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Mike Tomlin Coaching Steelers LB Before Strip Sack vs. Bengals Was Awesome Moment

Kristen Wong

Screengrab on Twitter/ @DavidMTodd
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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin must have some powerful methods of motivation after clinching his 18th straight non-losing season with a 44-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

Fans got an exciting sneak peek of Tomlin’s coaching philosophy in the HBO docuseries, Hard Knocks, in which the Steelers coach was seen aggressively training linebacker Nick Herbig ahead of the Bengals matchup.

Herbig recorded a crucial strip sack on Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win which led to a fumble returned for a touchdown by the Steelers’ defense. Little did fans know, Herbig had been perfectly prepped by Tomlin to make a game-changing play days before the big game.

“You and Zeus (Orlando Brown). You know what I mean?” Tomlin told Herbig at practice. “Alex (Highsmith) had what, three and a half, four sacks on him in two football games. They had to go shopping, that’s why Zeus is there. One on one on Zeus, man, you’ve gotta kill him.”

On game day, Tomlin was ready to see his fierce coaching methods reap the rewards.

“51 gotta kill Zeus. It’s what we talked about all week,” Tomlin said seconds before the strip sack. 

Herbig would beat Bengals’ Orlando Brown on the edge and swat the ball from Burrow’s hands, turning the tides of the game. Cameras caught Tomlin gleefully celebrating the big play, and afterward, he caught up with Herbig on the sidelines to share another nugget of motivation:

“Let’s not act surprised,” Tomlin told him. “This ain’t a lightning strike, man, you’re built for this.”

Just an awesome moment from the venerated Steelers coach. 

Pittsburgh (9-3) will face another tough defensive test in a divisional matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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