(on the loss) “It was hard-fought. Obviously, it’s disappointing to lose. For me it’s even more disappointing because you feel like you let a lot of people down that stood up today to fight – people like Doug Legursky, Trai Essex, Ramon Foster, Antwaan Randel El. Personally, I feel like I let a lot of people down.”
(on what the problems were early on) “You know what, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’re a great defense; they got after us and I turned the ball over and you can’t do that.”
(on Hines Ward) “I mean, it’s hard to – people like that just play with grit and determination. We’ve got guys like Chris Kemoeatu who’s cramping in both legs, yet he still gets out there in the last couple of drives. We’ve got guys that just are not going to quit fighting. Mike Wallace hurts his shoulder early on. I mean, we’ve got so many things that banged us up. Emmanuel Sanders does something to his foot and can’t play the rest of the game. Guys have got to step up and they did that. That’s why I’m so proud of these guys, because you’ve got leaders like Hines that no matter what just keep taking shots and just keeps getting up and keeps fighting to win it.”
(on if he thought they could come back based on their Super Bowl comeback performances against Arizona and Seattle) “Yeah, you feel pretty good. You like your chances obviously. We either had one timeout or no timeouts and it was going to be tough, but you never stop believing.”
(on the final drive of the game) “They did a great job of taking away deep things and taking away the outside. You’re kind of stuck with very limited options there with that much time and no timeouts left. We just had to try to do what we could do.”
(on the play to Mike Wallace when he was open in the end zone and if that could have changed the game) “This is a tough game and there are probably a lot of ‘what ifs.’ There’re a lot of throws I’d like to have back. Like I said, I don’t put blame on anybody but myself. I feel like I let the city of Pittsburgh down, the fans, my coaches, my teammates. It’s not a good feeling.”
(on getting checked out by the doctors) “(It was) a little bit of everything. Just a normal game.”
(on losing) “You know me, I hate to lose. Like I said, especially when you feel like you’re letting down guys that really stepped up today in a big way, so it’s really hard.”
(on the difference between being on the winning and losing side of the Super Bowl) “It’s not fun. I hate to lose.”
(on why the Steelers didn’t run more based on their success) “That’s probably a question for Coach (Bruce) Arians, sorry.”
(on his message to the team in the huddle before the last drive) “Just telling them that I believe in you guys and we can do this, you know. And like I said, I think we all really felt like we could.”
(on the last drive) “Like I said, you always have hope and belief in each other and in yourself that you can get it done.”
(on Antwaan Randel El coming in for Emmanuel Sanders and making big plays) “That’s one of the guys that I’m really proud of and I feel bad because you want to win it for guys like that that step up and do some great things. You can’t say enough about a veteran like that gets his reps. He practiced his butt (off) and you just throw him in there and you expect him to not miss a beat and I think he did that.”
(on trying to come back) “We’re a team of fighters. We don’t quit. We believe in each other. We were going to fight all the way to the last second, which I think we did. If I had played a little bit better, I feel like we would have had a better chance to win the game.”
