Three Questions for a Steelers Fan About Russ Grimm
Friend of TJB, Ryan Wilson is a rabid Steeler fan and one of the big dogs over at FanHouse. Even with all that, he never got too big for his britches, still maintaining the tidy one-room cabin that got him going in this biz, HeelsSoxSteelers. We’ve been big fans of Ryan’s work for years, and Ryan was kind enough to answer some questions for us about Russ Grimm and his impressions of him from his time in Pittsburgh under Cowher.
Ryan Wilson: I liked the job Grimm did with the Steelers, and while I was partial to Ken Whisenhunt succeeding Cowher (honestly, nobody thought Tomlin, one year into his defensive coordinator’s gig with the Vikes, would get the job), I could’ve lived with Grimm. For most of his time in Pittsburgh, Grimm had a lot to work with — Marvel Smith, Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings and Kendall Simmons were all first- or second-rounders — and giving the ball to Jerome Bettis 25-plus times a game made life easy for the quarterbacks (Fans have since grown weary of Simmons’ inconsistency, but he started as a rookie, and did quite well before blowing up his knee in ‘04 followed by an adult-onset-diabetes diagnosis, but I digress.) But like any coach, when the players aren’t there, it’s hard to hide all the flaws. I mean, just ask Bill Belichick about the ‘08 Pats defense, or more appropriately, Hudson Houk, one of the best o-line coaches on the planet, who helplessly watched a depleted Cowboys unit get overmatched on a weekly basis down the stretch.
Grimm left Pittsburgh following the ‘06 season, and during the following training camp, Simmons commented that the new o-line coach, Larry Zierlein, was more about technique, while Grimm took a more “just make sure you block that guy” approach. But, hey, nobody complains when it works.
Ryan Wilson: More than anything, I think Faneca’s loyal. When Tommy Maddox went down in Week 2 of the 2004 season, Faneca told the media he wasn’t all that jazzed about having a rookie quarterback starting. He wasn’t slighting Ben Roethlisberger as much as he was sticking up for Maddox. That said, I got the sense that the o-line respected Grimm — he played the game and played it well, which probably goes a long way in earning their respect; the three Super Bowl rings with the ‘Skins can’t hurt, either — which is certainly an important quality for an aspiring NFL head coach.
Ryan Wilson: That’s a great question. In ‘06, and to a lesser extent last year, he was one of the up-and-coming head coaching prospects, but nothing ever came of it. It’s peculiar that a guy with his resume would have trouble getting interviews, but that now seems to be the case. I have no inside information as to why he’s still an assistant, but it’s certainly curious. Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan is another guy who is curiously still an assistant, but again, I write this from the perspective of a guy with no knowledge of how either guy interviews. Of course, Eric Mangini, who has all the personality of a grilled cheese sandwich, got a head-coaching gig, which tells me the whole process is pretty arbitrary.
As to whether Grimm would be better than Mangini … it depends. Insightful, I know, but here’s the thing: Mangini was allegedly a meticulous planner and always prepared. He was just awful at motivating the troops. I get the sense that Grimm’s just the opposite. Sorta like Cowher in that he’s more rah-rah than tactician. Whether he has Cowher’s intensity or drive is a different matter altogether, however. And maybe that’s why he’s still an assistant.
Filed under: Main Page, Opinion
The outlook is Grimm…
I don’t know maybe a rah rah guy would help with the motivation while schotty (puke) can plan to his hearts content.
please fire schotty and hire callahan as OC
Grimm has been the guy on y mind since we made the move with Mangini. Remember there was Chaos in Pittsburgh after Cowher left bc they didn’t promote Grimm or Whizenhunt (sp) to replace him.
I like emotional coaches who can get their team fired up. There must be a balance, but I think first and formost in football, being able to motivate is key in a coach.
Rex Ryan please, agree with Drose, Callahan as OC, of course if Ryan obliges.
I think Ryan or Grimm would be good. Have liked the idea of Callahan as OC since we hired him. There’s a report that Mangini wants Dabol as his OC and Sutton as DC. Have to be skeptical because I can’t believe he’d want Sutton.
Someone posted that he already hired Rob Ryan. They said they heard it from Schefter.
That sounds like he would need top notch assistants on x’s & o’s to make it work. Folks should really hesitate about running Schott Jr out of town. We don’t know how much Mangini and Favre impacted play calling.
Comes down to judgment on in-game management decisions & adjustments. Have no idea how to judge that before hand. Tough to know how someone will react.
I just don’t get the impression the Jets players are going to respond to rah rah, over x’s and o’s at this point. I’d rather have a guy who can come up with innovative schemes and then get the team fired up to play them. Rex Ryan seems to fit that description better than any of the other candidates mentioned. But who knows how good Ryan is at running a team, delegating, managing, etc? Maybe that’s what’s kept him as DC in Baltimore all this time.
Remember Herm Edwards? He sure was a rah rah guy. It doesn’t really matter much when you need a special assistant coach just to help you with clock managment.
Herm was rah rah and look where that got us? Helllooooooo!?
Herm and Mangini could not be more opposite and both ended up 2 games under .500 for their Jets careers, with Herm having more success in the playoffs. But, we all agree that Mangini/Tanny have made far better personnel decisions, but both of them had major flaws as HC’s. By my way of thinking, Herm’s problems are more foundational and Mangini has a chance to improve significantly, but I would not discount the importance of having good motivational skills, which Herm has up the wazoo…his Chiefs team was terrible, but scrappy. So, I wouldn’t dismiss Grimm out of hand for having a “rah rah attitude.” But, he has to show that he has a plan for success and that can’t be “just go out and win.”
I’ve never understood why everyone gets so down on herm. He was one doug brien fg away from the afc championship game. That’s pretty darn good
He was far too conservative and unimaginitive (single-handedly causing the Doug Brien misses in that game, for example), had no concept of clock management, didn’t use his young players enough and wore down his older players, came across as borderline insane with some of his press conferences, threw fellow coaches under the bus and rode Parcells’ players to all of his playoff success* before leaving the team in dishonest fashion with a depleted talentbase and a horrible cap situation.
That’s why.
* would have missed the playoffs 5 out of 5 years had it not been for John Hall’s miracle kick in Oakland, the Fins choking in 2002 and the Bills choking in 2004. Also wouldn’t have reached the Steelers game referred to if Kaeding didn’t miss an OT chip shot in SD the previous week.