ to me maybe fall outside the bounds of critique or criticism. They probably fall more towards the area of disrespect and unprofessional."

"But what do I know? I grew up a Dallas fan. Particularly a Hollywood Henderson fan."

[DeminPennswoods]

11. video

The press conference video is on the Steelers official team website. When he said that, you hear loud laughter from the beat writers/press corps.

[blue neen]

6. Terry Bradshaw being his usual assholish self.

Hope the present Steelers use it for motivation.

[packman]

7. Pittsburgh/Bradshaw never had a cozy relationship

The fans thought of him as a Southern golden haired boy and Terry felt he should have been a quarterback for a more metro, cosmopolitan team (N.Y., L.A., Texas). Even those Super Bowl wins didn't endear him to the city who credited the team's success to the guys in the trenches.

[left-of-center2012]

8. Was Bradshaw the one ...

Didn't he try to become a country music singer and flopped?

[packman]

12. Yep - became somewhat infamous for his nude scene"Failure to Launch"

WARNING - REALLY GROSS

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BUT - he did have a fairly interesting country music voice

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[left-of-center2012]

13. I'd fail to launch too

Looking at that flabby body.