Darius Slay Says Mike Tomlin Was ‘Very Hard’ On Defense After Week 1 Struggles: ‘Just Took It To The Chin’
September 10, 2025
I'm here for the "he doesn't discipline his players" comments!
33 comments
I would’ve loved to hear that Tomlin lecture…I’m sure it was brutal. Veterans gotta be leaders as they always do, but even they know who daddy is in the locker room.
As he should be. For the money they earn, they played atrociously bad.
The defense should be the side of the ball that shouldnt give us any headaches.
But I thought Tomlin is too soft and easy on people???
But honestly, multiple Vets have said that Tomlin is brutal in film critique. Other vets say they love that Tomlin is open and honest about where they stand.
We’re talking about a guy who publicly says “two dogs, one bone.”
[deleted]
I fully expect them to play much better this week.
I don’t get why this is even a noteworthy headline tbh. What head coach is saying “good job” after that defensive performance?
Cam looked out of shape. I expect him to get significantly better in the upcoming weeks.
If you actually pay attention, it’s well known that Tomlin doesn’t embarrass his players publicly, but in front of the team, in private, he makes sure everyone knows your fuckup. This is part of why players like playing for him. They’re answerable to each other, not to the public.
If this team wants to do anything special, it has to start with the defense. That’s where our talent and experience is loaded. If the offense can score 30, we should be blowing teams out, not struggling to win.
Good. They’re vets, they don’t need to be coddled. And they played like shit
He was probably yelling out Tomlinisms like he was Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra.
The wk1 win in Atlanta was a good game by the Steelers defense last season. I much prefer this wk1 win over the Jets, because wk1 is an anything can happen for most teams.
Slay had a few missed tackles, one in the backfield that stands out, and obviously got beat on the TD. D is getting roasted nationally, so hopefully that’ll add to the sting and they’ll be better in wk2
Lol Tomlin does not play when it comes to defense thats his baby i do not blame him for being rough on them the defense played horribly but they did clutch up in the end also i hope he laid into Terell Austin too
I’m just a nobody, but on that one Fields rush TD, should Slay have stayed home to cover his side?
”Benton ur ass is gunna be sent to the browns if you dont tighten up”
i mean slay needs to wrap up better but the td he allowed was more on scheme than him. you can’t expect him to track wilson across the entire field with no safety backup.
d line was inexcusably bad.
I don’t have the time or the training to go over every play and see if the defensive scheme was bad or players didn’t execute. Would love to hear from Austin or Tomlin what the real issue was that resulted in our D getting their collective asses handed to them like that
Slay had the worst performance then cam
I think about the people who were acting like we’re crazy for being upset with how bad our defense was…like yeah…the win is awesome, I’m glad we won.
HOWEVER…we just made the Jets look like a playoff team…THE FUCKING JETS…a bottom feeder team that’s constantly made fun of for awful decisions and lackluster play. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be worried about your teams defense when they make a team like the Jets look incredibly good. I mean shit, I believe at one point they had scored on EVERY possession…they outplayed us in every stat…we literally won because of a lucky forced fumble.
I don’t think it’s a crime to be worried about how your teams gonna look against ACTUAL playoff teams…when this is how they looked against the New York Jets….
Coaching staff need to be hard on themselves and hold themselves accountable.
Tyrel Austin is trash, They should’ve fired him and kept Brian Flores.
Towards the end of last year I kept getting this “I’m tired boss” feeling from the defense and I felt it again on opening day.
Good. 32 points allowed isn’t good
“They literally refuse to run at TJ and the other 10 of you fucks let Breece Hall do whatever he wanted!!”
So what was the problem?
Was it scheme or were guys just not shedding blocks?
He sure as shit should be hard on them. It’s a billion dollar defense (thanks Donny football). Highest paid defense in the NFL sucked.
I think the cobwebs are off now and they dig back in moving forward.. the defense made Fields look like Lamar Jackson back there.. need to tighten up a little on the screen passes and run stop, put some pressures on the board..
My theory, our OL coach is so ass, that it is bleeding into how well our DL/LB groups can practice live reps. That and why the hell does this team continue to tell DBs to give 8-10 yard cushions in every scenario.
Go Steelers
Probably didn’t let them have their snack at snack time!
Hopefully they get their shit together. I live in the Seattle area and the fair weather fans here are insufferable
Starting to notice a trend when these quotes from the defense come out. Specifically who does and doesn’t speak up when they don’t play well but 🤐
Watch that last play where Ramsey hit Wilson. They had our nose guard, Benton playing mini-centerfield. It worked.
33 comments
I would’ve loved to hear that Tomlin lecture…I’m sure it was brutal. Veterans gotta be leaders as they always do, but even they know who daddy is in the locker room.
As he should be. For the money they earn, they played atrociously bad.
The defense should be the side of the ball that shouldnt give us any headaches.
But I thought Tomlin is too soft and easy on people???
But honestly, multiple Vets have said that Tomlin is brutal in film critique. Other vets say they love that Tomlin is open and honest about where they stand.
We’re talking about a guy who publicly says “two dogs, one bone.”
[deleted]
I fully expect them to play much better this week.
I don’t get why this is even a noteworthy headline tbh. What head coach is saying “good job” after that defensive performance?
Cam looked out of shape. I expect him to get significantly better in the upcoming weeks.
If you actually pay attention, it’s well known that Tomlin doesn’t embarrass his players publicly, but in front of the team, in private, he makes sure everyone knows your fuckup. This is part of why players like playing for him. They’re answerable to each other, not to the public.
If this team wants to do anything special, it has to start with the defense. That’s where our talent and experience is loaded. If the offense can score 30, we should be blowing teams out, not struggling to win.
Good. They’re vets, they don’t need to be coddled. And they played like shit
He was probably yelling out Tomlinisms like he was Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra.
The wk1 win in Atlanta was a good game by the Steelers defense last season. I much prefer this wk1 win over the Jets, because wk1 is an anything can happen for most teams.
Slay had a few missed tackles, one in the backfield that stands out, and obviously got beat on the TD. D is getting roasted nationally, so hopefully that’ll add to the sting and they’ll be better in wk2
Lol Tomlin does not play when it comes to defense thats his baby i do not blame him for being rough on them the defense played horribly but they did clutch up in the end also i hope he laid into Terell Austin too
I’m just a nobody, but on that one Fields rush TD, should Slay have stayed home to cover his side?
”Benton ur ass is gunna be sent to the browns if you dont tighten up”
i mean slay needs to wrap up better but the td he allowed was more on scheme than him. you can’t expect him to track wilson across the entire field with no safety backup.
d line was inexcusably bad.
I don’t have the time or the training to go over every play and see if the defensive scheme was bad or players didn’t execute. Would love to hear from Austin or Tomlin what the real issue was that resulted in our D getting their collective asses handed to them like that
Slay had the worst performance then cam
I think about the people who were acting like we’re crazy for being upset with how bad our defense was…like yeah…the win is awesome, I’m glad we won.
HOWEVER…we just made the Jets look like a playoff team…THE FUCKING JETS…a bottom feeder team that’s constantly made fun of for awful decisions and lackluster play. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be worried about your teams defense when they make a team like the Jets look incredibly good. I mean shit, I believe at one point they had scored on EVERY possession…they outplayed us in every stat…we literally won because of a lucky forced fumble.
I don’t think it’s a crime to be worried about how your teams gonna look against ACTUAL playoff teams…when this is how they looked against the New York Jets….
Coaching staff need to be hard on themselves and hold themselves accountable.
Tyrel Austin is trash, They should’ve fired him and kept Brian Flores.
Towards the end of last year I kept getting this “I’m tired boss” feeling from the defense and I felt it again on opening day.
Good. 32 points allowed isn’t good
“They literally refuse to run at TJ and the other 10 of you fucks let Breece Hall do whatever he wanted!!”
So what was the problem?
Was it scheme or were guys just not shedding blocks?
He sure as shit should be hard on them. It’s a billion dollar defense (thanks Donny football). Highest paid defense in the NFL sucked.
I think the cobwebs are off now and they dig back in moving forward.. the defense made Fields look like Lamar Jackson back there.. need to tighten up a little on the screen passes and run stop, put some pressures on the board..
My theory, our OL coach is so ass, that it is bleeding into how well our DL/LB groups can practice live reps. That and why the hell does this team continue to tell DBs to give 8-10 yard cushions in every scenario.
Go Steelers
Probably didn’t let them have their snack at snack time!
Hopefully they get their shit together. I live in the Seattle area and the fair weather fans here are insufferable
Starting to notice a trend when these quotes from the defense come out. Specifically who does and doesn’t speak up when they don’t play well but 🤐
Watch that last play where Ramsey hit Wilson. They had our nose guard, Benton playing mini-centerfield. It worked.