Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach, ignited a firestorm of criticism on social media when he somehow managed to step into the path of the on-coming kick returner and Dancing With The Stars winner Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens.
While the Baltimore Ravens won the Thanksgiving evening contest 22 to 20, there are still a large number of views about his action. This blogger’s take is that the move was intentional. Tomlin was just sneaky about it.
Coach Tomlin’s back was turned to the action, but for a time it looked like he was watching it on the jumbo screen at the stadium. So, he could have moved into position to impede Jones path without looking like he was doing so.
Now Baltimore Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco chime’s in, saying, according to ESPN, that Tomlin indeed did do what I decribed and it was something that Joe wanted to do to Ted Ginn Jr, then with the San Francisco 49ers, at this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans: “That’s exactly what he just did,” Flacco said. “He was looking at the big screen the whole entire time, he knew where he was, he knew where Jacoby was. He pulled my move.”
ESPN reports that Coach Tomlin disagrees: “I always watch the returns on the JumboTron. It provides better perspective for me,” Tomlin said. “I lost my placement as he broke free and saw at the last second how close I was to the field of play.”
Stay tuned for more on this one!