IKE TAYLORJanuary 7, 2008
What are you feeling now?
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Some down time, get away, go see my family and spend time with my son.
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It's easy for you guys to put the wins and loses behind you when you have the next game up. Is it a little different and how so?
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It hurts. The game is over with. The season is over with. There is nothing we can do about it. Just try to move on and for the time being right now, just get some down time and time with my family.
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You won the division but to go out in the first round of playoffs – how much of a disappointment is that? Does it make your whole season as a disappointment?
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Whoa. I wouldn't say the whole season. It is definitely a disappointment though.
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What does this team need to get beyond game one in the playoffs?
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Just be consistent on both ends of the ball, all three phases of the game. Special teams, offense and defense. Just hold ourselves to even higher standards coming in next year.
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Why do you think consistency was an issue this year?
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It just was. Can't really put a finger on it. It just was this year. To be successful you can't have that. You pretty much have to be consistent week in and week out. That is something we need to work on.
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Are you able to take positives from the season or is it too early into the off season to do that?
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Not winning and not hoisting the Lombardi – there's really no positives.
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So not winning the Super Bowl, it is a failure to you?
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For me, my goal, yes. For somebody else it might be different, but I doubt it. I'm just talking about my opinion.
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Have you had your meeting with Coach Tomlin?
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Not yet.
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How about with Dick LeBeau?
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I talked to him. Just come back. Stay healthy and get ready for the next season. I really can't say too much. We did some things on the defense that we wanted to do. But our goal was to be number one. Which we came two teams short. That's what it is. This league is a great league full of athletes and great players. We just have to be consistent in every phase.
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You talk about consistence in execution – at what point do you start to look at personnel matters?
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I don't worry about any personnel matter. We've got what it takes on both sides of the ball. The other teams that have been winning – it is consistence. That's all I am going to keep saying. Consistency.
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You guys played defense differently against Jacksonville – what did you do differently?
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Tweaks here and there. Pretty much around the board. Starting from the defensive line all the way to the secondary. Just came out there knowing you don't have another game left. Once you lose you are out. Unfortunately we are on the wrong side of the stick. That's just the way football is. You've got to have a winner and loser.
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You handled the cut-back a lot better this time.
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No question. We play those guys at least once a year for the last three or four years. So they pretty much know what we do and we know what they do. So we vary with each other.
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What is it like playing for Tomlin over Cowher?
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Just different rules. Coming into the season. Training camp is different. He laid down the foundation. So as professional athletes we had to learn to adjust to these things that were different when coach Cowher was here.
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Did he have to win you guys over?
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I don't think so. We were just getting a feel for each other. He was getting a feel for the players and we as players were getting a feel for the coach. We knew it wasn't going to be an overnight thing. It took sometime and we manage to do that.
Are you going to watch the games next weekend?
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No I can't. Right now I can't even watch football. I don't even want to talk about football. I'm not into football right now.
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Jacksonville beat you twice in three weeks. Both were close games, do you think the way those games played out that you are as good of a team as Jacksonville?
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Well, I can say that, but it isn't true because they beat us. So Jacksonville is the better team.
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What was the difference in that game?
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We started off fast and went down and drove on them. They came right back on the special teams and got down to the one. That shifted momentum little bit. Just a few plays here and there that they made and that we made. Enough to keep the score close and at the end of the game they put themselves in a potion to win. That's what happened.
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Can they beat New England?
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I'm not God so I don't know. I can't predict anything.
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Do you think Coach LeBeau is coming back next year?
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I don't know. But I definitely hope so. He has been a father figure t o all of the guys on all of the team and especially on the defense. We have a lot of respect for him. A lot of the times he says we do too much for him, just like small things we try to do for him just to let him know we appreciate what he does for us.
It wasn't any goodbyes today was it?
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No. No goodbyes or anything like that. I don't have that feeling. I was just trying to let you know Coach LeBeau, if you ever do think about it. Not right now. So hopefully he will be back.
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Can you put yourself back to last year and do you remember how you felt being 8 – 8?
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It's hard to get into the playoffs just period. There are a lot of great teams out there and we were one of the 12 teams that made. Just going back from last year. We made some progressions. That is what you want to do as a team. But like I said, the ultimate goal is hoisting the Lombardi.
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So this is a tougher feeling than last year – not making it at all?
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No question because you re in the tournament. Once you get in the tournament, everything is 0-0. The regular season record doesn't even matter anymore. It is all about the postseason.
