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STEELERS-BROWNS POST-GAME QUOTESSunday, Oct. 17at Heinz Field
STEELERS QUOTES
Coach Mike Tomlin:It was good to get back in the competitive feel and do it with a victory. There's always some anxiety coming off the bye [week]. You're worried about your level of execution and your physicality early. They answered those questions pretty quickly. I thought the guys* *came out ready to play. You got to tip your hat to Cleveland. I thought the field-position game was a legitimate factor in the game, especially early on. It kind of kept it extremely close. Their punter did a nice job; they did a nice job getting first downs on every possession. And they had us backed up. We were looking at a full field there for a majority of the early portion of the game. But the guys didn't blink and continued to work and made the necessary plays for us to have a victory. On the injury front, Brett Keisel appears to be the only one at this juncture that could be an issue moving forward. He's got a hamstring injury. I don't know the extent of that. We got to take a look at it, and of course I will have more information for you Tuesday in regards to his status. The rest of them are the bumps and bruises that go along with playing. The majority of those guys, Chris Kemoeatu, Doug Legusrky and others made their way back into the football game after their injuries. All-in-all, any time you can get an AFC North win, it's good. It's good to have a victory coming off the bye [week], and we stay in the hunt.
RE: Ben's performance:
I thought he played well, but not that I'm surprised by that. He was sharp in training camp and in the preseason. He was sharp when he came back. I think it started way back in the summer. The guy came in, in great condition and he's been working. When given the opportunity, we know this guy's capable of playing the way he did today. I'm not surprised by that in any stretch.
Was Ben a little anxious with his throws?
He hadn't played in a month. You can characterize it the way you want to characterize it. He missed a few throws. He's not perfect, none of us are. He played a good football game.
Were you content to run the clock out before Cleveland used their timeouts?
We were just trying to play, trying to win. That's part of it. The gamesmanship, we got a big-time respect for those guys. But at the same time we weren't trying to get the ball back to them either.
RE: James Harrison's hits:
Legal hits, not fineable hits, he played good football. James is always ready to deliver for his teammates. That's why they have so much respect for him. He's a good football player man. He always delivers timely performances when you need them. Talking to a lot of young players, they want to know the recipe for being a dominant, great player. It's not only delivering plays but delivering plays at a timely manner, significant plays. And he does that for us for the most part.
RE: Ben's first game back:
It was going to happen guys. At some point the guy was going to coming back. It was going to be a story in some form or fashion. It's not our story. Our story is the story of the 2010 Steelers and our quest to win football games. You guys can talk about it however you want to talk about it. He had to come back at some point. He came back today. He's ready to play as are we. We won; we're moving on.* *
RE: Emmanuel Sanders play:
He's ready to contribute. That's why it's kind of nip-and-tuck with him and Antonio Brown. Two very serviceable young guys that are competing week-in-and-week-out for the right to wear the helmet and help our team, I've got big-time respect for how both men are handling it and producing when given the opportunity, and really making decisions tough for myself. I appreciate that from a guy in my position.
Did you use the whole playbook with Ben?
Yes, whatever that means.
You weren't scaling it back at all?
No.
RE: Lawrence Timmons play:
Lawrence is a big-time talent. He runs to the ball; he creates plays because of his range because of how he hustles. He's becoming a veteran player. He's making plays above the neck. He just does good work for us, consistently week-in-and-week-out. Not only today, but all of his tapes here in 2010 have looked pretty similar to that.
RE: Offensive line play:
They did an awesome job and not only from a result standpoint. You saw that several times different men went down. Chris [Kemoeatu] went down. Doug [Legursky] went down. I think Ramon Foster went in for both guys. That's kind of been the story with our offensive line. It hasn't been an easy journey for us to this point, and we don't expect it to be. We understand what this is about. Guys like Ramon Foster; Tony Hills has answered the call for us, Jonathan Scott. They're always ready to do it. The standard is the standard, and we appreciate that.
Were you trying to take some time off the clock in the third quarter?
I was. There were some instances in there where we weren't happy. At one point we ran the ball on first and second down, and we were looking at third-and-eight maybe late in the third quarter. Not what we're looking for, but I like the attitude of the guys. They're talking about it. They understand the standard. We got to continue to grow and get better.
Have you shown a general improvement in that area?
Yes.
RE: Nick Eason filling in:
Nick is just a versatile guy, a veteran backup. He's been in a bunch of battles. We call on that experience. He's no doubt useful to us. I'm not taking anything away from Ziggy Hood. They're three and three-a, if you will in terms of defensive ends. We call on them. A lot of times I'm not on the details of the rotation. It might be who is fresh and so forth. Both of those guys contribute on special teams. We don't view those guys any differently is the point I am trying to make. At the end of the day the usually play a similar number of snaps.
Would Nick Eason get the start if Brett Keisel can't play next week?
We'll look at that early next week. Maybe we'll get those guys competing like [Antonio] Brown and [Emmanuel Sanders].
RE: Colt McCoy's performance:
I thought he handled the situation relatively well. He put the ball where it was supposed to go. He shows composure. At times where we rushed three he didn't rush the ball. He showed some innate things that are quarterback things. I am sure they're excited about him. They should be. It wasn't too big for him. Really we didn't expect it to be too big for him. This guy has been in some big games over there in that Big XII at Texas. We got respect for guys like him that are capable of. We've been in stadiums with our backup quarterback here of late, and we know what teams are capable of. We didn't take him or that team lightly.
STEELERS PLAYERS
QB Ben Roethlisberger
Can you assess your day?
I don't think that it really hit me until I was pulling up to the stadium. Being on the field before the game got a little emotional. I felt like it was a pretty good day, I felt like I left a lot of plays out there a few plays here and there, obviously the interception I just got a little antsy Mewelde Moore was open I wanted to get him the ball right away when I needed to just settle down and get it to him. That being said we won the game and did pretty well on offence.
* *
In general the incomplete passes seemed to go a little high. Was that a little extra anxiety?
Yeah just a little extra, the ball was coming out what we call hot, coming out high and strong. We left some things out there, but that was a good Browns defense that we played. I'm proud of the way we played, especially the line and running the ball.
* *
Re: The ovation you received today?
Amazing! I got a little bit of tears in my eyes, to hear a cheer like that was truly something special.
* *
Re: Your run/pass ratio.
Off the top of my head I think we were pretty close to the game plan, maybe a few more runs. We did a lot of what they gave us. We were able to run the ball well. There were a couple of times that we weren't too happy getting a yard on first down and a yard on second down then putting ourselves in third and long. I think a lot of the times we stopped ourselves. We had some missed assignments, some miscommunications just little things here and there that really stopped us.
* *
Re: On getting hit, since you don't get hit in practice.
I don't feel anything yet, I probably will tomorrow. It feels good, just as long as you don't get seriously hurt, I know I will have some bumps and bruises tomorrow. It's been a long time since I got hit, but nothing serious.
* *
Re: On the hit by Scott Fajita near the end zone.
Rashard did a great job of picking up a cat, kind of one of those plays that we wanted to take a shot. You're at risk near the goal line so I just chucked it and he got my arm when I let go of it, but fortunately the ball was gone when he hit me.
* *
Did you know what to expect today?
Training camp was great. The preseason was great. I still didn't know what to expect, but it was truly awesome to hear the fans. I love being back out in front of those guys again.
* *
How big of deal was it for you to play a game? Or is this something that is going to be on the back burner all year?
It's football for me. I'm just happy to be out there, to be with those guys and win a football game.
* *
Did you feel in the second half that the offense was in a good groove?
Yeah, I thought we should have scored on the opening drive, that's always huge and we talk a lot about that. It was another time that we killed ourselves. The second half we did well. We still don't want Dan Sepulveda to punt and we do not want to kick field goals, we want Jeff Reed to kick extra points.
Can you assess your day?
I don't think that it really hit me until I was pulling up to the stadium. Being on the field before the game got a little emotional. I felt like it was a pretty good day, I felt like I left a lot of plays out there, a few plays here and there, obviously the interception I just got a little antsy. Mewelde Moore was open I wanted to get him the ball right away when I needed to just settle down and get it to him. That being said we won the game and did pretty well on offense.
* *
In general the incomplete passes seemed to go a little high. Was that a little extra anxiety?
Yeah just a little extra, the ball was coming out what we call hot, coming out high and strong. We left some things out there, but that was a good Browns defense that we played. I'm proud of the way we played, especially the line and running the ball.
* *
Re: The ovation you received today?
Amazing! I got a little bit of tears in my eyes, to hear a cheer like that was truly something special.
* *
Re: Your run/pass ratio.
Off the top of my head I think we were pretty close to the game plan, maybe a few more runs. We did a lot of what they gave us. We were able to run the ball well. There were a couple of times that we weren't too happy getting a yard on first down and a yard on second down then putting ourselves in third and long. I think a lot of the times we stopped ourselves. We had some missed assignments, some miscommunications just little things here and there that really stopped us.
* *
Re: On getting hit, since you don't get hit in practice.
I don't feel anything yet, I probably will tomorrow. It feels good, just as long as you don't get seriously hurt, I know I will have some bumps and bruises tomorrow. It's been a long time since I got hit, but nothing serious.
* *
Re: On the hit by Scott Fujita near the end zone.
Rashard did a great job of picking up a cat, kind of one of those plays that we wanted to take a shot. You're at risk near the goal line so I just chucked it and he got my arm when I let go of it, but fortunately the ball was gone when he hit me.
* *
Did you know what to expect today?
Training camp was great. The preseason was great. I still didn't know what to expect, but it was truly awesome to hear the fans. I love being back out in front of those guys again.
* *
How big of deal was it for you to play a game? Or is this something that is going to be on the back burner all year?
It's football for me. I'm just happy to be out there, to be with those guys and win a football game.
* *
Did you feel in the second half that the offense was in a good groove?
Yeah, I thought we should have scored on the opening drive, that's always huge and we talk a lot about that. It was another time that we killed ourselves. The second half we did well. We still don't want Dan Sepulveda to punt and we do not want to kick field goals, we want Jeff Reed to kick extra points.
* *
Re: On the progress Rashard Mendenhall has had in your tenure together.
From watching him from a distance and watching him up close he is emerging into a top five back in this league, with the potential to be one of the elites. It's kind of the Heath Miller effect it's not just about yards and running the ball. You watch some of the blitzes he picks up, he stones linebackers in the hole and lets me complete passes down the field. All those things make him complete and he has really grown into an elite back.
Re: Hines Ward's effort on his touchdown.
That's Hines, I didn't really get to see it I was hit when I let go of it. Now that I think about it, that was one were Hines ran the wrong route. He was supposed to go out, but we were on the same page, I thought he was going to come in and he came in. We got to the sideline and coach told us he was supposed to break out. It's one were Hines just plays ball, and if you get Hines the ball close and he will do everything he can to get in.
* *
Re: On the incompletion on the pass that Mike Wallace was open near the end zone.
I knew it was out of bounds, it was a horrible throw. I was going to go to Hines quick, I cut it and saw the corner looking at me. Mike was wide open on the sideline I tried to fire it in there and it just came off my hand high.
* *
Were all the runs that you had on the first drive, was that part of the game plan?
That was a little bit of me asking to get back into the game with some runs. We wanted to come out and establish ourselves, and that's what Bruce Arians loves to do. Kind of establish the run game and be physical up front. I think the guys did a good job of that.
* *
Did you get the sense that the second half you were a little calmer?
A little bit, you get jitters before any game, I do at least maybe this game a little more. At halftime you get the chance to settle down. You have to come out a compose yourself in the second half.
* *
Re: On the Heath Miller touchdown.
That was me selling out to him. I didn't realize at the time Mike Wallace needed a couple yards for a hundred, that's probably why they called it. I knew Heath was one-on-one and that's a match up I like.
* *
Is this comparable to your first start?
It's a little different because I've been through it before. This is my seventh year now. You get past the initial nerves and you know that you are capable of doing it. It's just a matter of going out there and doing it.
* *
What did you say to Colt McCoy after the game?
That I was proud of him. It was not an easy task that he had to today, on the road against our defense. I told him I was proud, I thought he played well and to keep his head up and we'll see him down the road
* *
DE Aaron Smith
* *
You did provide quite a bit of pressure, and seemed to rattle [Colt] McCoy from time to time.
"We just tried to get back there and keep him contained, first of all, because he likes to scramble - he's very mobile – and disguising looks and getting after him."
How do you think he did?
"I think he did all right. He's still a young guy. I'm sure he had some trouble recognizing some stuff, but he put some points on the board."
Did Ben Roethlisberger's return make the defense feel like it had a little more wiggle room?
"It was nice to see him back out there, running around, running the offense. He's so explosive. He can make big plays out of anything. You always have to account for him on the opposing defense. We just go out there and take care of our business [and] see what happens."
You have three road games coming up. Can you speak to that?
"We have a tough road. I'm going to enjoy this right now; then, tomorrow [I will] start focusing on what we have ahead. But we've got to be prepared for tough road games."
RB Rashard Mendenhall
* *
Re: touchdown run
"The line did a great job. They created a surge [and] got a seam. [With Doug] Legursky leading up there, I was able to get it in."
Looks like you enjoyed catching passes as much as the runs.
"Yeah. That's part of the game. We take pride in being able to do anything that you are asked to do. And that was one of those things."
WR Mike Wallace
* *
Re: offensive balance
"It opens it up for everybody. It opens it up for [Rashard Mendenhall] and it opens it up for us. When he runs well and we catch the ball well, we'll be more of a balanced team instead of one dimensional. With both of us playing well, everybody can do their job, everybody can keep going and everybody can have a good game."
Re: return of Ben Roethlisberger and fact that he missed a few throws.
"I didn't really want him to be flawless coming back. Then, we wouldn't really have anything to work on. He had a really good game, but he missed a couple of throws that I'm happy he missed because we have some things to work on instead of thinking everything is all good. I think it's going to make for a better team because, come Wednesday, when we go back to practice, we're going to work even harder."
How much did you see they adjusted to cover you? Did that open things up for other receivers?
"I guess after I scored, they were going to put a safety over the top. They had the safety over the top all the time. I was just trying to run fast and clear it out for the other guys. I know that they wanted to double me. That's the great thing about getting Ben [Roethlisberger] back because he can just open up our offense so much more."
LB LaMarr Woodley
Do you feel like you were aggressive the whole time with [Colt] McCoy back there, or do you think you guys backed off late?
"I think it was pretty aggressive. He did a good job of scrambling around [and] thowing the ball down the field. So you can't take anything away from him. But I think we continued to play aggressive. We got in there and sacked him a few times. We got interceptions and batted down passes. I think overall it was pretty good."
What's it like, generally, coming off a bye week?
"It's pretty good. You get a chance to get guys that are injured healed a little bit. Everybody gets a an opportunity to rest up [and] go back home [to] where they're from. So the bye week is always great."
How do you think Ben [Roethlisberger] coming back affects you guys?
"Just putting points on the board. Sometimes when your offense puts points on the board, it forces the opposing offense to try to throw the ball. That allows us to rush them a little bit [and] to get some sacks [and] to get some interceptions."
LB James Farrior
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What about the big picture? You are 4-1 and have three straight on the road.
"Three straight on the road. It's going to be tough. There is a tough challenge ahead of us. We just have to stay focused, take it one game at a time. Miami is next week. That's all we have to focus on."
WR Hines Ward
* *
There was a fair amount of balance to the offense the way that [Ben] Roethlisberger spread the ball around.
"Yeah, everybody. He distributed the ball around well and we still got our run game going. If we keep doing like that, we'll continue to see putting up some W's. We were very balanced today and everybody got a chance to make plays. It was a total team effort."
It seems like it took a little time to get going. Is that what Cleveland was doing?
"It was us. We missed a couple of plays. We got negated on a holding call that took us back [to] third-and-long. So, it was really the Steelers beating the Steelers. But, it was good. Ben [Roethlisberger] got out there and he wasn't 100 percent, but it was good having him out there and seeing him compete. He got hit a couple times. That's what I was more worried about. He hadn't been hit like that in over a month. But he held his own, came out and kept fighting. It's always good beating up on Cleveland."
In general, how did the huddle feel with him back?
"The same. It's not like – yes, he was gone for four games – but he was in there the whole time in preseason. He came in, took control of the huddle, like he always does. One thing about him – when you look into his eyes, you always know you have a chance to win ball games. And everybody just follows."
When he's in there, is there a different mind set? Do you feel like, even as a third or fourth option on a particular play, that the ball might be coming to you at any time?
"Any time. On Mike [Wallace]'s touchdown [today]. I don't think that Mike was the primary go-to guy, but he trusts us to go up and make plays. And Mike came down and made a play for him. Emmanual [Sanders] even came in and got some big catches [on] third-down conversions for us. We're just going to continue to play hard and fight [for] each other. It's good having him out there."
Were all the running plays to Mendenhall early a preconceived agenda to make sure you are still a running team? Or is that just something you thought you could exploit?
"Yeah. That's something a lot of teams haven't tried – running the ball well, especially when we got down in the red zone. B.A. [Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians] is going to call games that are best for our team, not because you guys think now that Ben's back [that] we're going to be a pass-happy offense. We are going to be balanced. I think today we displayed us being balanced. And if we continue to do that throughout the whole year, we'll be fine."
You are tied with Art Monk for all time consecutive games with a reception. That's something. What do you think?
"That's awesome. I grew up watching Art Monk during the Super Bowl days. It's a good feeling, especially when you win on top of that. It's a credit to all my teammates and the guys that I've played with. But that's a great honor to pass him."
What was it like on the sideline after [James] Harrison knocked out [Joshua] Cribbs? And how do you think that changed their mind set?
"He's a beast. You see a guy like that – knocking guys out like that – he's a man on a mission. Hopefully nothing seriously was wrong with those guys. But he set the tempo for everybody else. And that's what he brings to the table. He's our emotional leader. He's not really a vocal guy. He just goes out there and leads by example. He plays his tail off each and every play.* *
BROWNS QUOTES
Head Coach Eric Mangini
Coach Eric Mangini: I was talking to the guys, and we were in a really close game. We were deep in the third quarter and just weren't able to continue to execute when we needed to execute. Defensively, Ben [Roethlisberger] and the Steelers created big plays like they did in that drive when we had them backed up. It's hard, really hard. I thought offensively, losing two receivers was hard, but Colt [McCoy] had a lot of poise for his first game, playing against one of the toughest defenses in the NFL. He showed a lot of poise. I was really encouraged by that. The guys fought hard throughout the course of the game, but just didn't do enough in terms of how we have to play this team to win. They're explosive, able to run the ball effectively, and generate those big plays. And with a guy like Big Ben, it can happen at any point, it can happen quickly, and it can change things pretty quickly.
RE: Did you think that was a penalty with Cribbs out?
From where I was I couldn't see the actual contact. There were people in front of me, but I couldn't tell. They called it the way they called it. I didn't have a great view of it.
RE: Did you ask for an explanation on either penalties?
Both when they showed it, it felt like there was not a penalty, and that's the way they called it.
RE: Cribbs talking to doctors about going back in after head injury
Well with any type of head injury, the process they have to go through, and that's what we're going to follow regardless of how the player feels after. We make sure he's safe to go back in. We followed that process and decided he wasn't okay to go back in.
Were either players knocked out?
No, I don't think either one was. No.
RE: Second penalty after punt
Typically when a team has to punt again, good things happen to the return team and that's was a thought process. You got to be able to field the ball and there's not much more to it than that.
RE: Impressed with Colt McCoy?
At no point during the week did I think that this was too big for him and at no point during the game did I feel that way either. He was determined all week to play well. He was excited about the challenge he had. There was no apprehension and I thought the most part he did well for a young guy. That is about as hard as it gets with this environment, with for loud as it gets, with this type of defense with the various looks they have. It's tough and I thought he did well.
RE: Wanting to see more of Colt McCoy
We will see what our quarterback situation is next week before I can even say that.
RE: Without the two receivers
It makes it tough. You're planning to vary the attack with different things, whether it be the multi-receiver pack, the Wildcat, or whatever it may be. We're out of that, and we're out of it with quite a bit of game left. The guys that went in, and I felt filled in well. I played a little bit more 12 and Evan [Moore] did a nice job with his opportunities. You definitely don't go in thinking that's the case but you have a plan in place and then considering that did happen, and all the other things that they had fought.
RE: Schaefering filling in
He did a nice job. I thought Derreck [Robinson] did a nice job. Big Baby [Shawn Rogers] came in and played some at that spot. Between the three of them, collectively they share that role. Schaefering got his real first opportunity last year in the second game in Pittsburgh, and just so happen he got the opportunity today.
RE: Peyton being 100%
Yeah, he's 100% working through his injury.
RE: Hodges' punting
When you have them backed up, it's a good thing. It should be a good thing, and if you can keep them backed up it usually means points or drives that higher percentage. What's disappointing is that after having them backed-up and having them score a touchdown, that's difficult. You put yourself in a good position by getting that initial field position and it plays out that way, it's not good.
RE: Colt being a rookie and that factoring into the quarterback decision
We really have to evaluate it at that point. What I am please with is that he was able to go in and was able to play well. I think that's a good situation. Wasn't planning on this early, but it's always positive to see what he was able to do with his opportunity. I think that's a really good situation and now I have three guys that can go play in that situation, and play at a really good level.
BROWNS PLAYERS
Phil Dawson
On setting the Browns' all time record for field goals
As I said last week, I would've gladly traded it for a win, and that was against an opponent that's not a division rival. I've been around here long enough to understand what this rivalry is about. As I stand here right now, that's all that really matters to me – we just got beat by the Steelers. That's about as tough as it gets.
Re: Colt McCoy's performance
I thought Colt did great. There was a quiet confidence in this locker room all week that he would show up and play well. Of course, I'm a little biased. I probably had more confidence than most, but to go out there in that situation and play the way he did, he deserves a lot of credit.
Re: How he'll handle the loss
Last week, I enjoyed that evening with my family. That was pretty special to me. I don't know what I'll do after this one. I don't want to do the record a disservice, it was something that I set out a long time ago to do, but we just lost to the Steelers and it's not the best night to throw a party.
Eric Steinbach
* *
What he saw in McCoy's first startI saw him taking control of the huddle – all week long, just talking to guys, letting them know that we'd keep fighting, moving the chains. He did a good job. He's a quarterback, and that's what you have to do as a quarterback, whether you're a first-year guy or a 12-year vet. We thought that Jake coming in right away had that leadership. It seems like it's carrying over to Colt, and Seneca – all the guys. All the quarterbacks we've had this year have done a good job of being leaders.
Re: James Harrison's hits
I don't know. I heard guys talking afterwards. I don't know if it (the hit on Joshua Cribbs) was head-to-head, head-to-shoulder. They didn't call it.
Did you want to retaliate after two of your players are injured?
Of course, look what the game is making us go out there and do. You're supposed to be playing physical and have all this emotion and testosterone built up out there. But the second a guy retaliates, he gets the flag.
Re: Adjusting after the loss of Joshua CribbsYou just go back to playing regular football. I guess the wildcat has been a tag on certain offensive teams. I think we did a good job of just lining up and running the ball against them when we had the opportunities. If the game went differently and we didn't have the turnovers, we could've run the ball. A lot of times it forces you to throw the ball more due to the situation. If we can't get the wildcat going, we just have to run the ball and throw the ball, back to basic football.
Evan Moore
Re: Colt McCoy's performance
I think Colt did a good job of managing the ball. It's hard to know exactly how things went without watching the film, but he did a good job of leading us. It was hard to tell it was his first game. He was ready; he prepared the right way. Unfortunately we came up short on offense and weren't able to be consistent all game long, but I don't put that on Colt's shoulders. I think that's the offense as a whole, the issues we were having.
Re: Adjusting to loss of players and his subsequent shift to wideout:
A lot of that was filling in for those guys. We were down to two wideouts and needed someone to fill in. Obviously losing Cribbs is big, because we do a lot of packages with him – the wildcat – it took away a big phase of our offense. And then losing Mo (Mohamed Massaquoi), he's a threat as well. Losing both of those guys is tough, but there's nothing we can do about that. We had to respond, and we did at times, but overall we were kind of inconsistent.
How was Colt in the huddle?
He did a great job. Colt started last night, when he talked to the team; he stands up. Most guys sit down, but he stands up and looks everybody in the eye. I think that's the kind of leader he is. Colt did a great job for his first NFL game in a place like this. It started with his preparation all week long.
Brian Robiskie
Re: Fumbled punt
It hit my hands, then they were in my face and they got on it before I could. It's unfortunate, but that's what happened.
Re: Challenge of overcoming loss of two receivers
We still have to make plays. That's why we have as many people as we do on the team. We're going to make adjustments, and we'll see what we have to do next week. We have playmakers, so people just have to step up.
Scott Fujita
* *
Assessing the defensive performance
Not really good. We gave up a lot of points. A lot more than we wanted to. We gave up some big plays. I don't think we tackled really well, especially in the first half. Those are the kinds of things that kill you, especially against an offense like this.
Re: Trying to tackle Roethlisberger
He's tough. Everyone knows that. He's big, he's a hard guy to bring down. He finds a way to extend plays. A couple of times I thought we had him, and somehow he managed to get rid of the ball. He essentially backed up one time, I don't know how he got rid of it. We smashed him in the face. I thought it was going to be a safety, but somehow he threw it off his back foot and made a huge play. That's just the kind of player he is.
Re: Steelers offense
It's a good offense we played against today. They came in and took some gambles, took some risks when they were backed up and it paid off for them.
Were James Harrison's hits borderline?
I didn't even see them, so I don't know.
QB Colt McCoy
What did you think of your play overall?
Obviously, we don't like the result of what the final score said, but not one guy is going to win a game for us or lose a game for us. I wanted to go out there and do the best I could for my teammates and we worked really hard this week, but you have to give a lot of credit to Pittsburgh and their defense. They threw up some blitzes, they were coming after us. We fought through, we held tough, we converted on some third downs. When we get in their territory we have to find a way to keep the drive going, to get some points. We had some opportunities; we let them slip away from us.
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How are you able to stay so poised with the environment here and the Steelers defense?
I've learned a lot from Jake and from Seneca; I've watched the last five games. I prepare every week like I'm the starter. I think because of that, it's helped me grow to where I am right now. Obviously you don't want to come here and lose. I go into each game expecting to win, expecting to play good. That's why I'm here, that's why they drafted me.
Re: It seemed like you became more comfortable and relaxed as the game went on.
I think naturally in the game, it's going to be that way, especially when you're playing someone like Pittsburgh who does a lot. They move around, you've always got to be alert for certain players on their team. One of them was Polamalu. Where's is he? Is he on the line or is he in coverage? If he's in coverage, you have to be careful where you're going to throw the ball. Harrison and Woodley, those guys are linebackers but they love to rush. We had our hands full with those guys. They are a great football team, and like I said, we had some opportunities, if we can take advantage of those once we get in their territory I think we would have done a little better today.
Re: It was still a close game of 7-3 at halftime
That's a tribute to my teammates and our coaches. We were trying to score at the very end. We were never going to give up. We were competing, and that's what you have to do. We're a football team, we're together. This locker room believes in each other and we have got to keep rolling.
Do you feel ready to be a full time quarterback in the NFL?
I'm ready to do what this team needs. We'll move on week to week and evaluate Jake and Seneca. But, yeah, I feel really good.
