Audio from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin post game press conference following the 2010 week 7 23-22 win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday October 24th, 2010. Transcript to follow soon!
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[audio:https://steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/mike-tomlin-dolphins-press-conference-oct-24-2010.mp3|titles=Steelers HC Mike Tomlin Miami Dolphins Post Game Press Conference Week 7]Mike Tomlin: Tip of the hat to the Miami Dolphins; that is a rough and tumble outfit. We weren’t very good today, but [the Miami Dolphins] had a lot to do with it to be quite honest with you. They came after us pretty good. To the credit of our men, they held on and made the necessary plays for us to get out of a hostile environment with a win. We speared some adversity there; we lost some men over the course of the day. LaMarr Woodley has a left hamstring; don’t know the extent of that from a long term standpoint. Flozell Adams has an ankle, again same thing. I think it is a lower ankle, so a little optimism there, but don’t know where he is. Aaron Smith looks like he has a torn tricep; of course that is not good but such is life in the National Football League. We will adapt and hopefully overcome it and move on as a football team. Leg one of our road trips [was] handled today. Again, we are appreciative of having the opportunity to get out of here with a win. We will get back and make the necessary connections. We have to be better than we were today. We can’t win consistently against good people in hostile environments playing the way we played today. We have been very good in terms of taking care of the ball in terms of the turnover margin; we turned the ball over today, we didn’t get enough. We have outrushed opponents. We have done a nice job running the football on people. We didn’t do that extremely well today. There are a lot of things to work on, but again it is always good to work with a [win] so we are appreciative of that. Hopefully we will continue to grow as a football team.
Question: (On the Ben Roethlisberger fumble at the goal line)
Mike Tomlin: I was hoping it would be inconclusive where they would stay with the call on the field. When you look at the sideline angle of the play, you knew the ball was out before it crossed the plane. Then it was an issue if they had clear recovery. [We] felt good about the fact they didn’t but it was fortunate for us.
Question: (On if any Steelers claimed to have recovered the fumble)
Mike Tomlin: Ben [Roethlisberger] felt like he was in the mix on the recovery. But the rule is – from a review standpoint – the defensive has to have clear recovery. No doubt that was a scrum as they define it. I don’t know who had the ball or who said they had the ball. Ben felt like he was in the mix.
Question: (On deciding to kick the field goal on 4th and goal from the one rather than going for the TD)
Mike Tomlin: No we were going to kick it and go up by one and let our defense play football. We have been in that circumstance a bunch. I know we have failed some, but we are not going to change our approach, we are not going to change our belief in what our guys are capable of. We were excited about giving them an opportunity to go out there and win the game. Surprisingly a guy like Jason Worilds, a rookie, makes the significant play.
Question: (On if they were trying to run the clock down inside the 10 yard line in addition to scoring)
Mike Tomlin: We wanted to make sure they used their timeouts and that is what we got out of the situation. Hopefully of course we wanted to score, but we wanted to in the process make them burn their timeouts so that of course the ensuing possession would be time oriented.”
Question: (On the end of the first half and letting the half run out rather than calling a timeout)
Mike Tomlin: I think were up by one, but I screwed that up. I have to give Jeff [Reed] an opportunity to [attempt the field goal]. I know it was 56, 57, or 58 [yard attempt], but I have given Jeff those opportunities before, especially with the wind at his back. I hesitated a little bit there and I didn’t give it to him.
Question: (On Emmanuel Sanders bouncing back)
Mike Tomlin: The big thing is that he bounced back. Young guys are going to make mistakes. Hopefully they are not mistakes of that nature – putting the ball on the ground – but our defense gave us life, practically those first two possessions of the game. The defense kept us in it, making them kick field goals right there. But as an individual, Emmanuel really bounced back. He moved the chains for us offensively on third down again this week. Of course our kickoff return game was excellent as the game wore on.
Question: (On if he noticed any changes in James Harrison’s play this week)
Mike Tomlin: No, but not that I expected any change.
Question: (Of if he will let Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood compete for a job)
Mike Tomlin: It is so early. I just want to get out of town here.
Question: (On if he saw the fact that there was no clear recovery from the onset)
Mike Tomlin: It was an issue. We knew it would potentially be an issue. I was talking to [Line Judge] Ron [Marinucci], the official over there on the sideline. He immediately ran up to talk to [Referee] Gene [Steratore] who was in the replay booth. I knew it was potentially an issue. I was hopeful [Ben Roethlisberger] was in the end zone, but it became obvious that he potentially was not from the sideline angle. So then it was an issue of a scrum with a clear recovery.
Question: (On if he feels like his team stole a victory today)
Mike Tomlin: That is what the scoreboard says. We will take it and exit stage left.
Question: (On Pittsburgh’s defensive effort today)
Mike Tomlin: It was timely. When we needed them the most t the end they were there. When we needed them at the beginning, when we tripped over ourselves coming out of the locker room, they gave us a shot. I can’t talk enough about those first two possessions. Being down [only] 6-0 was big under those circumstances.
Question: (On if the goal line review was as confusing as a replay as he has seen)
Mike Tomlin: No, again, we were talking about the clear possession [part] of the challenge from the moment they started reviewing it. We were hopeful that wasn’t going to be an issue. We were hopeful that they would rule it a touchdown. After it became obvious that they wouldn’t, the bulk of our conversation was about the clear recovery or the scrum. It is a pretty clear rule and thankful for us it was a scrum.
Question: (On if there were a bunch of hands/players fighting for the recovery of the ball)
Mike Tomlin: It was a bunch of hands. I don’t know the technical definition of a scrum is, but I will take it; bunch of people fighting for the ball, possession us.
Question: (On Davone Bess’ effort today)
Mike Tomlin: He has a nice effort [on the touchdown catch] but Hines Ward had a similar effort. You are talking about quality wide outs. That is the number one third down man in football coming into this game. So nothing he does under those circumstances is surprising. They gave him an extension for a reason; he is a good football player.
Question: (On if Rashard Mendenhall was banged up today)
Mike Tomlin: No, again, we talked about having an opportunity to unload Rashard if possible. We came into the game schedule to face Mewelde [Moore] in the third series of the first half, we did that. He provided us with a spark; we moved the ball a little bit. We continued to roll people as the game went on. We weren’t running the ball effectively, it didn’t matter who the back was. We have to get better there.
Question: (On what the Dolphins were doing that was causing the Steelers problems)
Mike Tomlin: They were kicking butt.
