Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have a Patriots problem

I had a conversation with Mike Tomlin during the preseason last August about visiting Pittsburgh and profiling his career and thoughts. He had agreed to do so in March, so it was simply a follow-up to set up, I thought. But Tomlin said I was mistaken. He said he was more than willing to talk about his team. But his thoughts? About himself? His approach? No, not his deal, he said.

Respected.

The Pittsburgh media can attest that has been Tomlin’s method for nearly all of his 11 seasons as Pittsburgh head coach.

So let’s give Tony Dungy sterling credit for his Sunday night NBC interview with Tomlin that cracked Tomlin’s steel curtain. Tomlin told Dungy that Pittsburgh should win the Super Bowl, that he was already thinking about the Patriots Week 15 game and that they probably would meet again in the playoffs.

The reaction around the National Football League was shock.

What got into Tomlin? Why so bold? Why this out-of-character public course?

It was Steelers receiver Antonio Brown who taped Tomlin’s private, expletive-filled Patriots message to his team before last season’s AFC championship game and posted it on social media for all to hear. NFL coaches think and say a myriad of salty things in private, so that was amusing but not stunning. Rarely do NFL coaches actually plant such specific, look-ahead, opponent-oriented stuff so audaciously in public.

Here’s what I see -– Mike Tomlin has a Patriots problem.

The league does. But the Steelers have their own intense Patriots problem; their own Patriots complex. It’s clearly larger than the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills, the Patriots’ longtime AFC East division dwarfs — and that’s a mouthful. The Patriots have been consistently good and occasionally great for so long, sometimes dominant, that envy of them habitually runs wild and deep. Tomlin reveals that the Patriots are not only on his mind but in his head.

All of Tomlin’s private, blazing chatter last season prior to the AFC championship game was only scenery for Patriots 36, Steelers 17. New England up 10-0 in the first quarter. New England ahead 17-9 at halftime. New England with a 16-0 third-quarter blitz. New England on to the Super Bowl and the championship.

The Steelers were ambushed in that game. Manhandled.

Tomlin’s not over it. Rightfully so. He’s got a Patriots problem.

And until the Steelers actually show that they can handle the Patriots, his talk is just talk. His table-setting simply fanfare.

Pittsburgh is right there with New England, both 9-2, with the Steelers 31-28 winners over Green Bay on Sunday night. They have divisional games against the Bengals and the Ravens before they even see the Patriots. I expect Pittsburgh will lose at least one of those games.

And I expect that if they meet New England in the playoffs again, they’ll lose again.

This is their Patriots problem –- New England is the better team with more confidence and with the mental edge of knowing they can make the Steelers crack.

For Tomlin, for his Steelers, they’ve got Patriots on the brain.

New England typically wins “head games.”

The NFC South race presents New Orleans atop at 8-3, Carolina second at 8-3 and Atlanta third at 7-4. This division includes the defending NFC champion — Atlanta — and highlights the offseason tinkering that New Orleans and Carolina created to catch up.

It is not unusual to find three NFL teams fighting for a division crown with five games left in the regular season. But what is uncommon is the way their paths will cross; their direct conflict in these last five weeks that will untangle the jam and create truth.

New Orleans plays Atlanta twice. Atlanta finishes the season at Carolina. After Carolina plays at New Orleans this week, it tackles the rugged Vikings. Atlanta is hosting the Vikings this weekend.

That is a cross-section of matchups layered with familiarity and intrigue. Some people across the league give the edge to Atlanta and quarterback Matt Ryan over Drew Brees and Cam Newton. Ryan is the defending league MVP, and the Falcons are the reigning division champs.

Others like Carolina’s chances for this reason -– the Panthers are a division-best 5-1 in road games and with two left at New Orleans and at Atlanta are more suited for road conflict.

Because of the way their schedule falls, their road prowess and Newton’s pass-run dexterity, I give the Panthers the edge.

D.J. Foster is an example of NFL patience and resilience.

This running back averaged 5.3 yards per rush as an Arizona State running back and was projected as a fifth-round pick in 2016. But he was not drafted. He signed as a free agent last year with the Patriots and bounced on and off their roster. He was placed on their practice squad on Sept. 2.

But the Arizona Cardinals swiped him on Sept. 12.

And there Foster was on Sunday evening making that 12-yard, toe-planting, thrilling catch in the final seconds that set up Phil Dawson’s 57-yard field goal in Arizona’s 27-24 home victory over Jacksonville.

Four days earlier, Foster had celebrated his 24th birthday.

“He’s just learning, just growing, but he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands,” Cardinals receivers coach Darryl Drake said. “He ran an out route there, beat the linebacker and already knew where he was at the sideline; that way, he didn’t have to look down, he focused on catching the ball. He’s stayed the course. It takes incredible maturity for a guy to join a team in September, be around a few weeks learning and then make a play like that.”

The victory moved Arizona to 5-6 and injected hope into its playoff prospects.