Mike Tomlin’s Funny Way of Teaching Steelers Players About the Immaculate Reception
Franco Harris #FrancoHarris
Mike Tomlin always knows how to address the younger generation of Pittsburgh Steelers.
PITTSBURGH — It’s been 50 years since Franco Harris engraved his name in football history with one of the greatest plays the NFL has ever seen. But trying to describe it to the current Pittsburgh Steelers roster isn’t the easiest thing to do.
Don’t worry, though, head coach Mike Tomlin knows how.
The Steelers locker room doesn’t feature anyone who was sitting on their couch, or the stands, watching the Immaculate Reception live. A bunch of 20-something-year-olds will celebrate one of the franchise’s greatest players, and the greatest play of his career, over the weekend, and they’ll want to know exactly what it was and meant to the team.
So, how do they learn? Well, Tomlin said he sticks to the easiest route. And one most of the guys in the locker room understand the best.
“YouTube.”
“That’s the funny thing about this generation of guys, man. You can give them an oral history, you can tell them a story and you can be really colorful on your delivery, and all the while they’re looking at the handheld, confirming it,” Tomlin said with a grin. “They’re aware, they’re aware of Franco, they’re aware of the Immaculate Reception, they’re aware of the significance of it, I just think that they’re aware of a lot of things that we think they aren’t because of their exposure to information and how readily available that information is.”
While everyone in a Steelers uniform feels the importance of this moment and what it means for Franco, they may not be able to illustrate it quite like their coach.
“It’s just one of those beautiful things in the history of our game,” Tomlin said. “It’s humbling to be in close proximity to it, to work for this organization, to understand its impact on this organization, the career it spawned in Franco[Harris], agold-jacket career, what it did for them that season in terms of changing the trajectory of that season, what it’sdone for this franchise… There are many things that make it the play that it is and the most significant play in the history of our game. It’s just an honor to be in proximity to it. To know the man involved, to call Pittsburgh home, and so it’s awesome to be a part of and to witness. But at the same time, we understand that we’ve got business, we’ve got present-day business and the best way we can honor him and that is by performing. We’re going to work extremely hard to prepare ourselves leading up to it.”
The Steelers will retire Harris’s number during halftime of their Week 16 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. They’ll also host
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