Tomlin Talks About the Win Over the Giants

Opening Comment: We’ve got big time respect for what the Giants are capable of in the fourth so hopefully this is a big step for us in terms of trying to be the football team we desire to be. We’ll enjoy it tonight. Tomorrow we will get back to business and move forward to next week’s challenges. We had a few injuries. I don’t have the complete list. Adrian Robinson had a quad, Chris Rainey has rib or rib cartilage of some kind. Will Allen had a stinger and he was able to go back. Antonio Brown has a mild high ankle sprain. We’ll take a look at that. We don’t know what that means for him next week. The guys put their hands in the pile and delivered plays that came from a variety of places. We were down to our third string kick returner there. Emmanuel Sanders sparked them with a big return. I can’t say enough about the efforts of the players and coaches. Nice team win for us. We’ll pack it up and get out of here.

What did you tell your guys coming into this game about the emotions that would be going on today?
We didn’t talk too much about it. This is a game. What has happened here in this region this past week is life and reality. It was a little bit of an adjustment for both teams. I am sure it was more of an adjustment for the Giants. We just wanted to focus on the things we could control, which was our preparation and ultimately our play. The guys did a nice job of focusing on that.

Ben (Roethlisberger’s) fumble for a touchdown. How was that explained to you?
I didn’t ask for an explanation. I can’t figure out some of this stuff now. I just try to move on the best that I can because that’s what our guys need to do.

Can you talk about the fake field goal and how it paid off on the defensive stop?
I took a shot and the guys backed my play like I knew they would. I appreciate that. They overcome bad coaching sometimes. That’s on me. The Giants did a nice job. I tip my hat to Tom Quinn and that group over there on the special teams unit. They were ready for it. They did a nice job.

With the way Isaac (Redman) was playing did you think about going for it on fourth down?
It was a long one. You worry about penetration down there when you are working off a silent count. I thought we were winning the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game, in that situation specifically when you are working with a silent count I was concerned about false starts, I was concerned about penetration. I didn’t want to do it.

Except for the penalties your defense held a pretty good Giants offense under 200 yards. Can you talk about that?
And some of the penalties were suspect.

Your evaluation of the running game and Isaac Redman?
Next man up. He did a nice job of answering the bell and delivering for us. It starts up front. I like the personality that is developing within that group, led by guys like Maurkice Pouncey and Willie Colon. They set the pace for us. The young guy Mike Adams is doing a great job. It’s a collective effort. They are winning the line of scrimmage. It was a nice contribution by all parties involved tonight.

Can you talk about the adversity of flying on game day?
We don’t want to bring focus to that. There are a lot of people that have a lot more adversity than what we had to deal with this morning. The bottom line is we were here when they kicked the ball off. That was going to be enough. We focused on those things. We had a nice morning. I thought our guys did a nice job of handling it. We talked openly about it and we showed up at the stadium to play the game.

Can you talk about the year Ben Roethlisberger is having?
He is doing the job for us. He is 5-3 like the rest of us and we are searching for 6-3.