Steelers' Mike Tomlin's Protege Is Excited For A Chance To Take Him Down Week 1: "Big Brother Is Coming"

The Pittsburgh Steelers' schedule has been talked about a ton ever since the schedules for all 32 teams were released. Most of the talking points revolve around the difficulty of the schedule, and how all of their divisional games are in the second half of the season. Not a lot of attention has been paid to the start of the year, or their season opener against the Atlanta Falcons. 

This game is special because it is the first game of the season, but also because of an existing relationship between the two head coaches. Mike Tomlin and Raheem Morris both worked together in the early-2000s with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In their last years together, Tomlin was the defensive backs coach, while Morris was the assistant defensive backs coach. The two are close. Morris went on The Pivot Podcast recently and discussed his anticipation to go up against Tomlin's Steelers.

"I know when he [Tomlin] looked at it, he gets a little bit of pride out of that, because you know, like that's my older brother right, and I got two older brothers because you know his brother Ed. But those are my brothers right, that's part of my family, that's part of my makeup, everything I've done up to this point when it comes to coaching. And I know when he looked at that, he had such a sense of pride because he's going to walk right into my locker room and we're going to dap it up and we gonna go out there."

The two are obviously extremely close and Morris credits Tomlin as his mentor. The respect goes both ways, as when Tomlin was on the same podcast last year, he said Morris was the best head coach in the league that wasn't a head coach. At the time, he was the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams, but he has since been hired as the main guy in Atlanta. Morris spoke more about his mindset on going against Tomlin.

"I'm not going to let him lull me to sleep either, he's still Tom Brady right, he's still Batman, and Batman is going to shake your hand man, love you up. As much pride as I have about it, being with him, I better worry about it after the fact when we're all said and done. Because big bro is coming man."

Tomlin and Morris first went head-to-head as head coaches back when Morris held the job with Tampa Bay in 2010. Tomlin's Steelers destroyed the Buccaneers in the game, as they won 38-13. Morris was eventually let go after the 2011 season, and didn't get another shot at the job title until he took over the role with Atlanta in 2020 as the interim head coach. He did a good job, and many thought it was interesting the organization didn't keep him around. They instead hired a guy named Arthur Smith.

Steelers Must Start The 2024 Season Strong

Due to the intensity of the Steelers' schedule during the 2024 season, it is of the utmost importance that they get off to a strong start. The usual Steelers formula of making a late-season push for the playoffs likely won't work in 2024. During the last eight weeks of the regular season, Pittsburgh will play all six of their divisional games, and have two tough matchups with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Pittsburgh's season can be deemed "over" early on in 2024 if the season doesn't start well. Pittsburgh must take advantage of having a significantly easier schedule to begin the year. It all starts in Atlanta, where Pittsburgh is considered to be underdogs. It will likely be a matchup of two quarterbacks who were drafted back in 2012 with Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson.

What do you think of the relationship between Tomlin and Morris? Let us know in the comments below!

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