Mike Tomlin left the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons as their head coach, and joined the Football Night in America crew on NBC as analyst. Cleveland Browns fans are used to a boatload of battles against him, but how did he play a factor in the Cleveland Browns’ 23-19 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Have a listen to this from Todd Monken’s postgame press conference:
Was was Monken referring to? At first, it made me think of when former Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster said ‘The Browns is the Browns’ back in 2021, prior to a playoff match. What I didn’t realize is that last week, after the Browns’ loss to the Jaguars, Tomlin made a reference to it on national television. As a highlight of QB Deshaun Watson being picked off by the Jaguars played, Tomlin quoted his ‘friend’ Smith-Schuster and repeated his infamous quote.
Apparently, Monken must have used that quote as bulletin board material in the Browns locker room this week, and they responded. On Sunday evening, Tomlin and the NBC crew played a recap of both quotes, with Tomlin being happy that he could provide bulletin board material in his new role without consequence:
Can someone say that quote every week? For some reason, it’s the one thing that seems to actually motivate this club toward a win.
