Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin met the media following the 24-17 win Sunday night over the Cincinnati Bengals and here is the audio and recap of the post game press conference.
Tomlin said it was a big AFC North road victory for the team at that guys did what was necessary to win the game. Tomlin liked the contributions of the guys that stepped in for all of the injured players tonight that were out for the game. Tomlin said hopefully they can build upon that. Tomlin said when they got themselves in a hole tonight and that the first thing they had to do is stop digging.
Tomlin said the team came through the game relatively injury free. Linebacker Adrian Robinson may have concussion and he is being evaluated. Safety Will Allen turned his ankle but it doesn\’t appear to be significant.
Tomlin praised the play of tight end Heath Miller tonight and said that it is inline with what he has done all year. Tomlin also said that it was good to get linebacker LaMarr Woodley back on the field tonight as well.
Tomlin added that when you turn the ball over and are highly penalized you put yourself behind the eight ball, but that the guys didn\’t blink.
[audio:https://steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/mike-tomlin-bengals-post-game-press-conference.mp3]Coach Tomlin following the Bengals game:
Opening Remarks: That was a big AFC North road victory for us. Guys did what was necessary. Obviously we were playing without a few guys. I liked the contributions of the men that stepped up in their place. It was what was needed. Hopefully we can build upon it is what we talked about in there. We got ourselves in a hole; the first thing we have to do is stop digging. We did that tonight. We’ll review this tape tomorrow and continue to push forward. Now we have to build on it. It looks like we came through this game relatively injury free. Adrian Robinson may have a concussion; he is being evaluated for that. Other than that we are pretty clean from an injury standpoint, which is good. Will Allen turned his ankle, doesn’t appear to be significant.
Re: Heath Miller
Heath gives us consistent effort and performance on a week in and week out basis. Sometimes when we are victorious it gets highlighted, as it should. His performance tonight is in line with what he has done for us all year.
Can you talk about having LaMarr Woodley back and the interception?
It was a big play for us but we would like to think they all are capable of delivering those types of plays. He was the man in that instance. Obviously LaMarr Woodley in a helmet assists us in our effort and it was good to have him back out there.
Was this a bounce back game for Ike Taylor?
I will let you guys be the judge of that. We played winning football. He was a part of that. He did what we asked him to do. It was good overall team effort in all three phases.
Re: Offensive line and guys stepping in
Fortunately and unfortunately those guys, although they aren’t starters they are experienced. We played a lot of ball over the last few years with Doug Legursky. Arrow is pointed up with Mike Adams. We are optimistic about what he is capable of being. It wasn’t a situation where we went into it with negative thoughts. We were excited about watching those guys play and seeing what they were capable of doing, particularly Mike Adams. They answered the bell as they should. They are capable men. We were able to have a good, well-rounded attack on offense running and throwing.
Can you talk about the defense holding A.J. Green?
Big time ball for us. Like we said it was a collective effort. Rush, coverage, Dick (LeBeau) called a good game. He mixed in some zones. It was necessary to get us out of there.
Talk about the penalties and the turnovers, do they make it harder on your club?
That is the nature of NFL football. When you are highly penalized and turn the ball over you are going to put yourself behind the eight ball. But the guys didn’t blink. They didn’t. It’s a testament to them. We were able to settle down and get our jobs done.
Re: Mike Wallace
The tape is the tape. He’s got to catch the ball in a consistent manner. He didn’t do it tonight. We’ll get back to work tomorrow and hopefully he will be better next week.
Was there confusion on the two-point conversion?
We wanted to take a time out and we are allowed to do that by rule. He said that we weren’t. I guess he assumed we were the team that took the time out prior to us wanting to take the time out. The Cincinnati Bengals took that time out so we should have been given that time out. But we weren’t. The guys didn’t blink. They executed and got the two points.
