PFF Blames Writer for Poor Mike Tomlin Ranking

After a Pro Football Focus rankings sparked plenty of reaction across the Pittsburgh Steelers fanbase and media outlet, one of the publication's writers is speaking out.

The controversial list placed Steelers' Mike Tomlin as the 13th-best head coach in the NFL. The rankings came through the Pythagorean wins theorem, which we still don't seem to understand. But, regardless, it instantly caught fire for how low it placed Pittsburgh's leader.

Now, one of PFF's top writers, Steve Palazzolo, says sometimes the publication gets a little too deep into analytics. And, sometimes, you have to place blame on the writer.

"It was a lot easier when PFF was like, six of us," Palazzolo said on 93.7 The Fan. "People go rogue. Do whatever the want. They can interpret the data differently."

"I think it's time to start blaming Connor," he added.

Connor McQuiston is the writer being referred to, who wrote the recent rankings on PFF.

"Tomlin's a good man," Palazzolo said. "Obviously, he's been good and done well in lesser situations. He's done well in every situation. I don't know what the criteria was. I will say, I do think there's something with the, we'll call it the 'nerd factor' on Twitter. Those who are really deep in the analytics, who seem to focus a lot on fourth-down decisions, and maybe only the things you can see."

Tomlin has never been known for his analytic side of football. Where he has shined is pulling teams up from nothing, never having a losing record and bringing teams with players like Devlin Hodges at quarterback to the edge of a playoff run.

"Sometimes, it's as simple as wins and losses, and if you win more games, you're probably a good coach," Palazzolo said. "So, Mike Tomlin lands in the 'good coach' bucket. And Tomlin has certainly won a lot of games over the past 15 years."

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