Head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Tomlin received one vote for second place and two votes for third place, placing him in seventh place in the AP Coach of the Year voting.The whole vote was shared on Twitter by Associated Press reporter Josh Dubow.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns defeated head coach DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans in a tiebreaker, with Stefanski receiving 22 first-place votes to Ryans’ 20 first-place votes.
Even though the Steelers’ offense experienced quarterback issues the whole season, Tomlin guided the team to a 10-7 record.
Additionally, they sustained significant injuries to their defense, including those to Cameron Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick, which kept both players out for several weeks.
Although the Steelers were eliminated in the Wild Card Round, they concluded the regular season with a winning run of three games.
After leading the Browns to a 10-7 season in spite of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s season-ending injury, Stefanski was named the winner. Despite having one of the worst rosters in the league this season, Cleveland managed to make it to the postseason because to quarterback Joe Flacco, who was acquired before Week 12. Unfortunately, the Browns fell in the Wild Card round to the Ryan-led Houston Texans.
Despite never having a losing season, Tomlin has never been awarded AP Coach of the Year. After Pittsburgh’s early-season success, especially their victory over the Baltimore Ravens in Week Six,
Tomlin was receiving some Coach of the Year talk. However, a lot of that momentum was lost during the team’s three-game losing skid, which also included defeats to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots.
Coming into the NFL Honors presentation on Thursday night at the Resorts World Theater in Las Vegas, a seventh-place result was about to be expected.
Even though Tomlin didn’t make it to the finals this year, he did better than his tenth-place showing in 2022. Though it surprised me that he received a vote as high as second place, he certainly deserved to be elected.
In 2024, Tomlin will return to the Steelers as head coach and will try to capture his first career Coach of the Year honor.
