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Bill Cowher Weighs In On Bylsma Situation, NFL Draft

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Former Steelers head coach, The NFL Today on CBS analyst, and new CBS/NFL Network Thursday Night Football analyst Bill Cowher joined "The Fan Morning Show" on Thursday to talk about the NFL Draft and the 2014 season.

During the interview, the guys asked Cowher a few questions related to Dan Bylsma's current predicament. Cowher praised the work that Bylsma has done in Pittsburgh.

"Dan, I think, is a very good hockey coach," Cowher said. "You've got to look at the body of work. You've got to put your players in the position to be there, and I think the one thing that Dan has done, he's done that year in and year out."

He told the guys that outside pressure never really bothered him when he was a head coach.

"It doesn't get to you," Cowher said. "My feeling about that is when you create high expectations, you're doing something right."

He explained that, at least in football, having a good feel for what's going on in your locker room is a crucial part of success.

"For every head coach, to have the pulse of your team is critical," Cowher said. "Because it's a long year, there are a lot of things that come up. It's an emotional game. You're dealing with a lot of things with each player. Some of it's professionally on the field, some of it's off the field, and I think to be able to be proactive in dealing with those things, and making sure that something minor doesn't become something big is a huge part of keeping the team focused. It's hard enough to deal with the opponents week-to-week, but when you have interior issues that you're dealing with, and you're feeling you're spending more time on that, it takes away from your opportunity for your focus to be on the field, on the opponent, and on the course of this journey that you're trying to create through the course of the season."

On the topic of the draft, he told the guys that while there are a lot of positives to a 3-4 defense, it does create challenges for young players trying to adapt.

"There are a lot of responsibilities, there are a lot of idiosyncrasies that you have to be able to understand," Cowher said. "There are so many complexities, and then you take that along with some of the limited amount of practice sessions now that the CBA has put in there- it's very challenging for a young player to come in."

The full interview can be heard here:

Bill Cowher 5-15

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