The Steelers are not planning to file a formal complaint to the NFL regarding the problems with their headsets during last night’s loss to the New England Patriots.

It was being reported earlier by various media outlets that the Steelers were planning to file a formal complaint about the communication issues, but according to Steelers PR man, Burt Lauten, this is not the case.

“We have provided information to NFL representatives regarding issues that occurred Thursday night at Gillette Stadium with our coach-to-coach headset communications system,” Lauten said in a statement. “The problem was addressed during the game and we did not have further problems in the second half. We did not file a formal complaint, nor do we plan to do so.”

Here’s what coach Tomlin had to say about it after the game.

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According to Chris Adamski of the Tribune, after the Steelers notified league personnel, the NFL determined that the entire Steelers coaching staff could not communicate. According to Bob Labriola, the headsets issue was intermittent.

“Strangely enough, whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers’ headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast.”

This might explain some of the head-scratching moments we saw last night.

After last night’s 23-21 loss to the Jaguars, Coach Tomlin addressed the media. Here’s what he had to say.

“Not the outcome that we desired but there were some awesome situations for the group to be in. Some positive things, obviously, and some negative things. We played tonight and we will analyze tomorrow. I think the energy and effort of the guys…we just came up a little short.

“On the injury front, we got out pretty injury free. Josh Harris has a foot. Don’t know the extent of that but we take a look at it. Lawrence Timmons didn’t play in the game because he hurt his toe after we met the other day in practice. We held him out of the football game. We will watch that and hopefully it’s a day-to-day thing as opposed to a week type thing.

“Largely, I liked some of the things that were displayed on the field. Obviously, it would have been nice to finish the game out, but we didn’t. We take responsibility for that. We have a lot of things to learn from and got a good look at a lot of different guys in a lot of different circumstances.”

So, the good news is that there appear to be no serious injuries coming out of last night’s game. Hopefully Timmon’s toe is indeed just a minor ‘bump and bruise’ type of injury. Here’s what Tomlin had to say when asked about late game adjustments last night.

“The game situations presented that. It was great to be in a good, close game and be challenged in the way we were challenged. Special teams produced a turnover when we needed one. The offense was able to follow it up.

“Obviously, we were not able to stop those guys from going down the field. We helped them some, we were penalized some but as were they. That is a sign of this time of year. I’m sure neither one of us is happy with the penalties, but that is life.”

On whether he needs to see more from the first team offense.

“Absolutely. Shoot, they only played a drive or two of football. We have to play 60 minutes of winning football. We are going to go through this process and work to that. I like the start to that, but it was just a start.”

The team has today off. They’ll break down the tape from last night’s game and resume practice tomorrow to begin the last week of training camp.

The Steelers announce that they have agreed to a contract extension with Head Coach Mike Tomlin today. The two year extension will keep Tomlin under contract through the 2018 season.

“I am pleased to announce we have extended Mike Tomlin’s contract through the 2018 season,”  said Steelers’ president Art Rooney II in a statement via the team’s website. “Mike has proven he is one of the top head coaches in the National Football League, and we are confident he will continue to lead the team in our pursuit of another Super Bowl championship.”

During his 8 seasons as Steelers head coach, Tomlin has led the team to two Super Bowls (winning one), and has a 82-46 record (.641) in the regular season. The Steelers have made the playoffs 5 times out of those 8 seasons. Tomlin, who was once the youngest head coach to win a super bowl, is now 43 and says his focus is on winning another one.

“I very much appreciate this contract extension, but my sole focus has been and will continue to be meeting the challenges that lie ahead for the 2015 season,” Tomlin said in a statement earlier today. “These past nine years in Pittsburgh have been a wonderful experience for my family, and I look forward to pursuing what is the Steelers’ goal every year – bringing another Super Bowl championship to the city of Pittsburgh.”

The financial terms of the deal are not available, and, unlike players contracts, are not often made public. However, NFL reporter Ian Rapoport reports that this deal will put Tomlin among the top 3-5 highest paid coaches in NFL and all sports.

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/624267251731025922

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Bengals defensive back Reggie Nelson had a spirited exchange last night after the Steelers won the division title.

You would think the conversation had to do with Nelson’s hit to Le’Veon Bell’s knee earlier in the night.

According to coach Tomlin, the argument had nothing to do with it. “He was talking about some he-said, she-said type of a deal,” said Tomlin after the game. “I don’t know what he was talking about.” When asked specifically if they talked about the hit, Tomlin said no. “I guess a teammate told him that I said something regarding him. That’s untrue. Ask him. I have a lot of respect for Reggie Nelson. He’s a good player.”

Here’s the HD video of their exchange. At about 10 seconds in, you can hear Nelson saying, “that’s what he said you said!”, which would confirm Coach Tomlin’s “he said, she said” statement.

Mike Tomlin Vs. Reggie Nelson

Edit- If you can’t view the above video, you can also see it here at Deadspin.

Here is a transcript from Coach Tomlin’s post game press conference today after the Steelers clinched a playoff spot.

A big fight by our football team today. Did what was necessary to secure victory. A lot of efforts to point out. Really just loved the spirit of the defense. We challenged those guys this week. Kansas City has the number-one red zone defense in football so we knew that points could be tough down there for our offense.

Our defense had to play tough in the red area to keep the playing field level. I thought that they responded to that challenge. We talked openly about it all week. The red zone stops where we forced them to kick field goals and then ultimately that fourth-down stop was big in the football game from a big perspective. Just largely, a lot of good efforts by a lot of people. We came out of this thing relatively injury free. We realize what next week is. It’s a big week for us. We’ll enjoy this today, but we’ll start the preparation tomorrow for our AFC North finale.

Were you surprised that the Chiefs went for it on fourth-and-one? How did you stop them?

I was not surprised. Coach Reid is an aggressive guy. He doesn’t live in his fears. He’s always been that guy. Nothing special in terms of stopping it to be honest with you. Just played good, sound football and guys did a nice job of being strong at the point of attack.

What does it say for your team to make the playoffs despite playing young guys and dealing with injuries?

The big thing is that we’ve evolved throughout. We were young at the early stages of the year. Same guys but they’ve matured through the process. That maturation process is sometimes not easy. We were a highly penalized group early. We got control of that. Started minimizing big plays. We’re doing what teams need to do this time of year which is ratcheting it up and being a more difficult team to beat. We’re beating ourselves less which is good.

Was the plan at right outside linebacker to have a rotation and did the performance of Harrison change that?

James was healthy today. We were going to let James play and we did. He was a significant factor but obviously all of those guys are capable of being reasons why we win. That’s one of the things that the challenges that injuries present. When you come through the other side of it you get people back…you have quality depth. We’ve missed some time with a number of people, Jarvis and James Harrison and so forth. But what that’s given us now is that we have everybody healthy. We have good depth and we can play a lot of people and guys can play with great energy.

How important would it be to win the division?

Very. I mean that’s what we came here for is hardware that we pick up along the way in terms of our ultimate goal. But we realize how significant division play is. We’re supporters and proponents of division play.

Did you get an explanation on the William Gay unsportsmanlike penalty?

I don’t even want to get into that. I really don’t. Ridiculous.

On the team’s discipline:

We’re not going to apologize for caring. We’re not.

Was that the team’s best defensive effort of the season?

I could say that because as we sit here right now those are the feelings. But we’re just trying to do what’s required for us to win. It was very necessary today. We’ll appreciate it today. I’m sure we have some bigger, tougher challenges and battles that lie ahead. That need to be our focus as opposed to looking back and admiring our work.

What has the return of Harrison meant to the team?

Besides the play, the demeanor, the approach to business, the singular focus; he’s a legitimate, real leader for the group. Besides the play, he’s a compass. He’s a football lover.

Does it mean more to make the playoffs this season after missing it the last two seasons?

No. We don’t carry bags from past performances. We’re singularly focused on this one.

Here is a transcript from Mike Tomlin’s press conference after today’s 41-21 victory over the Bengals.

That was a tough AFC North December battle. Kind of what we anticipated. Give those guys credit. It seemed like every time we got control of it they got a big play and regained control of it. Also give our guys credit because they didn’t fold in the face of that, in a hostile environment today.

The guys made the necessary plays. Not perfect, still giving up big plays. That created problems for us today; it’s created problems for us. I like the resolve of the group. We played as a team and we got it done. A lot to be excited about, but just very necessary. Hopefully we learn from these lessons and move forward to our next challenge. No real major injuries. Ike (Taylor) got beat up a little today, got a knee contusion, got an AC joint. The rest appeared to be pretty clean.

His thoughts on the long touchdown pass to Martavis Bryant:

We just weren’t going to live in our fears today. We needed to be aggressive. We needed to create some splash. It seems like we seized control of the game, they regained control of the game with a splash play. Going up top to 18 (AJ Green), so we just tried to do a little bit of that on our own. It worked out for us, good protection and great throw, and 10 (Bryant) finished it.

About weighing the risk and reward for that play:

Every moment of every day but that’s life, particularly in this league.

Was there something leading up to make you think that play would work?

They are aggressive when you are backed up. They want to keep you backed up. That is football 101. I think that is any defense. Sometimes those opportunities are usually there but it’s about whether or not you are you willing to take the risk and are you capable of capitalizing on it. We were able to get it done today.

Is it hard for the defense to keep confidence when they give up big plays?

It’s less about the defense and more about the people. One of the things that’s positive about our group is we have some guys back there that have played some football like Troy (Polamalu) and Ike (Taylor), Mike Mitchell and Will Gay they’re not young people. They’re able to flush it out, move forward, and understand that the next snap is the most important one. It would be better if we minimized them.

His thoughts on Ben Roethlisberger’s play today after the past couple of weeks:

It was very necessary. It seems like he always plays good in Ohio. We knew what we needed today from everyone and he’s central to that.

How do Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown keep doing it?

I really think they get the headlines and stuff and deservedly so because they do a lot for us, but I also think that the other guys answer the bell when their numbers are called upon. Whether it’s Martavis Bryant or Markus Wheaton or Heath Miller or Lance Moore, it seems like the other guys batted a pretty good percentage when their number is called upon. I think that keeps a level playing field for those two key components to do what it is they do. Those guys answer the bell, make significant plays. They don’t have an opportunity to maybe have a volume of plays that Brown and Bell get but significant none the less because they keep the dogs off those two.

Why was it working so well on the left side running the ball?

I really wasn’t paying attention. (David) DeCastro is a pretty good puller. Other than that I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the direction of the runs.

After the AJ Green touchdown, did you decide to stay with Ike?

I did, it’s on me.

Did the fumble recovery by Arthur Moats swing the momentum?

It was a big play in the game. It was a huge play in the game. It was what we needed. A short field. Often times a short field alone doesn’t do it. It’s working together, working in concert with one another. We didn’t do a good enough job of it a week ago working in concert. We talked about it, offense, defense, special teams. That’s an example of us doing it today and allowing us to gain victory.

How pleasing was it to close a game out?

I don’t care about the style points, we are just trying to do what is necessary and get out of these stadiums with wins and stay in the thick of things. It was a significant day today here in the North.

If Le’Veon had less success earlier on, would we have seen more of Josh Harris?

No. We’re going to give it to Le’Veon.

Was Dri Archer hurt, was that why he wasn’t active?

It was the best mix for us today. We had some defenders coming back today. We got some significant special teams contributors. We didn’t want to lessen that. They have a dangerous kicking game. The net punting, the net punt return was really a field flipper. We wanted to respect that. They have dangerous return men in Tate and Jones. We allocated the bodies in that area.

Here is a rundown of Coach Tomlin’s post game comments from last night.

It was a big time atmosphere at Heinz Field tonight. We got a lot of energy from our fans. Obviously, it was an opportunity to salute the great Joe Greene. It was just a great environment to work in. I think the guys just rode that emotional wave and did what was necessary for us to secure a victory.

Obviously it was a big game for us but really we just did what we had to do. They beat us by 20 at their place. We evened the score. We won by 20 tonight, and we will move on. This kind of reflects the history of this series, and that’s why it is so great. It is something that is good to be a part of. We have a lot of respect for those guys. It was great to get a win tonight. We will keep it in perspective and move forward.

We had a number of injuries in the game. Ryan Shazier has an ankle injury. Troy Polamalu has a knee sprain. Shamarko Thomas has a hamstring injury. I think it’s a different hamstring from the one he had about a month or so ago. You know how it is. We will assess these and move forward.

There was a lot of effort from a lot of people involved. Obviously we didn’t get started in the manner in which we wanted to offensively but a lot of credit goes to those guys. What I liked about our offense is that we continued fighting and obviously as the game wore on we were able to score touchdowns. They were the number-two redzone defense in football. To get down there and be able to put touchdowns on the board, I thought that was significant and it allowed us to win in the manner in which we did.

Did turnovers in the second quarter turn the tide for the team?

I didn’t feel like the tide needed to be turned. I just thought we just weren’t gaining traction in the early stages of the game. The defense provided the splash that created a wave that we rode. One week it’s going to be the offense and another week hopefully it’s going to be the defense and special teams. It was just a good team effort.

How well is Harrison playing after seeing his retirement a few weeks ago?

Saying a few weeks ago is a stretch. This guy has been here now for almost two months. I like the way you put that spin on it though. He is working hard on a daily basis. He is who he is. He is not a regular guy. He is James Harrison. He is getting up to speed and getting into shape and doing James Harrison-like things, which quite frankly is what we expect.

Did Joe Greene address the team before the game?

He did.

What did he say?

I will leave that between he and us. I am sure he would like it that way.

Is this one of those defining games, especially on offense?

It depends on what we do going forward, whether or not it is a defining game. Hindsight is always 20-20. It’s a defining game if we make it one moving forward.

Thoughts on the fumble recovery by Brice McCain and how it changed the game and how he and Antwon Blake are playing:

They are just young and hungry guys that have kind of earned their keep in this league as special teamers. I think they all have a desire to be great. I am talking about anybody that plays ball at this level. When they get an opportunity they don’t take it for granted. They realize how precious it is. They just want to capitalize on it. Those aren’t my words. Those are their words. Individually, they do realize the opportunity they have to play defense, and they don’t want to waste it. They want to be significant reasons as to why we are successful and I respect that. I think that reflects not only in their play but in their work during the course of the week.

Tomlin on being more balanced on offense:

I’ve said from day zero we desire to be able to run it and throw it and to have a balanced attack. Read my transcripts. Nothing has changed.

On Ben Roethlisberger’s performances the last two games:

He is doing the things that we need him to do, obviously, but I don’t think any of us are surprised by anything that he does. We have been looking at it for some time. We appreciate it nonetheless but we aren’t surprised by it.

On Polamalu going back into the game after initially hurting his knee and what happened with him at halftime:

I don’t know what he got at halftime. I just know that he wasn’t able to continue, and it became pretty evident to us at the half.

What’s the extent of Troy’s injury?

It’s a sprain. That’s all I have at this point.

On the offensive line struggling early and responding:

We just got our traction. We talked all week about our offensive line. Those guys have grown up in this series. They have taken their lumps some. They were once young guys playing in this series. But now the group is three, four or five years in the league. They have played together. They have grown up in this series. Their play needs to reflect it and I think it did as the game wore on. That’s what we talked about during the course of the week.

On getting less penalties as of late:

It’s just part of playing good football. You can’t beat yourself if you want to be a tough team to beat. At the early stages of the season we were an easy team to beat, largely because we were beating ourselves. We respect that. We aren’t going to take that for granted. It’s a daily battle to keep the penalties at a minimum, not only in terms of some of those types of things that you talk about but technical things, penalties in the secondary and so forth. I thought we did a good job of being combative but doing it in the proper manner tonight.

Are you somewhat surprised about Martavis Bryant over the past two weeks?

I am not. Antonio Brown is playing at a pretty high level and gets a lot of attention, and if you are just competent you are going to opportunities when you are on the field and breaking the huddle at wide receiver with him.