Mike Tomlin addressed the media earlier today for the final time this year. Reporters asked him about a variety of topics, though he offered little in the way of concrete answers at times. Coach Tomlin wouldn’t say what, if any, staff changes were going to happen during the off season. In regards to the coordinators returning, he explained that it was too early in the process to comment, and added that it’s a long, drawn out process evaluating staff and players. “I don’t want to rush it. I don’t want to make hasty decisions. I don’t want to make emotional decisions.”, Tomlin said about the coaching staff and players.

Tomlin gave praise to his  players for facing adversity. “It speaks to the men we work with. I learned a lot about them, and sometimes you learn a lot about yourself and the people you work with in the midst of adversity. We had enough adversity starting 0-4, being 2-6 at the turn. It’s encouraging to know the type of men you work with that are capable of staying together and continuing to work in the midst of negativity. All of those things are encouraging. There is a lot of reason for optimism and a great deal of pride in this group of men that I work with.”, said Tomlin.

Other topics he covered included the fan base, the Chargers/Chiefs game, injuries and more. You can listen below.

Here is the transcript from Mike Tomlin’s post game press conference yesterday.

“Necessary win for us. We’re cognizant of what is going on in other stadiums but that bed has been made weeks ago. I do appreciate the efforts today in terms of doing what we needed to do in our stadium. We’ll wait like everyone else to see what happens. But obviously, I’m proud of the group, their ability to stay singularly focused, to fight the fight that’s in front of them, to put some of our past transgressions behind us, largely speaking. Not only today, but over the second half of the season. It’s been a trying journey, but it’s been a rewarding one in a lot of ways from a growth standpoint. Hopefully we get an opportunity to continue forward. On the injury front, a few minor ones. Jerricho Cotchery hurt his ribs. I don’t know the status of him in regards to potentially next week. Steve McLendon re-aggravated his ankle. We’ll evaluate both guys. But largely a good effort, a necessary win and we’ll move forward hopefully.”

Through the course of this did you ever allow yourself to consider possible playoff scenarios or was it kind of tunnel vision?

We had to do what we needed to do in our stadium and that’s where we tried to remain focused. We saw the highlights and scoreboard and everything like everyone else, but that’s irrelevant. We needed to be concerned with what was going on in our stadium and largely I thought the group collectively was able to do that.

Being that you guys faced adversity in the beginning of the season, do you consider the second half of this season one of your better coaching efforts?

I’m not into evaluating my performance. I’m into winning games with this group and we were able to do enough over the second half to put ourselves in position to be where we are, and for that I’m thankful.

Antonio Brown set a record to be the first player to have over five catches and 50 yards in every game in a season. Can you speak about him?

He’s a hard worker. He’s our team MVP. He’s highly productive. He wants to be one of the key reasons why we’re successful. He’s just got all the makings of a guy on the upswing in his career and it’s good to see production to go along with those types of efforts.

Here’s the transcript from Coach Tomlin’s post game presser. Enjoy.

Tomlin:

“Not enough playmaking for us in any of the three phases to secure victory. Obviously, there was enough playmaking by them. I want to congratulate them on their efforts. I thought we could have tackled better. That contributed to some of the splash plays, the big run late. Obviously, we didn’t do enough in that area. We dropped a couple balls, those types of things. But just in general, enough playmaking by them in a close football game. Not enough by us, whether it’s at the end of the game or whether if you look at it throughout. We accept responsibility for that. No major injuries. Just minor bumps and bruises associated with playing.”

You had some big penalties, especially when you were trying to kill the clock late. Was there miscommunication there with Ramon Foster going down field?

“It didn’t look like he was too far down field. Obviously, I’ve got to respect the call made by the officials, but I’ll review the tape before I pass judgment on the quality of that call. Obviously, we run a bunch of those plays and have, not only in recent weeks but over the course of the season. That hadn’t been an issue for us, but I’ll respect his call.”

Regarding the decision to go for it on fourth-and-10:

“Obviously, if we were successful then we could continue on. We hadn’t done a great job of stopping him in the second half, so we weren’t ensured of getting the ball back. If you punt there, they have an opportunity to convert third downs and kill the clock and the game. I thought if we went for it we had an opportunity to continue on. If we didn’t, then whatever was going to happen was going to happen quickly, and we had an opportunity to have the ball at the end, which is what we did.”

Regarding the decision to use the timeout on that play when the clock was already stopped:

“Which one?”

Before the fourth down play.

“We didn’t have enough communication to get the type of call that we were comfortable with right there. We decided to do it in an effort to get a good call and win that down. None of the other things that transpired after that were going to matter unless we got a good call and made every effort to win that down. So, that’s what I did.”

Le’Veon Bell was running the ball well in the first half. Why did his production decrease in the second half?

“They did a nice job. It was the flow of the game or what have you. I’m not going to make an excuse for a lack of productivity in that area. It was what it was.”

Regarding the emotions after a loss when you had the lead late and what it does for the season now:

“I really hadn’t taken the time, obviously, to process it. We understood what was at stake in terms of us and this football game, specifically. We’ll take responsibility for whatever transpires. We understand the gravity of these moments.”

Was Troy Polamalu told to run that missed field goal back or did he do that on his own?

“Absolutely.”

He was told?

“Absolutely. I waived him back there.”

What was Miami doing schematically running the ball because they seemed to be running it pretty well?

“Like I said earlier, I don’t know if it was schematics. Particularly on the big play late, I just thought we didn’t do a good job of tackling. I thought we could’ve done a better job in that area. But you’ve got to give them credit. They blocked hard and they ran hard.”

As that play was unfolding, did you think that Antonio Brown was in?

“I thought he was in, but obviously I didn’t have the perspective of whether or not he stepped out of bounds. I knew he went into the end zone standing up. That I could see. Obviously, his perspective on whether or not he was in bounds or out of bounds over there was much better than mine.”

Emotionally, did you let yourself think you guys had the game won?

“No. I saw his motion before (AB) even went into the end zone. That’s just regular mechanics. You watch the officials that are watching the sideline, particularly in moments like that. He was very definitive and very clear about what he saw over there, so there was no emotional roller coaster ride of any kind whatsoever.”

Mike Tomlin addressed the media today during his weekly Tuesday press conference. He strayed from his normal format to make a statement about what happened Thursday night in Baltimore, and to allow reporters to ask any and all questions they had about the incident. The first twenty minutes of his press conference were dedicated to the sideline topic.

“My descriptions of my actions on that play are a lot of things. Embarrassing, inexcusable, illegal, a blunder.” Tomlin said about his actions on the sideline. “I take full responsibility for my actions on that play. I acknowledge that my actions unfortunately became part of the play. I embrace that as head coaches we are held to the highest standards of conduct and I realize that blunder fell woefully short of that expectation.”

Coach Tomlin emphasized that what he did was unintentional. “I think my biggest error on Thursday night is not realizing that play jeopardized the integrity of the game from a perception standpoint,” said Tomlin. “That is a mistake on my part. Since I left the stadium it’s been shocking to me that my actions have been perceived in any way intentional. I would never do such a thing. I would never consider doing such a thing. It was a blunder.”

After addressing the elephant in the room, Coach T. talked about the upcoming Dolphins game, gave injury updates, and more. You can listen below.

Here is the transcript from Coach Tomlin’s post game press conference after the win over the Cleveland Browns today.

“Good team effort. Necessary. We didn’t take this challenge lightly. These guys are undefeated vs. the North. Really I don’t think an AFC North team has lost a home division game. Nice accomplishment for us but not a lot of time to admire the work. We are working on a short week. We respect that as well. We got out of the game relatively injury free, besides Steve McLendon with an ankle that is being evaluated and Curtis Brownwith a knee that is also being evaluated. I don’t have any definitive information on that. I probably will by tomorrow by the time I talk to you guys. Appropriate effort. Not pretty in terms of winning the line of scrimmage, but did enough to run the football to have balance. We got turnovers on defense and that aided in our efforts.”

Can you talk about the turnovers? At the beginning of the year you weren’t getting any, and today you really did.

“I am not going to make more out of it than what it is. Sometimes it’s just opportunities that are presented due to game circumstances. We didn’t fall behind in this football game, so sometimes the opportunities are born out of that. Early in the year we were behind in football games and not a lot of opportunities when you are down multiple scores. It’s probably more a function of that, it’s not anything we are doing, anything mystical or anything of that nature.”

Can you talk about the production on both sides of the ball?

“I hadn’t measured it in that way. It was enough to get out of here today with a win and that is what I appreciate.

I know you are not about style points, but do you like the way they protected Ben Roethlisbergertoday?
Some of it can be overblown just in terms of the nature of the way the games are unfolding. I appreciate keeping him clean. When you are not behind you can run the ball, you can play pass and so forth. It aids in that effort. Some of it is game circumstance and not necessarily what it is that we are doing, although I appreciate it.”

Can you talk about the way your line held up against their defensive front?

“I thought they did a nice job.”

How big was this win for you?

“It was necessary. Two 4-6 teams fighting, scrapping to stay in this thing. They are not out of it, but today was significant.”

The strip by Troy, is that something you are working on in more in practice, creating turnovers?

“I am not going to say that play was born out of some increased emphasis of something that we emphasize. But it’s something we have been emphasizing. He made a nice play and to say anything other than that would be taking away credit from him and I am not going to do that.”

How many times have you had Ben punt in practice?

“At least once a week for the last five or six years. That is nothing new. You guys have watched us play.”

Are you evaluating the degree of sprain for McLendon’s ankle or is it possible it’s a break?

“All I know is he has an ankle injury, which I knew on the field. I haven’t gotten any results on the evaluation. I don’t have any new news, other than what I had when he initially came off the field.”