Mike McCarthy might be the oldest coach in Pittsburgh Steelers history, but he\u2019s not one to reject new-school numbers. In a wide-ranging interview with KDKA\u2019s Bob Pompeani, McCarthy offered an endorsement of analytics, even if he won\u2019t be beholden to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big part of my coaching,\u201d he said in a 1 on 1 interview posted to the station\u2019s YouTube channel. <\/a>\u201cFrankly, we called it game analysis in the early 90s. It\u2019s probably big part of how I got into the league. As a quality control coach\u2026it had to be developed, the code. COBOL back in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n COBOL was an early computer programming system that\u2019s still used today. Though often geared for the business and finance world, it had its place in the NFL. In fact, a 1978 article from the University of Missouri references it in relation to BLESTO that for decades was run by Steelers\u2019 Hall of Famer Jack Butler.<\/p>\n \u201cJack needed a random access system, so he could ask for the 10 fastest players, over six feet six inches, or whatever criteria he had, and receive a response quickly. He also needed COBOL, a computer language better suited for file manipulation; and it was clear that identifying players by a code number would increase the computer\u2019s efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great article worth a full read.<\/a><\/p>\n Analytics is an area Pittsburgh has arguably lagged behind in, especially compared to the cutting-edge Baltimore Ravens. As evident by the Steelers\u2019 2025 division crown, that doesn\u2019t always manifest itself in the standings, but it\u2019s a competitive disadvantage. After taking over for Kevin Colbert, general manager Omar Khan has seemingly tilted Pittsburgh more in that direction. He\u2019s increased the team\u2019s analytics staff with recent hires. <\/a><\/p>\n But the data is only as good as how it\u2019s utilized, and McCarthy is offering a warmer embrace. However, he won\u2019t blindly follow the odds.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a red light, yellow light, green light system guy,\u201d he said. \u201cYellow light is the grey area. You gotta trust the ebb and flow\u2026there\u2019s things going on on the sidelines you may not be aware. Your computer may not be aware.\u201d<\/p>\n In an attempt to filter out game circumstance, during McCarthy\u2019s time with the Dallas Cowboys, he went for it on fourth down 68 times across the first three quarters. That ranked 11th in the NFL. Comparatively, the Steelers went for it just 50 times, 23rd league-wide. Mike Tomlin was a famous \u201cgut guy\u201d who paid little attention to the data. That\u2019ll change under McCarthy.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really helped me develop a check-and-balance system,\u201d he said. \u201cProtocol, how you assess the game, organization, workload capacity, efficiency, all of those things come from that mindset. Analytics is a great asset. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the end all of ends all, by any means.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s exciting what\u2019s going on with AI. We have some opportunities to look into that a little deeper. If it helps, you definitely want to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarthy may be the first Steelers employee to ever mention \u201cAI.\u201d That comes with its own caveat and challenges, but a 62-year-old McCarthy might be the most modern coach Pittsburgh has had.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike McCarthy might be the oldest coach in Pittsburgh Steelers history, but he\u2019s not one to reject new-school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[18250,7,7866,6,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-718466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-bob-pompeani","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-mccarthy","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115988339480684453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}