Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano
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Opening Statement:** We have two injuries. We pulled Matt Hasselbeck late in the game. We put Charlie Whitehurst in. Hasselbeck has a neck and a shoulder. He'll be evaluated. He should be okay. Then Colt Anderson went out late with an ankle. Obviously we're very disappointed in the outcome. I give credit to the Steelers. They played well in all three phases. They kicked our ass. Period. We had some opportunities early in that ballgame, and we did not capitalize on those. We had the fumble recovery on the kickoff and turned the ball over without getting any points. Then we got another turnover and settled for three. We take a lead. Then they score and get a two-point conversion. Then they got another score at the end of the half in a two-minute situation. It's 21-10. Then we come out and don't get anything going offensively. They go right down the field and put another on the board. It was downhill from there. We couldn't get anything going offensively. No big plays on defense. No run game or pass game. We gave up a punt return at the end. We got beat thoroughly in all three phases. We don't have a lot of time to sit and dwell on this. It stinks but we have to move on.
What did you see in regard to the poor play by the defensive backs?
I saw the same thing you saw.
What was it about the Steelers' blocking schemes that didn't allow you to pass rush?
They blocked better than we rushed. We couldn't generate any pass rush.
Were the defensive backs competing?
Our guys competed their asses off. We didn't play well.
Will your team rebound from this detour?
We'll come through again. Yes. We don't have a choice, so we will respond.
What did you tell your team in the locker room after the game?
I told them the same thing. We have to respond. We didn't play well. I give the Steelers credit. They beat us in all three phases. We have to respond.
Re: Only getting three points out of Steelers turnovers:
You can't do it. You have to take advantage of it. You have two short fields. You have to score 14 points in a game like this, playing a team like this in an environment like this on the road. You have to put points on the board, and we couldn't get it done.
Re: Your cornerbacks getting beat one-on-one:
We tried to mix it up. We tried to get there with a four-man rush and play some coverage, some two deeps and some quarters. We tried to help those guys. We've been down this road before. We ask a lot of those guys to play man-to-man situations. We tried to mix it up, and nothing really seemed to work.
Was Hasselbeck under a little more duress tonight?
Yes. It looked like he was. I'll have to look at the tape to give you exact numbers on the sacks and hits and things like that.
Do you have the pieces necessary to get better at the pass rush?
Absolutely. Just two weeks ago we had five sacks and a bunch of quarterback hits. **
QB Matt Hasselbeck**
Re: Update on his health and what was hurt:
I don't really have an update on that. I did get x-rays and I'm in a little bit of pain. But, I don't know anything else other than that, yet. It's neck-ish. Yeah, neck.
Re: On if the injury happened on the last play he was in:
Kind of two separate things, not on the last play. One happened in the first quarter and one happened on the play where I was down for a little bit. Two separate things, same area.
Re: On if he hurt his knee:
I did not hurt my knee. I got cut underneath my legs and lost my legs. I got hit on the top of the head and kind of just got my head compressed into my neck, or into my, you know, whatever, I'm not sure.
Re: How important it is to take advantage of [turnovers] on the road:
They gave us opportunities. We talked about winning the turnover ratio. Our special teams and our defense did a great job of getting turnovers for us early. I had the interception to start it, and it was just terrible. There's really no excuse. We were able to come away with three. In it, we had chances and we didn't capitalize offensively on third down. We didn't capitalize. We didn't handle their blitz, early, really well. We knew it was coming and we didn't handle it well. Then we were prepared to handle it and they would just rush three. They did a really nice job of keeping me off balance. I'm very disappointed in how I played. Extremely disappointed.
Re: On if he's worried he won't be able to play next week:
I don't know about that yet. I would hope that I could.
Re: His frustrations towards his inefficiencies to convert on third downs:
It was bad. You really have to do that to win games, you have to convert on third down. For the most part I thought we were manageable on third downs but we ran the ball really well and that was awesome. We could rush the ball well. We were a little out of sync with [their] three-man rush. It's tough. It worked pretty effectively for them. I can't wait to see the tape and try to learn from it and figure out what I can do better for next time.
Re: On if it's accurate that he wasn't releasing the ball as quickly as he would have liked:
Yes, and when they drop an extra guy in to cover you, so the three-man rush is dropping eight into coverage – you know, just some unconventional things and we knew that coming in. We didn't see a lot of the stuff that we necessarily prepared for but we kind of knew that might be the case also. The stuff that we did prepare for we didn't execute the way [we wanted to]. I don't know. I wish I could get some plays back. But I would agree. They had me out of sync with the dropping eight and rushing three.
TE Dwayne Allen
Re: Tonight's outcome:
We knew going into the game that we could not trade field goals for scores. In the second half we could not move the football. We could not stay on the field. They are an explosive offense and once they got into a grove they took off.
Re: Coach Pagano's message going into this one:
The reality of it is, we are still tied for first in our division. At the beginning of the year one of our goals was to win our division and get into the playoffs. We have to erase this, and we will watch the tape and move on to Jacksonville.
What is it about playing here, why is it an Achilles heel for you?
They are very explosive. They are a very good team. I believe playing here at Heinz Field the crowd does a great job of getting into the game and making it a difficult place to play. In order to be a championship football team, you will go to difficult places but you have to come out of there with wins.
**
DT Billy Winn**
Why did this get out of control?
It all came down to execution, and we just did not do what we were supposed to do as a team. We will watch the tape. We will probably watch it on the way back. We just did not execute. We have to go out there and take care of business.
What makes this team so good?
They do a really good job of executing their game plan. They have had the same game plan for what seems like four years. I spent three in Cleveland playing those guys twice a year. It is almost like nothing has change. They find what they are good at and go out there and stick to their plan.
Is the mood in the locker room still positive?
Absolutely, because we all understand that this was not a divisional game so we still have some breathing room. There were a lot of mistakes that were made out there, and I know that we will go back and we will get it all situated and corrected.
S Mike Adams
What do you tell yourself after those long completions?
I'm a defensive back, so I tell myself to line up on the next play and make something happen. I have a short-term memory. If they make a play they make a play. They get paid more than I do so they are supposed to make those plays. I expect more of myself at the same time. They made plays. We don't dwell on it. We need to move forward.
How did you feel first game back from injury?
I felt good. I do not feel like myself just yet in my first game back. I missed a few tackles, which I wish I could have back. I had an opportunity for an interception that I did not jump high [enough to get]. Had I been in my grove I would have probably made that play. No excuses. I needed to play better.
