Opening Statement: Good bounce back for us in many ways. Probably more than anything the sufficient plays from the defense particularly down the stretch to preserve the win in light of how we finished the game last week. We are excited about that. Largely as a team if we are going to be the kind of team we desire to be we've got to quickly get back on the winning side of things when we don't do the job. That is what this game was about. Obviously it was an AFC North game on the road. All of those things are important. I liked the overall effort of all of the men. We had a few minor injuries and so forth in-game. I don't think it's going to be anything that could be problematic coming out of the bye. Ryan Clark had a shoulder; Max Starks had a stinger, some other bumps and bruises. Largely we are excited about coming out and getting our first AFC North win. If you are going to win the division you better win some division games and we were able to do that today.
Can you talk about the swing of emotions for William Gay, from last week to this week?
That is football. Hopefully it's not as big a swing of emotions as you let on. He is a professional corner and that comes with the territory.
How big were the turnovers?
Just timely plays. That's what you've got to do, particularly moving forward. As we get into the thick of this thing people play better execution-oriented football. You can anticipate all teams doing that. It makes those splash plays more important because there will be less room for error.
Can you talk about Jerricho Cotchery's contribution?
He is a savvy veteran guy, a guy we have been excited about having since the day we acquired him. He had some things slow him down early in the process with the hamstring and so forth. He has been a consummate professional throughout all of it. He has prepared himself. You guys are just starting to see the size of that preparation. We have been extremely pleased with him since he has been here because of his professionalism, how he approaches his work. He is a good teammate.
Hines Ward didn't play much. Were you holding him back because of the head injury?
No, I think he was ready to go. We were just kind of looking at some personnel groups and looking at ways we wanted these people, which we will do from week-to-week. That might not be any indication of how his participation is going to be moving forward, it's just an indication of his preparation today.
What kind of strides has Antonio Brown made?
Just his overall game. That is what you expect from young players. He has awesome examples of it in some of the men we just talked about in here, Hines Ward and Jerricho Cotchery. You can include Mike Wallace in that. He has a nice group of guys that provide a blueprint for him in terms of how to work. I think that is the place to begin when you talk about his play. I don't think you will find anyone in our locker room that will question his work. This guy works on a day-to-day basis and you are able to see it in stadiums.
Can you talk about the penalty on the play when Cotchery's touchdown pass was called back?
It was a good call by them.
At the end of game you threw the ball some. Is that the luxury of having a veteran quarterback?
It's was very, very high percentage passes we are talking about, a ball in the flat to the tight end and a nail out to receiver. Those are long handoffs. When you have a guy like Ben (Roethlisberger) you have to be able to execute those and we feel like we can.
Given the way the season began, are you pleased where you are at this break?
I'll take it. I wouldn't necessarily say I was pleased. I would be pleased if we were 10-0. But we are not. We are what we are.
Does the bye come at a good time?
I haven't run across a bye that I didn't like. I always get that question. It's funny to me. You get it when you get it.
What are your thoughts on how Jason Worilds played?
He did a nice job. What we have because of the position flexibility of Lawrence (Timmons) is we can play with a core group of guys. We have experienced some injuries positionally, it's gone through the offensive line, defensive line and now the linebackers. As we push through it we come out with guys we know are capable of playing winning football for us. Guys like Larry Foote, Jason Worilds. It bodes well for us as we move forward and we start to get some of these guys healthy. Guys don't have to play 65 and 70 snaps. That is what we are focused on trying to do and develop when you are talking about Lawrence swinging inside some and outside some spelling Worilds. We have some guys we know we are capable of playing with and we are trying to keep all of the men as fresh as we can.
Did you try to confuse (Andy) Dalton down the stretch?
They did a nice job of running the football on us and limiting some of those ideas we might have had. When they are getting five or six yards running the football on first down like they were at times it makes it difficult. You tip your hat to them. They stayed on schedule and kept them out of those tough spots for the most part, due mostly to the running of Cedric Benson and the blocking up front.
