During Tuesday’s press conference with reporters, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was asked a fairly clear question as to whether the organization has a protocol in place to keep players from approaching fans during games.
The answer initially was not clear: “Exactly.”
“So is that a yes or a no?” the reporter said. “Do you have protocols or not?”
“We certainly may, but I might not be privy to it, because my eyes and attention is what’s going on on the field,” Tomlin said. “But we have a top-notch security group, etc. Everybody in the National Football League does. It’s not only from an organization’s perspective, but it’s a global component to it as well.”
The first part of the answer is telling. “Certainly may” is absolutely a way of saying, “I don’t know.”
He assumes they do. The video of the interaction suggests otherwise, given that no one stopped Metcalf from walking to the stands and grabbing the fan’s T-shirt.
On Tuesday’s PFT Live, former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty said the franchise for which he played always had personnel behind the sideline to prevent interactions initiated by fans. It’s unknown whether every team has that.
If the Steelers do — and they “certainly may” — it certainly did not work on Sunday in Detroit.
And if there’s a “global” component that the league has put in place, that didn’t work on Sunday, either. The conclusive proof is the incident that occurred.
