(on how tough the loss was) Toughest one I’ve ever had in my life.
(on Rodgers) “He put the balls in some tight places and he made some really good throws. He played great. Is he the MVP tonight? He deserves it.”
(on the Packers defense) “Their defense outplayed our defense. Anytime you can force turnovers, especially score on turnovers, you know we were trying our best to create some but it didn’t work out for us.”
(on thinking they would win) “Absolutely, man, it’s incredibly humbling.”
(on his performance being less than usual) “I don’t know, I had some opportunities to make some plays, I was just off a step here or there.”
(on the defense’s performance) “We weren’t able to get any turnovers on defense, that was the difference. They were able to make plays on defense. We didn’t.”
(on almost making the comeback) “We were just hoping to get a taste of the lead. We were confident that if we had that taste it would have been in our mouth for a while. But I mean hat’s off to them, they played a great team game. They’re deserving of Super Bowl champs.”
(on Rodgers fitting balls into tight spaces) “That’s the game of football. He’s an incredibly accurate quarterback as we’ve said all week. He had two great passes at really key moments in the game.”
(on if he knew about Rodgers’ accuracy) “Absolutely.
(on the 2nd Jennings touchdown) “That was completely my fault. Earlier in the game they ran Jennings down the middle and I was anticipating that same pass play and I guessed wrong.”
(on Green Bay neutralizing him) “When you spread out the offense the way they do, you’re able to put somebody on one side of the field and just work on the opposite side of the field.”
(on his health) “It was the healthiest I’ve ever been. The best I’ve felt probably since the middle of the season.”
(on if they were worried about Nelson) “I don’t think we were worried about one receiver in particular, we were worried about all of them. They’re an extremely talented group with an incredibly accurate quarterback and they played very well today.”
(on Nelson) “It helps when you have a really good quarterback.”
(on if they were trying to go to Nelson) “They caught us in some coverages where they would come out in a three by one set and isolate the backside. But quite honestly, he played very well, but no matter who is out there, Aaron Rodgers is putting the ball on the spot.”
(on if getting a stop might have hurt them) “Well you can look at it either way. By giving up a field goal we had an opportunity to come back. If they would have scored the game would have been over then. It was a good game.”
(on how important their defensive stop was) “Their defense got the stop though, they got the important stop.”
(on if he was surprised by Rodgers’ play) “Not surprised at all.”
(on if it’s the receivers or Rodgers) “It’s both, they’re an incredibly talented receiving corps with a very, very accurate quarterback.”
(on if they caught them by surprise on anything) “No they didn’t.”
(on whether he could have made a play on the first touchdown pass) “Ryan [Clark] and I both had an opportunity to make a play there. But he put the ball right on the money where neither of us could get to it.”
(on how the Packers were able to attack the Steelers defense) “When the offense spread out there, the best thing you can do as a safety is try to take the top off of the coverage and just not allow big plays. Hopefully you can get in a position where there could be an overthrow. So we tried to do some creative things, I did personally, and it didn’t work out for us.”
(on examples of those creative things) “Like pushing from the back side, trying to play zero in the backside and it put our secondary in some pretty tough situations.”
(on making the comeback) “We had a little momentum going, but they just made the plays. They found the holes in the coverage.”
(on if he thought they would win) “Definitely. But we had an opportunity to go out there and make the right plays, but we didn’t.”
(on his role in the touchdowns) “I had an opportunity to make a play on both. I had an opportunity to make a play on the first one. I wasn’t in good position on the second one. Same thing.”
(on if he blames the secondary for the loss) “Anytime we lose and they put up points that way, I mean you can point it, I would say at the secondary but I would say today especially me in particular.”
(on if he’s worried that this is the last football for a while). “I don’t know.”
(on how he played personally) “There’s a drive there that I gave up the big play when Jordy Nelson went across the middle, that was my fault and the touchdown right after that was my fault as well.”
(on what the Steelers didn’t do) “We didn’t force turnovers. There were some opportunities there to make some plays, but we just didn’t make them.”
(on the key play of the game for the Packers) “The touchdown they scored right before Mike Wallace scored his touchdown. I think that was tough and then the big play down the middle on us.”
(on the team thinking they would come back) “That’s the character of this team. We’ve kind of had to fight like that throughout, and persevere throughout this whole season and the epitome of that was the end of the game. You’re thinking ‘That’s the story of our season, we’re going to make the play here and win this game.’ We came up short.”
(on the end of the game) “We put the offense in a tough position by giving up three points and not getting off on third down. It would have been a different game had we gotten off on third down.”
(on Rodgers being elite) “Absolutely. Imagining all the injuries they’ve had on offense. They’re missing one of the best tight ends, one of the best running backs, defensively that team was a top notch team and they played very well today, with the injuries they’ve sustained throughout the season.”
(on penalties hurting them) “Penalties are always tough especially in big games like this. Every single game and situationally, those penalties hurt us, big plays hurt us. It was a lot of things.”
(on what he would say to young fans who are upset) I don’t know honestly, I’ve never had a defeat like this in our life but I think this is a great spiritual lesson. You know when you kind of put your whole life into something, this is not a game to us, this is a lifestyle. It’s a big part of our life and all of us are going to be challenged, the way that we force a lot of other people to be challenged by winning two previous Super Bowls. It’s just important for us to rebound, take this loss. It’s incredibly humbling. God willing in some way we’ll be benefited by this.”
