Mike Tomlin’s Post-Game Comments After Losing to Dallas

Opening Comment: It really is simple men. Just not enough of the critical plays in the waning moments of the football game to seize opportunities. I thought we had opportunities. We allowed them to remain in the game and we lost the game because of it. We had a lead, had a punt return and it was going to be good field position and we put the ball on the ground. We had the ball up around midfield at the end of regulation and timeouts and we got dropped for some negative plays and the game went into overtime. Of course, once we got into overtime they made the significant play. Not enough to close it out, unfortunately. We’ll take a look at it tomorrow and move forward. We understand where we are in this thing and the margin for error is zero. If you look at us from an injury standpoint (DeMarcus) Van Dyke separated his shoulder in the game and was unable to return. Emmanuel Sanders had a rib injury and Keenan Lewis had a groin and was unable to return. We’ll assess the injuries as we move forward and be geared toward the readiness of the healthy men and get ready for a real big football game at Heinz Field this weekend.

Normally you greet your players after the game outside of the locker room. Why didn’t you today?
I did. I just did it inside the locker room.

When Antonio Brown let the punt bounce later in the fourth quarter, was he under any kind of direction to do so?
I was down around the line of scrimmage so I couldn’t see the length of the ball and some of those things and how it unfolded. We like to field the ball in the air in those circumstances if we can, I can’t pass judgment on it because I was watching the line of scrimmage. It was fourth and very short and that is where my attention was.

Can you talk about the play of the secondary without Ike Taylor?
I thought they competed, particularly the young guys. We had them in some tough situations. Not enough plays. That can be said not only for them but for our football team. Not enough critical plays, particularly in those moments to secure victory. They made the splash play necessary to secure victory, we didn’t.

Why did you feel the offense wasn’t able to get into any kind of rhythm today?
I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I just didn’t think we took advantage of opportunities when we had them. We made some plays, just not enough.