Here’s what Mike Tomlin had to say after the loss to the Vikings yesterday. You can listen to an excerpt of the press conference at the bottom of the page.
Obviously a disappointing loss, but, really, who am I kidding? They all are, regardless of the manner in which they unfold. We came up short today. We did some things better than we have in recent weeks. We did some things worse. We gave up explosion plays. You can’t do that. Obviously we know what’s 28 is capable of. He showed it again today. We didn’t work enough to minimize his impact on the game. They popped a big play early. Greg Jennings, he’s capable of that.
Just coming up short…liked the fight of the guys. I liked their belief in what it is we’re doing and in each other. We’ve just got to do it better. We’re not going to make any excuses. We’re going to chew everything we’ve got coming. More importantly than that we’re going to focus on getting better. That’s what’s going to change the outcome of these football games. Those that don’t, ain’t going to be a part of us. I have great patience. We will continue to work on getting better, as long as I see the belief and effort and continued improvement in detail, because that’s what’s going to change the outcome of these games. If I don’t, they ain’t going to be a part of it, whoever it may be. It’s just that simple. But again, disappointing. We’ll look at the tape. We’ll work to improve, obviously, and do what’s appropriate in that regard.
From an injury standpoint, Ramon Foster has a pec injury of some kind. We need to get that evaluated to update his status. Ben had an index finger on his throwing hand. He was able to come back into the game. Cromartie-Smith has a quad. Kion Wilson has a hamstring. Markus Wheaton I think broke a fifth finger but he was able to get back into the game as well.
Did you have options to replace Mike Adams?
We didn’t after Ramon went down because Kelvin Beachum was playing guard, in terms of the people we intended and prepared to play in this game that we prepped during the week. There are only a certain number of people you can prepare to play. Anybody else we would’ve put in there would’ve had below-the-line preparation, so there are no answers in that regard. He’s got to do a better job. We’ve got to do a better job to help him schematically. Obviously, Jared Allen is Jared Allen.
Did you sense a lack of belief among the players?
I didn’t sense it, because if I did you would know about it.
How disturbing are the explosion plays you allowed?
It’s affecting the outcome of football games so obviously there’s a level of concern regarding it. But it’s fundamental. There’s not anything mystical, OK? We’re missing tackles. You miss a tackle you’re going to have an opportunity for a big play. You’ve got to tackle better. It’s fundamental.
It seemed to be only a matter of a few plays
That’s how all losses are. Whether you’re 0-4 or whatever, usually those losses come down to a certain number of plays. The reality is that you don’t know when those plays are going to occur, so you’ve got to be good fundamentally. You’ve got to be sound from top to bottom and minimize the potential for explosion plays, and doing things with great detail and good fundamentals, you know, lessen that.
On the 0 and 4 start:
We’re week to week. We’re preparing for our next opportunity. Thankfully we’ve got two weeks to do so.
