Steelers-Patriots has college rivalry feel to it and Mike Tomlin is embracing the ‘fireworks’

Every game is just another game, but it’s also the most important game, which is to say it’s the only game, and therefore should be exclusively focused on. And then forgotten.

One game at a time.

That’s coach-speak. And it’s effective coach-speak; tried and true.

No one follows – or writes – the rules better than Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. (Well, maybe Alabama’s Nick Saban, who can make Mercer sound like the Packers.) Belichick sticks with the plan though and it has won him five Super Bowls. There is no quibbling with the approach. He didn’t invent it. He may have perfected it.

He can even boil the above down to a single play. No one play more important than the previous or the next. It’s how you trail 28-3 in a Super Bowl and win.

Yet here was Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin throwing coach-speak into the Monongahela River when discussing with NBC Sports Sunday’s visit by 10-3 New England to the 11-2 Steelers.

“I’m going to embrace the elephant in the room,” Tomlin said. “It’s going to be fireworks.”

Tomlin is 45 years old and always coached with a great deal (and occasionally even too much) emotion. Maybe there is still some youthful enthusiasm in him. Or maybe he didn’t get the memo. Or maybe he’s just being a realist – even in the NFL, practices and position meetings tend to pop a little bit more when preparing for a big rival, with a big record.

It’s Patriots week. Two best teams in the AFC. Home-field advantage in the playoffs on the line. Late Sunday afternoon, national television window. Everyone watching. Big Ben vs. Tom Brady. Antonio Brown. Gronk. Terrible Towels. Maybe a few snowflakes. And so on.

It’s a big game.

And that’s OK. And yes, no matter what happens Sunday, to achieve the ultimate goal these two teams will likely play again in about five weeks. The only thing won on Sunday is who would host an AFC championship game rematch. Tomlin acknowledges that.

“It’s probably going to be part one,” Tomlin said. “[It’s] going to be a big game. But probably, if we’re both doing what we’re supposed to, the second one is really going to be a big game.”

Talk about looking ahead. If Jacksonville wants to post that in its locker room, so be it. Tomlin sounded like a guy sitting at the counter of Primanti Bros., breaking down the weekend. He sounded excited. He sounded like a fan.

This isn’t a bad thing for the NFL. It’s allowed in college. When rivalry weeks come up, or top-10 games arrive, coaches often crow that playing in such games are why you choose to play at their school. It’s a recruiting ploy, but it’s also true. You grow up in Alabama, you want to play in the Iron Bowl.

Some schools set up countdown clocks. Or ban the opposing school colors. Trophies for individual games are awarded. At Ohio State, Urban Meyer demands all the “M’s” are removed from signage during Michigan week, although he won’t call it Michigan, he just refers to it the way Woody Hayes referred to it – That School Up North.

Acknowledging that one game is more significant than others may not appeal to the NFL’s bottom line ethos, but having a little diversity of emotion is a positive. It doesn’t mean Pittsburgh’s ultimate goal isn’t to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. There is no right way here.

“It’s ridiculous to goal-set and not to acknowledge natural things that occur along the way,” Tomlin said.

He’s unapologetic in believing that having a rivalry with the best team, best coach and best quarterback of the era is cool.

“It’s an awesome thing to be a part of,” Tomlin said. “Not something that I or we take for granted. To be in significant games is just part of chasing what it is that we’re chasing. To have a routine dance partner, that just speaks to their commitment and achievements in similar ways. We’re excited to be a part of it.”

Tomlin is going to coach for a long time, but perhaps he is appreciating that being in this situation, surrounded by historic, iconic figures, is fleeting. Belichick is 65. Brady is 40. Roethlisberger is 35.

Any time can be the last time. As such, he’s taking a moment to smell the roses and admitting this isn’t just another visit from the Browns.

“These type of games are just part of what we desire to be.”

Sounds reasonable.