Head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media after last night’s loss to the Ravens. Brett Keisel (foot), Kelvin Beachum (knee), Mike Adams (ankle), David DeCastro (foot), Fernando Velasco (ankle) and Le’Veon Bell (concussion) were being evaluated for injuries they suffered during the game. Tomlin talks about the loss, the botched field goal, Le’veon Bell’s overturned touchdown, and his controversial sideline step. You can listen below.
Category Archives: Steelers Interviews
[Audio] Ben Roethisberger On Browns, Ravens, No-Huddle, And More
Ben was on 97.3 The Fan yesterday for his weekly radio interview. During the show he talked about the win over the Browns, the no-huddle, facing the Ravens, and more.
Who calls the plays in the no-huddle?
‘It’s 99 percent me.’, said Ben. “Every once in a while Todd will call something that he thinks looks good, or something that the coaches saw or Randy [Fichtner] saw upstairs”. He went on to say, “The credit goes to everybody, but I’m the one who’s actually calling them in the no huddle out there.”
On practicing for the punt play on Sunday.
“I kick that play every Saturday”.
Ben also talks about what it’s like to turn around and play Thursday night after playing Sunday.
“It’s not easy at all. Thankfully, because of my line, I do feel really good today.”
You can listen below:
[Audio] Coach Tomlin’s Week 13 Press Conference
Coach Tomlin addressed the media earlier today a day early due to the short week. Tomlin spoke about the Browns game, gave injury updates, the upcoming Ravens game, and took questions from reporters.
On the injury front:
Curtis Brown is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
Steve McLendon will be out this week with a sprained ankle.
Ramon Foster is ‘no worse for the wear’ after returning from his ankle injury.
Brett Keisel, Shamarko Thomas, and LaMarr Woodley are expected to work this week with an eye towards participation. How they respond in practice will decide if they proceed through the week. Stevenson Sylvester isn’t as far along as they are according to Tomlin.
Here is the audio from Mike Tomlin’s press conference.
[Audio] Ben: ‘I Enjoy Having Haley As A Coach’
Ben Roethlisberger was on the WDVE Morning Show today talking about the no huddle, his relationship with Todd Haley, and his success playing in Ohio. It’s brief, but you can listen below.
Mike Tomlin Post Game Press Conference Notes
Coach Tomlin addressed the media after the victory over the Detroit Lions, one which he described as “a satisfying” one. Here’s a transcript.
“Boy, that’s a satisfying victory. A good, tough week for us, not only in terms of the game but from a preparation standpoint. We had some guys that had to step up, obviously. Guys like Guy Whimper, guys like Jarvis Jones and Jason Worilds, obviously playing without [LaMarr] Woodley in that mix. I just liked the efforts of all parties involved. Obviously, we were going to be tested and that’s a good football team. We did some things to shoot ourselves in the foot. We got penalized a little bit there on offense. We didn’t convert some red zone opportunities. It minimized the things that we had going there in the first half, specifically. Defensively, I thought right there at the end of the first half we just were defeating ourselves. We weren’t where we needed to be, we were bleeding a little bit, they got some points on the board, but to the guys’ credit, we got in here and gathered at the half. Guys didn’t blink. We made the necessary adjustments. We came out and played a good thirty minutes of football and did what was necessary to get the victory.
We’ll take it and move forward. Obviously, we’re excited about it, but obviously there is no time to wear our hands out patting ourselves on the back. We’ll get rested and we’ll be ready to move forward. On the injury front, Emmanuel Sanders hurt his right foot in the game and is being evaluated. We’ll see where that goes. Stevenson Sylvester has got a right hamstring, we’ll see where that goes, and the rest of it was normal bumps and bruises associated with playing.”
Why not start the game with more guys than just one on Calvin Johnson, and what went into your adjustment at the half?
That was not the case. In many instances, we allocated two guys towards him. But like I said at the top of the week, we weren’t reinventing the wheel here. There have been guys allocating him every week this year and his performances have been similar to that. So, we’re like everybody else.
What were you able to do in the second half to limit Johnson to no catches?
It might just have been what they didn’t do. That guy is an awesome football player.
What does this game, and specifically the second half, tell you about this team?
We did what was required to win today, and that’s significant. But I’m not going to paint with a broad brush and look for anything that’s maybe not there. I appreciate the efforts today. It was required under the circumstances. We did the job.
On Antonio Brown’s big catch on third down on your own goal line after the fake field goal-
We’ve got a big time wideout of our own. Not a lot was written and said about him, of course, leading up to the game. But we think he is capable of affecting the outcome of games, much like their guy.
Do you think it motivates a player when an opposing player is talked about so much?
I think anything can be a motivation to players, it just depends on what they’re looking for. Competitors like these guys, they search for low hanging fruit that is just that.
Why so much quarters defense today, even against their base offense?
Because that was the nature of the way that they attacked. Even when they’re in two tight end sets, that second tight end is an oversized wide out. He’s a vertical threat and that’s the way we chose to play him. It helped us, I thought. Obviously, it put some stresses on some secondary people that can play in the box in regards to some of the run game, but the run game wasn’t going to beat us. We couldn’t let these guys throw the ball over our head, particularly to [Calvin Johnson] and some of those other big body eligibles they have.
You said you don’t want to paint this game too broadly, but do you think beating a team like a first place team kind of gives your guys a sense of something?
No.
Nothing?
No. I don’t want to play ball.
What can you say about your offenses resiliency, especially on the long drive?
It was required, but the big thing – we stalled there a little bit and started settling for field goals. We weren’t operating in the red area and we addressed it at the half. I thought they made the necessary plays to put seven points on the board in the second half when we had to. Obviously, having to settle for a field goal when we were down there on the one early in the second half was not a positive thing, but they were resilient and they stayed the course.
Can you talk about the play of Ben Roethlisberger after the week he had with the rumors?
I don’t play ball with the rumors. That’s not within our control. He had a good week’s preparation. We knew we were playing a good football team, a team that’s capable of ringing up the scoreboard. We realized that would require us to do similar things. I just thought he did a nice job administering the offense.
In the no huddle, is Roethlisberger calling a lot of that?
It depends on the circumstance. Obviously, we have player to coach communication and it’s available to us and we utilize it, but it’s usually a mix-and-match of several people in terms of getting the offensive calls executed.
Ben: ‘How Does Anyone Know What I Do At Home?’
Ben was on the WDVE morning show today and he addressed the recent reports by the NFL network, especially last night’s comments by Michael Silver.
Ben emphasized again that he wants to stay in Pittsburgh.
“First and foremost- I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to be in Pittsburgh…I want to finish my career here.”
When asked his thoughts about the source, he said, “When someone is a source, and they are unnamed, they have an agenda.” ‘My agenda is to try to win football games, and I think my resume speaks for itself on what I’ve done in the past…winning football games and championships’. Ben went on to say, “Whoever said this, there’s no way that this is coming from inside the building.”
How insulted are you that you that they are insinuating that you are not working off the field?
“First off, how does anybody know what I’m doing at home when I’m looking through my playbook and watching film. Unless someone has cameras set up at my house and they’re spying on me…then they’d see the truth, that I am doing that stuff.”
You can listen to whole interview below. Enjoy.
[Audio] Ben: I Look At The Rooneys Like They’re Family
Ben did his weekly radio spot this morning. Some of the topics they covered included the trade rumors, and his relationship with Todd Haley. When asked if sees himself as a Steeler for the rest of the career, Ben says he hopes so, and that there’s no other organization in the world that he’d rather play for than this one.
Some other topics they discuss are “rebuilding”, the wind on Sunday, Heath, and the mentality of the team repairing the season. Ben also confirmed what I said during the gameday thread that Markus Wheaton made a mistake on his route during the interception that happened early in the 1st quarter. Ben closes the interviewing praising Bell and Dwyer, saying that Dwyer has brought an energy that fires up the o-line, an energy that’s just awesome. You can listen below.
H/T 93.7 TheFan
Mike Tomlin Post Game Press Conference Transcript And Audio
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.
[Audio] Ben Roethlisberger’s Comments On Le’Veon Bell
During an interview earlier this week, Big Ben made some comments about Le’Veon Bell that drew a lot of attention from Steelers fans and the media. I thought it would be a good idea to post the audio from that interview for those who haven’t heard it. The first sound bite below is the excerpt from the interview. The second audio file is the entire interview from ‘The Ben Roethlisberger Show’ on Tuesday.
H/T 97.3 The Fan
Steelers Veterans Hold Team Meeting
The Steelers vets called a team meeting today to discuss ways to right the ship after starting the season 0-2 for the first time since 2002.
Ben Roethlisberger spoke about having this meeting yesterday on The Fan morning show. He called the group of veterans “the 08’ers club”, and said that the main purpose was to talk about providing leadership to younger players and to make sure they know that this isn’t the Steeler way, and that it’s not acceptable.
Ben also fielded questions about being 0-2, the Bengals game, Fernando Velasco, Markus Wheaton, and more.
You can listen to the interview below: