Coach Mike Tomlin: I just told my team in there that we are the same team that got blasted in Baltimore last week.
Were there any thoughts of keeping Ben Roethlisberger out of the game?
None.
Re: Letting Ben go back in the game:
He was fine, and he was cleared. It’s not anything mystical. We lean on the expertise of our medical staff. They were comfortable with where he was. He was comfortable. As soon as he was comfortable he went back into action.
Will Ben get evaluated?
He’s going to be fine.
Re: Response to last week’s performance:
It was appropriate, given how we performed and played a week ago.
Re: Brett Keisel:
Keisel has a potential grade-one PCL injury. We are going to get him evaluated and go from there. He potentially could have gone back in the game but it was so late in the contest. We have capable young guys and we played them.
What did your team do better?
We came in better prepared. That’s on me. Ultimately we performed better than we did a week ago and that’s on the guys that played.
Re: Marcus Gilbert’s play:
It was above-the-line, a winning effort. I thought we had some movement there in the first half, running the football on his side. I thought we could have run the ball better in the second half. We all bear the responsibility for that.
Were there any other things you didn’t like?
I am sure I can find a lot of things to complain about. I am still chewing on last week. I am sure we all are. That’s just the nature of this thing. It’s not going to take one performance to take that stench off of us. We respect that. We are going to prepare and get ready for our next opportunity.
3 Comments
Leave a Reply
Show Your Team Spirit
Get Your Steelers Tickets
Steelers Gab Newsletter
Sign up to receive our Steelers Gab newsletter, and keep up to date with all the latest Pittsburgh Steelers news.
DrGeorge
September 19, 2011 at 9:27 am
Tomlin has it exactly right. This was a ‘get well’ game against a much inferior team, but not as impressive as the score suggests. The Steelers dominated in every statistical category, but they did not dominate Seattle on the field.
The win simply means that Seattle is a lesser team than the Ravens, who did us an enormous favor by overlooking the Titans. Indy won’t be much of a test for us either. It isn’t likely we will know whether the Steelers have really improved and become true contenders again until the Houston game.
mark
September 19, 2011 at 1:10 pm
DrGeorge, it pains me to say this but I wouldn’t sleep on the Colts Sunday night. This is a desperate team at home! Even though I doubt the Colts will beat the Steelers, after what we saw the 1st 2 weeks of the season, I cant pencil in any SURE wins just yet. Steelers still have problems on the O-line and even though its Kerry Collins,the secondary is still a question mark. Seattle does not have the talent to truly test the Steelers, but a desperate Colt team, at home and with some weapons just might be able to.
DrGeorge
September 22, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Mark, fret not! We should be fine against the Colts. They are banged up physically and demoralized without P. Manning (more proof of the folly of betting all of your eggs on one QB). The Steelers are better than the Colts, and that should be enough. However, the Houston game promises to be a true test of our defense, and our secondary in particular. Tomlin’s challenge is keeping the team focused on the Colts this week, rather than looking ahead.
Side note 1: Mendenhall is a #1 pick, and it is difficult for a coach to admit that an undrafted free agent is as good. But it’s true. Every time Arians plays Redman, he performs well, often better than Mendenhall, and then Redman promptly gets benched. For what? Playing too well and showing up Mendy? Mendy’s red zone performance last week left no doubt in my mind that Redman is as good, if not better, and not just in short yardage. I hope Tomlin gets Redman more carries against the Colts. We need our best players on the field. And using Redman more would save Mendy for the second half of the season.
Side note 2: Keep an eye on Ziggy Hood, Matt Loede’s MVP pick, who is starting at DE in place of Keisel. I remain a skeptic on Ziggy’s abilities. Last year, he seemed to me no better than Eason, a journeyman defensive lineman. I see no significant improvement in Hood this season. The Colt’s game will give Ziggy a chance to shine. And if he does, Matt will remind me of my skepticism, and I will be delighted to be wrong. So this Sunday we will see. The defense needs one of the young linemen to step up, and the spotlight this Sunday is on Ziggy Hood.