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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin must have some powerful motivational methods at his disposal after notching his 18th consecutive non-losing season with a 44-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Fans got an exciting taste of Tomlin’s coaching philosophy in the HBO docuseries, Hard blowsin which Steelers coach aggressively coached linebacker Nick Herbig prior to the Bengals game.
Herbig recorded a crucial strip sack on Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win, leading to a fumble returned for a touchdown by the Steelers’ defense. Little did fans know, Herbig was perfectly prepared by Tomlin to make a game-changing play days before the big game.
“You and Zeus (Orlando Brown). Do you know what I mean?” Tomlin told Herbig during practice. “Alex (Highsmith) had about three and a half, four sacks in two football games. They had to go shopping, that’s why Zeus is there. One on one against Zeus, man, you gotta kill him.
On game day, Tomlin was ready to see how his fierce coaching methods would pay off.
’51 must kill Zeus. We’ve been talking about that all week,” Tomlin said seconds before the strip sack.
Herbig would beat the Bengals’ Orlando Brown at the rim and knock the ball out of Burrow’s hands, turning the tide of the game. Cameras caught Tomlin happily celebrating the big play, and then he caught up with Herbig on the sideline to share another piece of motivation:
“Let’s not act surprised,” Tomlin told him. “This isn’t a lightning strike, man, you were built for this.”
Just a great moment from the revered Steelers coach.
Pittsburgh (9-3) will face another tough defensive test on Sunday in a divisional matchup against the Cleveland Browns.
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